Multidisciplinary research and innovation
Collaborative research across AI, education, and digital transformation addressing real-world challenges in learning and teaching.
Research focus areas:
Theme 1: Learning in an age of distributed human-AI intelligence in higher education
This project investigates how learning is reshaped when intelligence is distributed across humans, AI systems, tools, and networks, rather than residing solely in individuals. It examines how learning design choices influence agency, equity, participation, and outcomes in AI鈥憁ediated higher education contexts.
Core research questions:
- where does intelligence reside in AI augmented learning environments?
- how do human-AI interactions shape learner agency, responsibility, and trust?
- how do design decisions determine who benefits and who is marginalised when intelligence is shared or augmented?
Theme 2: Rethinking how we recognise learning for diverse student journeys
This project re鈥慹xamines the purpose, design, and communication of assessment in the context of increasingly diverse student pathways, AI鈥憁ediated learning, and non鈥憀inear educational journeys. It asks what assessment is for, who it serves, and how its value is made visible.
Core research questions:
- how can assessment move beyond sorting and measurement towards growth, belonging, and empowerment?
- how can assessment better recognise diverse learning journeys, identities, and ways of demonstrating capability?
- what role should AI play in supporting authentic, inclusive, and transparent assessment practices?
Theme 3: Developing interdisciplinary learning approaches for complex societal futures
This project explores how interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary learning can be designed to develop students鈥� capacity to engage with complex, uncertain, and systemic challenges that cannot be addressed by single disciplines alone.
Core research questions:
- how do interdisciplinary learning designs foster adaptability, systems thinking, and integrative problem鈥憇olving?
- what pedagogic approaches best prepare students for complex futures shaped by technological, social, and environmental change?
- how can interdisciplinary learning be embedded sustainably across programmes?
Theme 4: Reimagining graduateness 2040
This project explores how the concept of graduateness is being transformed by AI, automation, digital technologies, societal change, and evolving global work ecosystems. It investigates how higher education can redefine what it means to be a graduate by 2040, moving beyond the completion of a degree towards lifelong, adaptive learning, ethical purpose, and the continuous development of human capabilities.
Core research questions:
- how will graduateness be redefined by 2040: how will technological, social, economic, and environmental change reshape graduate identities, capabilities, and lifelong learning journeys?
- what capabilities will define the graduate of 2040: which cognitive, creative, ethical, interpersonal, and digital capabilities will enable graduates to flourish alongside intelligent technologies and contribute positively to society?
- how should higher education evolve to develop future graduates: how can curriculum, assessment, learner support, and educational partnerships be redesigned to foster adaptive, inclusive, and personalised learning throughout life?
- how do place, community, and global context shape graduateness: how can universities create learning ecosystems that recognise the influence of local identity while preparing graduates to address global challenges and opportunities?