A multi-disciplinary team from Edinburgh Napier have been delivering a three–day training event for senior leaders, academics and early career researchers from the state university sector in Sri Lanka.
Led by Sophie Foley, the team included Mark Huxham, Peter Barlow and Mirona Gheorghiu from the School of Applied Sciences, and Grainne Barkess from the Research & Innovation Office. The event in Colombo, part of a British Council project largely funded by ODA, focused on improving the research capability of the HE sector, and was developed in collaboration with the University Grant Commission of Sri Lanka and University Vice-Chancellors.
Attended by representatives from nine of the fifteen state universities in Sri Lanka, the workshops explored strategies and skills development that impact on the quality and value of research, including research outputs. The event was well-received by participants, generating much discussion and sharing of ideas and practices over the course of the three days.
Sophie said, “It was great to see the level of engagement by participants, who represented a diverse range of roles within their institutes, and also disciplines ranging from STEM to the social sciences and humanities. The potential of this event to deliver immediate impact was evident, with several participants committing to delivery of these workshops in their own Universities in the coming months.”
The project ‘Improving Research in Higher Education’, on which Edinburgh Napier is the UK university lead, is one strand of the larger education reform programme, TRANSFORM, developed by the British Council (Sri Lanka) to support the Sri Lankan Government in providing an internationally benchmarked quality education for all young people in Sri Lanka.
The University will also deliver a seed funding competition for workshop participants to create new research collaborations with UK university partners. The final element will be the delivery of a workshop in Colombo in early 2019 focusing on quality assurance enhancement.