Travels in a liminal space: The need for guardians and guides in SoTL
Julie Rattray is Professor in Higher Education at Durham University. Her research interests include the threshold concept framework, liminality, and affective dimensions of learning as well as other aspects of policy and pedagogy in Higher Education. In recent years Julie has been involved in research projects and conference organisation in the area of Higher Education. She was a member of the UK team of project IBAR, working with six European partners to explore the potential barriers to the implementation of pan-European standards and guidelines for Higher Education. Julie has been actively involved in the biennial Threshold Concepts conference since the 5th conference in Durham in 2014. During the subsequent conferences, she has contributed as a paper reviewer and member of the organizing committee, including giving the keynote address at the 8th conference in London in 2021. In 2016, she served as the chair of the Improving University Teaching (IUT) conference in Durham. She was also the UK lead for the DASCHE (Developing, Assessing and Validating Social Competences in Higher Education) project, which focuses on the identification of practice in relation to the development of social competence in Higher Education. With this project, five European partners were involved, along with the UK, and it was funded by Erasmus +.
Growing Together: Liminal Presence, Emergent Dialogue, and Cultural Action Towards Transformative Co-creation in Our Teaching and Learning Journeys
Anna Santucci is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in the Centre for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) at University College Cork (UCC, Ireland), where she directs the MA in Teaching and Learning for Higher Education and currently leads a nationally funded initiative to build sustainable capacity for academic growth and institutional transformation towards inclusive teaching and equitable learning through student partnerships, assessment reform, and intentional change agency. She sits in the EDIN committee, and supports UCC’s contributions to Teaching & Learning efforts for the UNIC European University alliance. She was previously a faculty developer at the University of Rhode Island (USA), facilitating equitable learning, Inclusive Excellence initiatives, and High Impact Teaching programs. Her story includes a BA in Modern Languages (Padova, Italy), MA in English (Nottingham, UK), and PhD combining Italian and Theatre & Performance (Brown University, USA - where she also served as Sheridan Center Head Graduate Teaching Consultant).
Anna grew up in Italy, developed her passion for educational development in the United States, and moved to Ireland in 2022. She cultivates her professional values as an active member of networks such as the “Yes, And…” Higher Ed Network, and organizations such as ISSOTL, ICED, and POD Network. She is currently Editor of POD Speaks and Chair Elect of POD’s Professional Development Committee.
Anna’s interest in how our positional, intersectional and liminal identities shape our Teaching & Learning journeys plays a key role in her commitment to promoting interculturality, equity and justice in higher education via co-creation, reflection, and dialogue. Her trans-disciplinary scholarly practice focuses on critical pedagogies informed by applied theatre, performance theory, and language & culture studies. Her international collaborations include her role as co-facilitator of the Deep Teaching Residency (a US-based NSF-funded STEM educational development program). Her published work appears in venues such as Research in Drama Education, the Scenario Journal for Performative Teaching, Learning and Research, the Journal of Excellence in College Teaching, the Journal of Faculty Development, and the International Journal for Academic Development.