Professor Julie Hall

National Teaching Fellow 2013 Professor Julie Hall has ensured that the student voice plays a central part in higher education. She has championed a university-wide focus on student partnership working which has brought her institution national and international recognition. For Julie, dialogue is absolutely key to enhancing the university experience. Inspired by her grandmother, a hard working university cleaner, Julie was the first in her family to enter HE. She draws on nearly 30 years' teaching experience in a multicultural inner London environment. As a sociology lecturer she recognised students' lives were often undervalued pedagogically, leading her to develop inclusive curricula with space for dialogue and storytelling which recognised the complex identities of students and academics. Julie moved into educational development in 2000 and in this role she developed a wide range of student engagement initiatives. Students joined project teams as interns and consultants with academics, making films on assessment experiences, for example, and producing thought-provoking dialogue sheets to prompt debate and reflection on practice while developing extra-curricular skills. She has led initiatives to put students on validation and review panels, at the heart of institutional research projects and staff development, and as a central part of evaluating enhancement work. This has resulted in a university-wide culture of partnership working which was recently recognised in a QAA institutional review. This culture is also reflected in high retention rates and increased satisfaction scores. A significant number of Julie's projects have had an influence on staff, students and other universities across the country and internationally. These include work around the attainment of Black and minority ethnic students, on inclusive pedagogic practices and professional development opportunities. Her student engagement work has been shared with colleagues in the US, Japan and Canada. In 2011 she was invited by David Willetts to join a small advisory group on teaching excellence. Her application included feedback from participants who described her work as inspirational, thought provoking and insightful. As SEDA co-chair Julie has widened the organisation's reach, emphasising a campaigning role. Julie has ensured that SEDA increases its engagement with students and addresses the challenges of truly engaged pedagogic practices.