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Dear colleagues It is with great pleasure that I can announce the fourth in the 2009/10 Educational Research Seminar Series, hosted by Educational and Staff Development. This seminar is presented by Dr Margo Blythman, Visiting Research Fellow in the Centre for Learning and Teaching in Art and Design at the University of the Arts, London and is entitled Living with change in higher education, and takes place on Monday 29th March at 3pm. Policy developments in higher education play out through the lives of university staff, both academic and administrative. This session examines the impact and influence on staff of contemporary policies and institutional implementation, and explores how university staff respond to current pressures. The session analyses, through a range of perspectives, factors which encourage and inhibit change in attitudes, working practices and culture. Sources of pressure are explored as is the impact on staff both directly and mediated through pressures on universities, as institutions, as power relations play out. In particular we will look at the issues from a micropolitical perspective. The session aims to enable participants to recognise the diverse perspectives operating within the contemporary university, to gain insight into the operation of power relations and the complexity of achieving change in participants' own institution. The session finishes by considering alternatives and their viability in the current climate. Margo Blythman Dr Margo Blythman is a visiting research fellow at the Centre for Learning and Teaching in Art and Design at University of the Arts London. She was till 2009 Director of Teaching and Learning at the London College of Communication, in the same university.. Her responsibilities in that role included faculty development, the quality of teaching and learning, tutorial systems and study support. She has published with Susan Orr on such topics as retention, development strategies within higher education contexts and the development of student academic writing, particularly in the context of art and design. Recent projects include formative assessment in art and design and plagiarism in non-text based disciplines. She is currently working on the evaluation of teaching and learning projects that make significant use of social networking tools. Her academic interests also include the impact of quality assurance systems on the working lives of academic staff and micropolitics in UK higher education. Her email address is m.blythman@ arts.ac.uk The seminar takes place on Monday 29th March and, as with all the seminars, takes place at 3pm in Room 602 on the sixth floor of the G. O. Jones Building (formerly known as the Physics Building) on the Mile End campus of the College. As spaces are limited, I would be grateful if you could email me to let me know if you wish to come along to this seminar. The remaining seminars for this year are: 26th April Dr Chris Trevitt, Director of Studies, Oxford Learning Institute, University of Oxford Research supervision at Oxford: tales from the development experience coalface 24th May Professor Stephanie Marshall, Director of Programmes, The Leadership Foundation for Higher Education Leadership in Learning and Teaching 28th June Dr Matthew Williamson, Education Adviser, QMUL, and Dr Giles Martin, Learning and Teaching Development Adviser, QMUL Transitions to Higher Education: reflections on a three-year study All the best Matthew Dr Matthew J. Williamson Education Adviser Educational and Staff Development Queen Mary, University of London E1 4NS Tel: 020 7882 2813 www.esd.qmul.ac.uk