Student Engagement Webinar

David Scott

David Scott is the Institutional Support and Development Manager at sparqs, leading on two of the strategic aims of sparqs work; supporting students to engage in their university/college experience and supporting the development of student engagement practices and activities in institutions and their students’ associations.  He was a key member of the recent international ESPAQ project, which focused on student engagement in Armenian higher education's national quality processes.  Previously, he was Head of Learner Services at Dundee and Angus College with responsibility for a range of academic support services as well as working for Education Scotland as an Associate Assessor. David joined sparqs in June 2014.

Lindsay Isaacs

Lindsay Isaacs is a Development Consultant at sparqs, working with colleges and universities to enhance and extend their student engagement. Her main areas of focus include developing support around staff development and working on the ongoing review of Professional Standards for lecturers in Scotland’s colleges. She also leads on two equality and diversity projects – a joint project with NUS Scotland on student engagement in Gender Action Plans, and a pilot project to help institutions monitor the diversity of their course reps. Lindsay is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh and The University of Stirling. She joined sparqs in November 2016.

Gareth Davies

Dr Gareth Davies is originally from Wales and he did his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees there.  He moved to the Western Isles in 2007 and first worked for Lews Castle College UHI in the Stornoway campus in 2009.  Gareth was elected to Court as a Staff Governor. 

He leads and teaches on the UHI Master of Education degree programmes in Tertiary & Higher Education and Digital Pedagogy as well as the postgraduate certificate in Research Methods.  He also lectures on a range of degrees including B.Sc. Psychology; B.A. Child & Youth Studies; and M.A. Health & Wellbeing.  Gareth has an M.Sc. in Rural Resources Management and has taught on the B.Sc. Sustainable Development degree and has supported the B.Sc. Geography degree.  Gareth’s teaching experience includes both further and higher education.

Gareth is a Chartered Psychologist, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Julia Fotheringham

Julia Fotheringham is a Senior Lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University (SFHEA), and Programme Leader for the PG Cert in Learning, Teaching and Assessment Practice in HE. The PG Cert explores Student Engagement as part of cohort discussions about national and institutional quality frameworks, but also considers how different approaches to designing and facilitating learning influence student engagement in many complex and interrelated ways.  Julia’s research interest in student engagement takes a more sociocultural focus in a longitudinal study of direct entrants’ transitions, where former Associate Students from college engage with the University in ways that do not correspond with normative views of ‘belonging’, but which serve the students’ purposes and expectations.