A recent study published by four researchers from the Faculty of Science and Centre for Academic Development (CAD) explores the benefits, barriers, and incentives for improved resilience to disruption in university teaching, as well as looking at individual perceptions of resilience-building in universities.
“Responding well to a disruption like a pandemic, earthquake or other disaster, requires resilience,” says Dr Rhian Salmon from the University’s Centre for Science in Society. “This research was part of a larger project focused on building educational resilience within the Faculties of Science, Engineering, Architecture and Design Innovation (SEADI). It was critical to have an interdisciplinary research team.”
The research team comprised Dr Salmon, Dr Jacqueline Dohaney, a STEM education researcher, Dr Mairéad de Róiste from the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, and CAD’s Associate Professor Kathryn Sutherland.
Dr de Róiste explains, “Our research explored the characteristics of a resilient institution and resilient academics and identified the barriers or incentives that can hinder or support academic resilience.”
Participants in the study identified key characteristics of resilient academics. These included being flexible, adaptable, collaborative, empathetic, and open-minded. Such individuals respond quickly during a disruption, are digitally literate, organised, prepared, and creative thinkers. They have a sound awareness of their courses, learner-centric approaches, learning and teaching options during disruptions, emergency protocols, and the wider institutional system.
Study participants also identified characteristics of resilient universities. Such universities use effective communication channels and have a coherent crisis communications strategy. They would also have an established, coherent learning and teaching disruption plan across all levels of the institution, as well as existing emergency response plans and management. Resilient universities have leadership that endorse resilience-building and that support staff to undertake resilience activities and develop digital literacy. They also have existing flexible, blended, and digital learning strategies, and effective and easy to use digital infrastructure, as well as a strong sense of community.
“We identified 61 unique benefits and 56 barriers to improving resilience before, during, and after a disruption, as well as 27 incentives to improve resilience,” Dr de Róiste says. “The top three incentives were providing staff development, providing time for academics to explicitly focus on resilience-building, and university leadership demonstrating support and endorsement for resilience initiatives.”
The research was funded by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of SEADI. It built on the work of a Steering Group which ran from 2014 - 2017 and included representation from across all schools in SEADI as well as a number of professional staff including from Information Technology Services, CAD, communications staff, the library, and archives.
“The work of that group arguably prepared many staff and schools in SEADI to be more resilient in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, having already invested time and effort into the consideration of how to improve resilience at a course, school, faculty, and community level,” says Dr Salmon, who had oversight of the SEADI resilience project.
Dr de Róiste, who oversaw the research component of the project, says, “While our research was developed before the COVID-19 pandemic, our findings can be helpful to ensure resiliency gains made in the wake of the pandemic—such as the rapid technical upskilling—can be retained and applied in the face of future disruption.”
The authors are encouraged that the research is already seeing practical application in the faculty-focused teaching resilience projects being supported by CAD as part of the University’s learning and teaching resilience workstream.
The full research article is accessible online in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction.