Professor Karen Mpamhanga

Biography

Professor Karen Mpamhanga (formerly Smith), PhD, PFHEA

Professor of Higher Education and Associate Director of Educational Research and Policy in the Learning and Teaching Directorate.

I engage in critical higher education research using creative and innovative methodologies to ask questions of higher education policy and practice, the findings of which further knowledge, have practice implications, and contribute to professional learning and development. My work has focused specifically on transnational educators, international students, educational developers, doctoral supervisors and innovative practitioners and has demonstrated how their experience of university is shaped by its policies, procedures and initiatives. I've engaged in a range of funded research, evaluation, and development projects, working different partners, commissioners and funders.

Recent projects include:
- Leading evaluation of the Create, Speak, Thrive project, coordinated by Trestle Theatre and funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation 5th Round of the Teacher Development Fund;
- Working with Advance HE to develop a Transnational Toolkit for the Philippines for the British Council Philippines and a Roadmap for UK-Peru dual/joint degee Partnership Programme Development for the British Council Peru;
- Collaborating on a large Horizon Europe and UKRI funded project, AECED: Transforming education for democracy through aesthetic and embodied learning for democracy, responsive pedagogies and democracy-as-becoming, with five other European partners, to enhance and transform the use of aesthetic and embodied learning for democracy. I contributed to deliverables across the whole of the project, including the launch ready resources, led the UK’s case focussed on developing democratic supervision, disseminated findings and led workshops underpinned by project research, and represented the AECED project at two European Policy Roundtables. Visit: https://aeced.org/ to access the project resources.

I am Executive Editor of the journal Teaching in Higher Education, co-convenor of the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE)’s Higher Education Network, and series editor (with Professor Joy Jarvis, University of Hertfordshire) for the book series Critical Practice in Higher Education.

Prior to joining UAL, I led collaborative research and development in the School of Education at the University of Hertfordshire, where I was also contributed to the Professional Doctorate in Education (EdD) as session facilitator, cohort lead, supervisor, and Director (2019-2023). I have also worked in educational research and development roles at Sheffield Hallam, Heriot-Watt, Glasgow Caledonian and Greenwich universities.