This Faculty of Humanities and and Social Sciences Student Bursary Project is open to year 2, year 3 and year 4 LLB students at Queen Mary University of London.
This project will review the available pedagogical literature on the development of interdisciplinary skills in Higher Education, so as to identify those instruments that would be most suitable for use in the discipline of Law.
Nicola Georgiou, School of Law: n.georgiou@qmul.ac.uk.
This project would constitute the first in a series of scholarly papers with the topic of interdisciplinarity at its heart. It will consist of a scoping review that will help identify the predominant pedagogical tools, methods and approaches that are currently in place when it comes to developing students’ interdisciplinary skills and knowledge. It is hoped to offer the basis upon which further research can be carried out, ideally through a ‘research action’ approach, whereby some of these tools and instruments are actively tested in some of the elective modules that Dr Georgiou is convening. It is hoped that some of these insights can help develop current interdisciplinary teaching practices in the School of Law and the discipline of law more generally, so as to equip law students with the requisite skills that they will need upon graduating.
The findings of this specific project and the wider project on interdisciplinarity and the Law are hoped to be disseminated both through publications, but also through the organisation of seminars and attendance at conferences.
During this apprenticeship the student will be required to conduct a database search to identify relevant pedagogical papers, as well as other valuable materials such as policy papers, guidance provided by Advance Higher Education, or curriculum/module descriptions from other law schools in the United Kingdom. The student will be expected to produce a bibliography, along with summaries for key materials retrieved during the literature search.
The student is expected to have achieved an overall 2:1 in the modules they have studied, up until the point of application. The student needs to have completed or is in the process of completing an elective module with a strong interdisciplinary component (for example, Health Law). The student needs to be able to demonstrate an ability to conduct independent library based research (for example in having completed and attained at least a high 2:1 in a dissertation-style summative assessment).
The project will commence on the 8th of April and finish on the 12th of July 2024.
The student is anticipated to work overall 76 hours for an award of £1,000. Flexibility is possible, but the student will be expected to work on average 5.5 hours every week (including meetings and briefings) over the course of 14 weeks.
An initial meeting will take place on the w/c 8th of April to explain to the student the aims of the project and to guide them through the tasks they will be working on.
Following the initial meeting, Dr Georgiou will conduct bi-monthly catch-up sessions with the student to monitor their progress and provide assistance as necessary.
A mid-point review will be carried out in the penultimate week of May, so as to confirm that the student has been progressing according to plan and that they can receive the first instalment of the award.
Students must submit applications to Cath Norman, Research Manager: c.r.norman@qmul.ac.uk by 12pm on 13 March 2024.
We anticipate that funding will be disbursed in two instalments, both subject to confirmation by the academic project lead that the student has been working appropriately.
The first instalment (40% of the award) will be paid at the end of May 2024; the second (60% of the award) will be paid upon overall completion.