
Dr Karen Gravett
Biography
I am a Senior Lecturer and Director of Research in Higher Education where my work focuses on the theory and practice of learning in higher education. In particular, my research explores the role of the relational, and student engagement and belonging theory-practice in higher education. My work has been funded by the Society for Research in Higher Education, the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education, the UK Literacy Association, the British Association for Applied Linguistics, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
My work is published in leading journals including Studies in Higher Education, Teaching in Higher Education, Higher Education, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, and the International Journal of Qualitative Methods. I am Co-Director of the Language, Literacies and Learning research group, Co-Convenor of the SRHE Learning, Teaching and Assessment network, and a member of the editorial board for Teaching in Higher Education. I am also an External Examiner.
My latest books are: Gravett, K. (due 2023) Relational Pedagogies: Connections and Mattering in Higher Education Theory-practice. London: Bloomsbury. Kinchin, I. M. and Gravett, K. (2022) Dominant discourses in higher education: Critical perspectives, cartographies and practice. London: Bloomsbury, and Gravett, K., Yakovchuk, N. and Kinchin, I.M. (Eds.) (2020) Enhancing student-centred teaching in higher education: The landscape of student-staff partnerships. Cham, Switzerland, Palgrave Macmillan.
My research interests include:
- Mattering and relational pedagogies
- Digital and postdigital engagement
- Belonging and non-belonging in HE
- Higher education discourses and narratives
- Space, place, and materialities
- Posthuman, sociomaterial, postqualitative and poststructural theory, methodology and research practices
- Time and transition in higher education
- Creative and visual research methods
- Academic writing practices and literacies
Affiliations and memberships
In the media
Research
Research interests
My research focuses on understanding and developing learning in higher education. I am particularly interested in student engagement and belonging. I employ a breadth of theoretically informed approaches (posthumanism; sociomateriality) in order to explore learning in higher education.
My research interests include:
- Relational pedagogies, connections and mattering
- Digital and postdigital engagement
- Belonging and non-belonging in HE
- Higher education discourses and narratives
- Space, place, and materialities
- Posthuman, sociomaterial, postqualitative and poststructural theory, methodology and research practices
- Time and transitions in higher education
- Creative research methods including the use of stories and mapping
- Academic writing practices and literacies
I am currently involved in a number of research projects (some of which are listed below).
Research projects
I am working with A/Prof Rola Ajjawi from Deakin University and Prof Sarah O'Shea from Curtin University on a SRHE funded project to examine how and in what ways educators can foster students’ sense of belonging and engagement in the digital university.
I am presently writing a book for Bloomsbury to be published next year. This book will examine the role of relationships and connections in higher education and the concept of mattering. Engaging posthuman and sociomaterial perspectives, it will introduce a broader idea of the relational: understanding bodies, the material, and our situated environments as an interwoven web of relations, considering insights and implications for higher education pedagogy, practice and research.
I am working with Dr Marion Heron and Adeeba Ahmad on a UKLA funded project to examine the emergence of new literacy events and relational doctoral practice.
I am working with Dr Namrata Rao and Dr Patrick Baughan and Prof Ian Kinchin on a research project using photovoice methodology to surface the role of connection for teachers in higher education.
Supervision
Postgraduate research supervision
09/2020 - present: Bianca Sanfilippo: Students’ Experiences: Neoliberal expectations and students’ mental health in British Higher Education
01/2021- present: Stella Kazamia: Human-Centred Education with Computer Science
Postgraduate research supervision
I am interested in supervising PhD projects in the field of higher education theory-practice, particularly those relating to my specific research interests.
My teaching
My main teaching roles are on the Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, and the AFHEA pathway programme, for which I am Programme Director. As well as this, I teach on the Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching, and on the MA in Higher Education.
I have also designed and hosted the Teacher's teaching podcast series: a series of podcast interviews with inspirational teachers.
I also hold a position teaching on the MA Digital Media (Education) at the UCL Institute of Education.
My publications
Highlights
Gravett, K. and Ajjawi, R. (2022). Belonging as situated practice. Studies in Higher Education 47 (7), 1386-1396. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2021.1894118
Gravett, K. (2021). Disrupting the doctoral journey: re-imagining doctoral pedagogies and temporal practices in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education 26 (3), 293-305. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2020.1853694
Gravett, K., Taylor, C. and Fairchild, N. (2021). Pedagogies of mattering: Re-conceptualising relational pedagogies in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2021.1989580
Gravett, K. (2022) Feedback literacies as sociomaterial practice. Critical Studies in Education, 63 (2), 261-274 https://doi.org/ 10.1080/17508487.2020.1747099
Gravett, K. (2021). Troubling transitions and celebrating becomings: from pathway to rhizome. Studies in Higher Education 46 (8),1506-1517. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1691162
Publications
https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2020.1842335
https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2020.1807497
https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2020.1721442
https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2018.1541883
https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2020.1766665
https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10030082
https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2019.1686749 .
https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1695112
https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919893155
education perspective. Language Teaching 1–3.