Professor Jill Dickinson

This article is based on the inaugural professorial lecture that I gave at Leeds Beckett University in November 2025 on ‘Being Yourself’ and ‘Finding Your People’: Exploring professional identity and career transitions. Drawing on the literature, I examine definitions, interpretations, and perceptions, of the concept of professional identity, and share some anecdotes and reflections from my own career journey to date. In doing so, I briefly outline the importance of developing a strong sense of professional identity for both the individual and the organisation. Through this article, I also offer some thoughts around how my career background as a practitioner-turned-academic continues to influence my own professional identity and approach. I draw the article to a conclusion by offering some recommendations for building networks to support the development of professional identity.

The Higher Education (HE) sector faces an increasingly challenging environment with key themes identified as: the economic and social fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, shifting politics, changing expectations around education, and technological advances (Marshall et al., Citation2024). There are particular concerns about aspects including: a mismatch between tuition fee caps and inflation, reduced government grants (Atherton et al., Citation2024), decreasing numbers of international students (Bolton et al., Citation2024), concerns over pensions, pay, and working conditions (University and College Union, Citation2022), new thresholds for student outcomes (Office for Students, Citation2022), and gaps around research funding (Butland, Citation2022).

The environmental, social, and economic benefits provided by greenspace are well documented, and the closure of other types of Third Place has popularized them further. Yet, public sector funding cuts have necessitated local authorities prioritizing other facilities that they are statutorily obliged to provide, resulting in a facilities-hierarchy that leaves financially neglected greenspaces facing a vicious circle of decline. The Big Society agenda has seen local authorities increasingly rely on the voluntary sector to help plug the funding gap, yet there are concerns that such groups are not immune from the effects of austerity themselves, which limit their panacean abilities. In exploring whether statute could provide any answers to these greenspace governance challenges, this article considers the lessons to be learned from the approach adopted in Scotland, underpinned by the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 (‘the 2003 Act’). In particular, the 2003 Act establishes public rights of access over most greenspace, a local authority duty to uphold these rights and local authority powers to take remedial action. While there have been some issues in implementation, this article explores the potential for adopting a similar model in England and Wales to help secure the future of its greenspace infrastructure.

The aim of this collection is to champion the benefits of a diverse academy for everyone involved. This multi-disciplinary collection addresses issues relating to current or former practitioners within the context of higher education.

Against the backdrop of a dynamic Higher Education (‘HE’) environment and challenges compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic, this ‘on the horizon’ paper will outline initial findings from a study which seeks to explore students' perceptions of their transitions to a blended learning environment. Subsequently, this paper examines two research questions. First, what can be learned from initial findings about students’ perceptions regarding the approaches taken by the Higher Education Institution (‘HEI’) to support the imposed changes to their learning? Second, with a particular focus on spaces, how do students perceive their early experiences of the changes to teaching and assessment necessitated by the pandemic? To achieve the richness of data required, the research adopts a case study approach in focusing on a post 1992 HEI in the North of England. Drawing on the theoretical framework provided by sociomateriality, the paper will offer a reflective voice on the interaction, adjustment, opportunities, and conflicts arising from adapting residential dwellings into learning spaces. The variation in student living situations will be considered in the context of access to HE and student experience. The study draws on creative, photovoice methods to facilitate participant-led discussions in both focus groups and interviews. Illustrative images produced by participants will be included in this paper to add context to the initial analysis. Finally, future directions for the study will be outlined and considered in the context of the ongoing changes in the HE sector.

Within the context of a competitive UK Higher Education (HE) environment, this paper explores the transitions made by former or current practitioners who are now university academics, referred to in this study (and others) as ‘pracademics’. Drawing together the concepts of pracademia, academic selves and professional identity, this paper makes a tri-fold contribution. First, this case study examines pracademics’ perceptions from a post-1992, UK-based higher education institution (HEI) through collaborative reflexivity. Secondly, it suggests how pracademics’ professional self-identities can be fluid and context-dependent. Thirdly, it explores affinities and tensions between academia and practice, and identifies opportunities for building links between them. In doing so, the research makes a number of specific recommendations. The authors advocate for the recruitment of academics with practitioner experience and the facilitation of their effective transition into and within the HEI environment.

Legislation governing the regulation of dangerous dogs is notoriously fraught with difficulties, in particular concerning the definitions incorporated within, and the enforcement and application of, the relevant provisions. This paper examines two aspects of the legislative framework; the regulation of ‘type-specific’ breeds of dogs, and the extension of regulations relating to the control of dogs from public to private spheres. These aspects afford an opportunity for two principal justifications in favour of controlling owners and their dogs to be analysed: the protection of the public and the need to responsibilise dog owners. This paper considers the extent to which type-specific provisions and the extension of dangerous dogs legislation to cover private spheres achieve those desired aims and concludes that these goals are not clearly met. The authors recommend a consolidated piece of legislation, alongside a more sophisticated approach (supported by further research) being adopted with respect to the nature of dog ownership.

Using processes of collaborative reflection, the authors explored their use of photo-elicitation by replicating the participant experience from their own research. The resultant discussion led to the emergent topic of ethical research practice, which includes both broader concerns and specific considerations in employing creative methods. Drawing on the framework of the British Educational Research Association’s ethical guidelines, this paper critically analyses the literature concerning ethical research practice before presenting the findings from this reflexive project. Directly responding to calls for ethical innovation in the context of creative methods, this paper makes specific recommendations for how ethical research practice can incorporate reflective approaches that complement the review processes of ethical review boards by further protecting participants and facilitating researcher understanding and development.

This exploratory study addresses a gap in the literature for the potential in assessing domain-specific self-efficacy within the context of Higher Education (HE). Focusing on HE students’ participation in extracurricular activities (ECAs), the study builds on the authors’ previous research which recognised the impact of ECAs on HE students’ lived experiences. An initial sample of two hundred and ninety-four students from a from a post-92 Higher Education Institution (HEI) in the North of England (UK) completed a survey designed to measure self-concepts of student self-efficacy, encompassing academic and social tasks, and fifty-four of those students completed a follow-up survey. The key finding was that there is a positive association between involvement in certain ECAs and self-efficacy in students within the university context. Furthermore, the results indicate a relationship between engagement with certain ECA-types and specific domains of self-efficacy. These findings have important implications in that supporting students to develop higher levels of self-efficacy specific to the university setting could have an impact on key HE outcomes, such as employability. Further research needs to be undertaken to establish if there is a causal link between involvement in ECAs and the development of self-efficacy whilst at university.

This chapter will explore how artefacts can be utilised to support reflection on professional identities and promote reflexivity. With origins in material culture and sociomateriality (Orlikowski & Scott The Academy of Management Annals 2:433–474, 2008), the exploration of how objects can demonstrate aspects of professional identity has previously been explored in the social work context (Scholar Qualitative Social Work 16:631–648, 2017; Doel The British Journal of Social Work 49:824–841, 2019). The authors utilised this concept more widely in their own research, exploring the identities and transitions of pracademics from diverse subject areas and at various stages of their academic careers (Dickinson et al. Studies in Higher Education 47:290–304, 2020). Beginning with an exploration of objects and their link to identity, this chapter will develop to consider the utility of artefacts in professional reflection and reflexivity. Readers will be encouraged to consider how selecting and reflecting on their own artefacts can contribute to their understanding of their motivations to transition to Higher Education and how they can take a values-led approach as their professional identity evolves post-transition.

SUMMARY

Shopping centres face multiple issues arising from their status as quasi-public Third Places. Such challenges are compounded by the enduring, difficult retail environment. Against this backdrop, the research explores how a legally pluralistic understanding of place-governance could inform future strategies for securing shopping centres’ roles within the community.

This UK-based, bistage, multi-case study draws on various data sources collected from seven shopping centres across Northern England. It adopts both thematic analysis and cross-case synthesis to generate rich findings.

The data analysis identified three key themes: the diverse shopping centre population, internally generated norms and externally developed law.

This article makes a bifold contribution to the literature. First, it commingles and develops theories of legal geography and legal pluralism to introduce a new tripartite lens for exploring place-governance, which comprises black-letter, policy and cultural elements. Secondly, it utilizes this model to generate empirically based findings about shopping centre place-governance from the insider perspectives of centre management, centre operatives and tenants.

Given the increasingly competitive higher education (HE) marketplace, it is becoming progressively more important for university law schools to distinguish their offer. In England and Wales, it is commonplace for non-law undergraduate degree programmes to incorporate compulsory empirical research training within discrete modules or as part of a broader research skills package. Yet this element is typically missing from traditional LLB programmes. Addressing the gap in the literature around HE students’ perceptions of conducting empirical research, in this paper we explore insights into the benefits of or barriers to undertaking such research and the extent to which students believe that it should form part of their undergraduate experience. This paper is based on findings from a small-scale, pilot case study at a post-1992 higher education institution (HEI) involving students who participated in an extracurricular empirical research evaluation project. The findings reveal perceived benefits for three key stakeholder groups: students as researchers, the host HEI and the local community where the research took place. Drawing on these themes, we conclude by offering recommendations for law schools to learn from their counterparts in other disciplines and explore potential opportunities for incorporating empirically based research training within law undergraduate degree programmes.

This article explores how universities and industry can work together to improve access to graduate opportunities for disadvantaged students. Focusing on an initiative which involved students from a ‘post-1992’ UK university experiencing London’s legal sector, the article analyses the factors that contributed to the students’ perceptions of their increased self-efficacy as a result of participating in the event. Using a focus group methodology, the authors critically examine the barriers that can be imposed by students’ socio-economic backgrounds, which may prevent such initiatives from having a meaningful impact on diverse recruitment and fair access to the higher professional occupations. Concentrating on two strands of the Triple Helix model, the authors also make recommendations for building more effective bridges between universities and industry to improve access to the elite professions.

Following concurrent global enthusiasm and concern regarding the introduction into public spaces of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), this paper critically examines the legal, regulatory, and policy frameworks around their introduction, focusing on the potential issues for the growing number of stakeholders with disabilities. Through adopting an internationally comparative approach, we apply the lens of inclusivity to explore these issues around CAV growth and deployment, specifically from a UK perspective, albeit we observe similar opportunities exist for legislators in Hong Kong. In so doing, we present recommendations for the development of a legislative framework adhering to key principles of consultation, collaboration, and communications with members of these stakeholder groups.

Against the backdrop of a diverse and challenging Higher Education (HE) environment within the United Kingdom (UK), this paper extends existing debates around extracurricular activities (ECAs) and considers students’ engagement in ECAs within this context. Adopting a case study approach, and involving a team of student researchers, students’ perceptions of ECA-programmes at a post-1992 Higher Education Institution (HEI) are explored. A total of 38 students took part in a series of six focus groups. The data collected was thematically analysed and two key themes emerged, namely: perceptions that there is a hierarchy of ECAs, and an enhanced awareness of the barriers to students’ participation in ECAs, including the potential for harm. This paper examines the prospective impact of these findings and makes recommendations for the future development of ECA-programmes within HEIs.

Against the backdrop of a testing Higher Education (HE) environment that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the research sought to explore how educators approached the changes required to deliver teaching, assessment, and student support. Adopting a longitudinal case study design, the research focused on one of the largest higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United Kingdom (UK) and involved interviews with lecturers over the course of the academic year 2020–21. By examining the innovative approaches they took and the challenges they faced in making their transitions to the blended environment, the chapter identifies opportunities for future research in this area and makes recommendations for the benefit of future curriculum and resource planning within HE.

This collection has convened a range of contributors from different countries, assorted disciplines, and at varying stages of their pracademic journeys. It has illuminated the diversity and value of knowledge and insights that pracademics can bring with them from practice into academia. The contributors come from a variety of professional backgrounds, including construction and engineering, nursing, accountancy, careers guidance, law, psychology, education, and housing, to name a few. Whilst such disciplines may be diverse, this collection has revealed clear evidence of pracademics’ shared beliefs around the value of drawing on their practitioner skills and experience for the benefit of the academy, the students whom they teach (as the potential practitioners of the future), and their peers who may be looking to make similar career transitions. The importance of maintaining links between practice and theory, and connections with practice to sustain research relevance, is also in evidence.

Abstract

On 19 July 2018, the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018 (AEVA) received Royal Assent. As motor vehicles are becoming increasingly technologically based, with driving aids having taken over many of the more mundane (and possibly dangerous) aspects of driving from the driver, it is imperative that legislation keeps pace to determine the responsibilities of the parties. Motor insurance provides protection for those involved with vehicles and who may suffer harm, injury, and loss due to the negligence of the actors. This is most frequently driver error, but may also include manufacturing defects, which result in deaths and less serious injuries. It is also here where the intersection between torts and insurance laws needs careful management. It would be particularly unfair to ask drivers or third-party victims of motor vehicle accidents to seek redress from a manufacturer for losses incurred during the actions of an autonomous vehicle. Consumer law has historically removed this burden from affected consumers and it is entirely sensible for the law to protect individuals in an emerging field—and perhaps even more so given the trajectory of vehicles with driver-enabled qualities and the numbers of vehicles currently featuring such innovations. Yet, the AEVA consists of aspects which are troubling in respect of the motor insurance industry’s dominance of this market, the application of compulsory insurance, and exclusions and limitations to responsibility which expose policy holders and victims to EU-breaching levels of risk.

In the context of contemporary policy development in higher education, which focusses on student outcomes as a central measure of success, the recruitment of academic staff has diversified in response. The authors explore the insights, experience, knowledge, and skills that academics with either former or current practitioner experience (‘pracademics’ or second-career academics) can bring to this setting that can complement those of existing faculty. Drawing on findings from empirical, theoretical, and reflexive research, and experiences of developing associated research-informed communities of practice, the authors consider increasing debates around pracademia, the value of labels, the liminal spaces that pracademics occupy, and the potential roles of this group within wider policy agendas. In doing so, we outline the next stages for this research programme.

Internationally, the significance of the relationship between the university environment and the student experience is well-documented. In response, UK university leaders have driven forward policies that focus on estates' expansion and regeneration. The restrictions necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic presented an opportunity to explore questions around the importance of the materiality of campus and its impact on the student experience. This case study examines students’ experiences over time within a post-1992 UK universityi during the 2020/21 academic year and makes a tri-fold contribution. First, it explores how restrictions placed on learning spaces can foreground the relationship(s) between space and learning practice. Second, through adopting a sociomateriality perspective, the paper examines students’ reactions to the top-down approach taken to Higher Education (HE) policy making and its potential for exposing manifestations of power within the student experience. Third, the paper illustrates how photovoice methodology can encourage reflections on the impact of materiality on the student experience. The findings reveal two principal themes: power dynamics and community participation. The authors make recommendations for university leaders to adopt a community-first, co-creation approach towards future policy-making that enables meaningful dialogue with students and educators and drives forward sustainable, inclusive change.

This commentary builds on ongoing dialogues examining the impact agenda. Its purpose is to a) demonstrate how pracademia can enhance the impact agenda of Business Schools, and b) apply principles from socio-technical theory, to show how achieving this requires widespread culture change in Business Schools, which must be considered within the wider socio technical system in which pracademia and impact are embedded. We consider inherent problems, and ways forward.

Within the context of a dynamic Higher Education environment, demands for flexibility and technological advances present additional challenges for lecturers who are required to simultaneously develop their own praxis whilst encouraging students to engage with new and/or advanced digital tools. This paper draws on a case study conducted at a post-1992 institution within the United Kingdom during the Covid-19 pandemic. It combines the use of photovoice with an abductive approach that draws on sociomateriality (specifically spatial theories), to explore lecturers’ perspectives on shifting delivery modes, approaches to supporting blended learning, and any changes in perceptions over time. The findings reveal three themes: reshaping practice, teaching spaces, and surveillance, and the paper draws on these to make a tri-fold contribution. First, it identifies, and evaluates, a range of tools as ‘the new artefacts’, and associated practices, that were foregrounded during this period. Second, it explores the potential for developing approaches to delivery. Third, it makes recommendations for the future advancement of HE policy and practice.