USH University of Sheffield

University of Sheffield

The Institution

The University of Sheffield (USH) is among the top 10 of the UK's leading Russell Group research universities. Research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls Royce, Unilever, AstraZeneca and many more household names as well as UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations. The University has global reach with extensive international links including long-standing and broad-based experience of EU funded research and development. The University of Sheffield is committed as an institution to research-led learning and has a leading national and international profile in development and research for inquiry-based learning (IBL) in higher education including by researchers in the Information School.

Working Group

The Information School (iSchool) is recognised for world-class research and excellence in teaching. It is the leader in its field in the UK, ranked number one in every national Research Assessment Exercise since 1986 and the first UK member of the leading international iSchools organisation. It is committed to research-led learning that includes engaging students in inquiry-based approaches. Staff research in the iSchool includes work in a number of areas relating closely to inquiry-based learning in university and school education, including educational informatics, information literacy and information behaviour.

Involvement in PATHWAY

The University of Sheffield is primarily responsible for review and synthesis reports on the Essential Features of Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE), the Essentials of IBSE Pedagogy, and Continuing Professional Development for IBSE (all WP2).

The Team

  • Prof. Philippa Levy, Professor of Higher Education Development and Deputy Chief Executive (Academic) of the UK Higher Education Academy (institutional manager for Pathway)

  • Prof. Nigel Ford, Professor of Information Science, researcher on educational informatics and information behaviour in educational settings including schools;

  • Dr Petros Lameras, Pathway Research Associate (2011), educational informatics researcher ;

  • Pam McKinney, Lecturer, inquiry-based learning and information literacy researcher.