Four days of learning and laughing at Cumberland Lodge at the UK’s Great Windsor Park—the hallmarks of a great event!

The UCL Centre for Engineering Education (CEE) hosted the 2024 doctoral Summer School on engineering education research (EER). It was second doctoral Summer School delivered via SEFI, the European Society for Engineering Education. The first Summer School, held in 2022, was organized by SEFI Vice President Greet Langie, and conducted at the Irish College of KU Leuven in Belgium.

The UCL team organizing the 2024 event sought to provide a collaborative learning environment similar to 2022’s event. We selected Cumberland Lodge, a former royal residence dating back to the 17th century that is used today for educational programs for young people. The Lodge promotes discussions around ethics and social justice.

Cumberland Lodge is surrounded by the vast Windsor Great Park. Windsor Castle is located at one end of the Great Park, beside the village of Windsor. It is a spectacular place — a real joy to experience and a tranquil sanctuary just outside the borders of London.

To facilitate the 2024 School, John Mitchell of UCL brought together current and past UCL staff. He also welcomed guest experts from the US and Australia who volunteered to help. Together, our team provided structured training for this year’s 29 PhD student-participants. The students are all working on research degrees in engineering education, and they travelled to Windsor from across Europe and indeed across the globe.

In addition to representing perspectives from various corners of Europe, participants also brought experiences living and studying in South Africa, Mexico, the Philippines, Malaysia, India, Iran, the USA, and elsewhere!

Overall, the UCL team hosting, organizing, and facilitating the 2024 Summer School included exemplars Prof. John Mitchell, Dr. Diana Adela Martin, Prof. David Guile, Dr. Natalie Wint, and our centre manager Helen Bhandri. UCL honorary appointees Dr. Inês Direito and I (Prof. Shannon Chance) also pitched in wholeheartedly, facilitating several sessions each and supporting sessions conducted by others by, for example, facilitating discussion in breakout groups. Inês is now employed at the University of Aveiro and I at TU Dublin, yet we are always treated as full member of the CEE team. John Mitchell is an incredible leader who enables us, helps keep us officially recognized as honorary (researcher and professor, respectively) and helps achieve cohesion across our team.

From beyond UCL, Prof. Greet Langie (SEFI Vice President) and Dr. Jan Peters, MBE (a consultant with Katalytick in the UK) provided informative and engaging sessions. Prof. Anne Gardner (an Associate Dean who is involved with the Australasian Association for Engineering Education, AAEE) and Dr. Diana Bairaktarova (Associate Professor at Virginia Tech) participated fully as well, and helped facilitate breakout groups throughout the week.

Since finishing the event, the CEE team has received thank you notes from many of the participants. One came from Sid and another from Yash. They are studying at Purdue University, and I met them both at REES in India this past January.

Yash wrote to say that “As a first-year Ph.D. student and new entrant into the field, I felt warmly welcomed into the European Society of Engineering Educators and thoroughly absorbed in the program and its activities.” He praised “the design of the activities and the schedule,” which he said “offered a great balance of information and a chance to reflect and discuss with other members during the afternoon walks or even during the evening free time.”

Yash also loved the evening quiz that Diana Martin facilitated. She had contacted EER superstars and requested photos from their grad school days. Guessing their identities was a hoot, and Yash said the activity “was very creative and personally valuable because it gave me an opportunity to see [these well-known scholars] when they were my age or starting their careers in research.” He praised the way Diana, “filled the room with … energy and enthusiasm made the activity come to life” and I couldn’t agree more!

Yash described the value of elements from the workshops Inês and I conducted on literature reviews and positionality statements, as well, and also the sessions on ethics by Diana Martin, Nat Wint, and Cumberland Lodge staff.

During the week, I also delivered session on the structure of dissertations, differences in the way PhD education is structured around the Western world, conceptual and theoretical frameworks, and research paradigms — and another on incorporating gender considerations in your research and teaching. The first of these two sessions included small group discussions and a debate comparing the merits of qualitative and quantitative research.

John Mitchell and the UCL team provided guidance on selecting journals to publish in, preparing articles for publication, and conducting peer reviews. David Guille delivered a highly provocative session on “assembling your theoretical lens.” Earlier in the week, Greet provided the opening welcome to the school and a brief orientation to SEFI. Jan taught us about CliftonStrengths and facilitated a race-car-building competition.

Near the end of the week, we provided a session where “all the organizers shared their journeys into the field of engineering education,” which Yash described as “very powerful. … Such exchanges are rare and provide a chance to view the person, the human being behind the researcher. It made me feel that I belong in this field of engineering education because I, too, share similarities and seeing someone who has become successful by overcoming similar challenges is very encouraging.”

I wish we had recorded these stories because they were so rich and heartfelt. A dozen participants came to me on the day following this journey session with thanks for our openness, collegial spirit, and willingness to share what they described as valuable insight.

An example was emailed to us by Alison from the University of Cape Town: “Thank you for a magnificent four days. I so appreciated being part of a community and learning from each of you….  I am inspired and excited to consolidate what I can contribute in South African engineering education…. I also SO appreciated each one of your stories and the way in which you demonstrated a complementary and accepting team – working to one another’s strengths – with space for others to contribute.  It makes for an inviting and exhilarating ecosystem for us all to grow in.” High praise, indeed, and accurate!

Yash, Sid, and Alison have attended prior engineering education events, but some newcomers to our global EER community were part of this cohort, too — like Somayeh, who is currently studying at Umeå University. You may know that I have a distinct interest in supporting women from the Middle East who study engineering in Europe because I’ve come to know many at TU Dublin.

Somayeh is from Iran, although studying in Sweden today. She wrote “It was an honor for me to have a talk with you and be in your energetic class. I have learned a lot and [the experience] made me challenge myself and rethink about different aspects of my research.”

Following the event, I was delighted to hear from Somayeh’s PhD supervisors, Johanna and Maria. They emailed thanks to our team for taking great “care of our PhD student Somayeh during the summer school. She returned home with a lot of new knowledge, but also greater self-confidence, sense of belonging to the field, and sense of legitimacy as a PhD student. We knew she’d be in the best of hands, and we’d like you to know that your hard work has made a big difference for her (and us as supervisors)!” This I feel is the highest praise possible, and written by a scholar I admire immensely.

I loved my conversations with so many of the students — Luis, Julia, Hannah — the list goes on and on. So many fabulous memories!

It was a huge honor to be part of these emerging scholars’ education and to be so well received and appreciated. It was an invigorating week, and I learned tons myself!

It was also healthy. I enjoyed several enchanting walks through the forest with colleagues. I particularly enjoyed a long walk with Eugene, a PhD student who teaches engineering at a community college in California and studies at Purdue University, and another long walk with the whole cohort. The scenery of this park is spectacular and the conversations were deeply intriguing.

The peaceful setting with fresh air, healthy food, and collegial banter brought out the best in us all. I will seek to return to this special place.

During the week, I had so much to do. I actually taught two online night classes for BIM students at TU Dublin — as part of my Research Methods module. I’m fortunate to have a knowledgeable colleague, Claire Simpson, helping me deliver the module (particularly since a storm dropped the Thursday night connection several times).

Cumberland Lodge took great care of me, preparing dinner plates Tuesday and Thursday, since my three-hour class overlapped dinner time in the Harry-Potteresque dining room.

It’s been nine days since the Summer School ended, and honestly, I’m still a bit worn out! I did spend some time exploring London with Inês and Diana B after the School — after all, it was Diana’s first time in London!

And my fabulous partner, Aongus Coughlan join us and also came to meet my colleagues, Dr. Lelanie Smith and Dr. Nicky Wolmarans from South Africa down near the Engineers Professors Council on Savoy Street (before their two-day symposium on integrated engineering curriculum design, also organized by UCL’s CEE). Looking forward to seeing Lelanie and Nicky in South Africa in November 2025 (yes, we plan ahead!)!

In all, the School will go down in my memory as a highlight of 2024 and I couldn’t be happier that John Mitchell included me and that I got to work with this incredible cohort and facilitation team.