Professor Helen Walkington

In the context of rapidly growing numbers of university students reporting that they have experienced mental health problems, this paper argues that doing research as an undergraduate can contribute to student wellbeing. Although the benefits of undergraduate research are well documented, underlying reasons for its efficacy on positive student outcomes require investigation. This paper uses Self-Determination theory, which has empirically shown that fulfilling one’s need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness fosters wellbeing. Using authenticity as a conceptual lens to understand undergraduate research experiences, and a novel connection to Self-Determination theory, the theoretical proposition that authenticity within undergraduate research contributes to wellbeing is elaborated. The paper suggests that authenticity within undergraduate research experiences offers a way to stimulate wellbeing among our students which hinges on effective curriculum design and mentoring. Two case studies, drawn from Medicine and Geography, explore the way in which curriculum design coupled with mentoring pedagogy can enhance authenticity in research, student motivation, and therefore wellbeing. The paper reveals how authentic research-based learning can form an entitlement for all students through an embedded curriculum-based approach. The paper advocates for research-based learning to begin early in the undergraduate curriculum, in order to establish a sense of belonging for students and healthy learner-centred pedagogy. In addition to the framework for authenticity adopted, this paper reveals the importance of attention to the quality of learning spaces (novelty, professionalism, inclusivity) and the practice-based elements of mentoring for effective relationships between learners and teachers to ensure the wellbeing of all involved. 

This paper proposes ten salient practices of research mentoring activity in high school settings for teachers and technicians based upon survey and interview findings from 96 English and Scottish high school teachers from STEM disciplines, working in research collaborations with scientists. Mentoring high school research provides career development with teachers identifying new aspects to their professional roles including ‘teacher researcher’, ‘teacher scientist’ and ‘teacher mentor’. This study suggests the potential for using the ten salient practices to initiate individual teacher reflection and wider professional development, and, a way of framing and disseminating effective practice across the school sector.

In this short intervention we report on work in progress by Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) in collaboration with professional bodies such as the RGS, which seeks to respond to public concerns about ‘grade inflation’ in relation to degree outcomes. We present an updated analysis of degree outcomes in UK geography for 2010-2016 showing a strong correlation between average A-level points score on entry and the proportion of good degrees awarded by UK geography departments. We then go on to report on the results of pilot training activities within the discipline to increase the use of social calibration techniques as a means of providing transparent assurance about the high quality of assessment practices. We conclude that there is good reason to engage positively and actively with the public debate about academic standards and we make the case for regular social calibration exercises to share marking practices across multiple institutions as a potential means of ensuring consistency, reliability and clarity in academic standards.

This paper contributes to research on teaching excellence by extending the current body of literature pertaining to mentoring pedagogies in undergraduate research settings across diverse social, institutional and disciplinary contexts. Our data comes from in-depth interviews with 32 international faculty who have received excellence awards for undergraduate research mentoring. The data reveal a freedom - control dialectic, illuminating the ways in which expert mentors negotiate the desire to create opportunities for students to experience freedom and creativity in research, yet maintain control over the topic, quality and outcomes. The research findings reveal a defining characteristic of award-winning mentors as an ability to establish and sustain a sense of challenge, while maintaining  meaningful engagement and a sense of achievement amongst students. The findings show the importance of tailoring practice to the needs of particular student groups, and there are implications for institutional resourcing, as well as mentor training and development. 

Phytoremediation through forestry may be an effective means for reducing the metal loading in lands reclaimed after surface-coal-mining in the UK. Planted with mixed woodland, the soil loading of 5 key metals (Zn, Cd, Mn, Pb and Cu) decreased, significantly and progressively, compared to soils left as grassland through a 14 year forestation chronosequence on land reclaimed from the former Varteg opencast coalmine, South Wales. Fourteen years after initial tree planting, soil metal loadings decreased by 52% for Cd (4.3 mg∙kg−1 per year), 48% for Cu (2.1 mg∙kg−1 per year), 47% for Zn (7.3 mg∙kg−1 per year), 44% for Pb. (7.1 mg∙kg−1 per year) and 35% for Mn (45 mg.kg-1 per year). Analysis of metal loadings in the leaves of Alnus glutinosa (L. Gaertn) (Common Alder) and Betula pendula (Roth) (Silver Birch) found both to be involved in metal uptake with birch taking up more Cd, Cu, Zn and Mn and Alder more Pb. Concentrations of Zn, Mn and Cd (Birch only) increased significantly in leaves from, but not in soils, under older plantings. Since different tree species take up metals at different rates, mixed plantings may be more effective in forest phytoremediation.

This paper identifies salient practices of faculty mentors of undergraduate research (UR) as indicated in the extensive literature of the past two decades on UR. The well-established benefits for students involved in UR are dependent, first and foremost, on high-quality mentoring. Mentorship is a defining feature of UR. As more and different types of colleges and universities strive to meet student demand for authentic scholarly experiences, it is imperative to identify what effective UR mentors do in order to ensure student engagement, quality enhancement, retention, and degree-completion. We offer an original analysis of the literature on UR mentoring in which we identify 10 significant “lessons learned,” or evidence-based practices of effective UR mentors that apply broadly across disciplines, students, institutions, and mentoring approaches.

An early- to mid-Holocene humid phase has been identified in various Arabian geo-archives,

although significant regional heterogeneity has been reported in the onset, duration and stability of this period. A multi-proxy lake and dune record from Wahalah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) documents significant variations in hydrology, biological productivity and landscape stability during the first half of the Holocene. These data reveal that post-Last Glacial Maximum dune emplacement continued into the earliest part of the Holocene, with the onset of permanent lacustrine sedimentation at the site commencing ~8.5 ka cal. BP. A long-term shift towards more arid conditions is inferred between ~7.8 - 5.9 ka cal. BP, with intermittent flooding of the basin and distinct phases of instability throughout the catchment area. This transition is linked to the southwards migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and associated weakening of monsoon rains. A peak in landscape instability is recorded between ~5.9 - 5.3 ka cal. BP and is marked by a pronounced increase in regional dune emplacement. These variations are considered alongside the record of human settlement raising important questions about the interactions between population demographics, climate and environment in southeast Arabia during the Neolithic.

Key to the understanding of Pleistocene human dispersals and settlement dynamics is knowledge about the distribution of human habitats in space and time. To add information about the characteristics of inhabited environments along the South Arabian dispersal route, this paper presents paleo-environmental data from deposits excavated at Jebel Faya (FAY-NE1) in the Emirate of Sharjah, UAE. The sedimentary sequence at FAY-NE1 spans a period of about 125,000 years, including the last interglacial and the Holocene. Particle size and phytolith content of samples from two sediment columns were analyzed, including both archaeology bearing layers and archaeologically sterile layers. The results demonstrate that human occupation of the site is related to pluvial periods. Assemblage C, dated to about 127–123 ka, was deposited during a wet phase with an environment characterized by an increased proportion of C3 grasses. Grassland with sedges but lacking tree cover characterize ecological conditions during the youngest of the Paleolithic occupation periods, Assemblage A, dated to about 45–40 ka. Environmental conditions during periods lacking archaeological remains are characterized by the absence of vegetation cover during phases of desiccation. There is no evidence for human presence at the site between 38 and 11 ka.

Despite the present hyper-aridity, archaeological investigations in South-east Arabia have demonstrated that the region supported extensive human communities throughout the Neolithic and Bronze Age. These early populations utilised the region’s natural environment in a variety of ways, ranging from the exploitation of coastal resources to practicing pastoral and agrarian lifestyles in the interior. Palaeoclimate data suggests the corresponding period was characterised by considerable climatic variability yet, to date, few studies have attempted to investigate the relationship between climate, the environment and early human populations in the region. This paper combines new high-resolution palaeoclimate data from Awafi palaeolake, United Arab Emirates (UAE), with the region’s archaeological record from the Neolithic through to the onset of the Bronze Age. The evidence presented in this paper suggests that the environment of South-east Arabia offered different constraints and opportunities for early human occupation and subsistence. In particular, abrupt phases of aridity are demonstrated to have had a profound impact. Most notable is the change which occurred following the onset of climatic aridity at 5900calyr BP, when the region’s semi-nomadic, herder-gatherer populations abandoned much of the landscape and concentrated in selected environmental refugia, such as along the northern Omani coast. Human repopulation during the Bronze Age coincided with a return to more pluvial conditions under which a network of oasis agricultural settlements appeared along the piedmont zone of the northern Hajar Mountains.

This article considers the rationale for embedding research and enquiry skills early in the undergraduate geography curriculum and for making these skills explicit to students. A survey of 52 international geography faculty identified critical thinking, framing research questions, reflectivity and creativity as the most challenging research skills to teach early in the undergraduate curriculum. This article provides a range of practical examples illustrating research skill teaching from geography courses internationally. The case studies demonstrate that by embedding research skill development early, scaffolding provided throughout a degree programme can support geography students as they become producers of knowledge.