Partnerships
We work with a number of partners across academia, education and industry.
Dr Laura Colucci-Gray, University of Edinburgh
Laura grew up in the north of Italy before moving to the UK in 2000 when she started her PhD. Her research looked at the development of participatory settings – using role-plays – to deal with complex and controversial socio-environmental issues. When Laura moved to Scotland, she worked in Glasgow and in Aberdeen for 13 years. In Aberdeen, she held leadership responsibilities and was Director of Postgraduate Studies and Director of Research for 3 years. Laura moved to Edinburgh in September 2018 to hold a teaching, research and leadership appointment in STEM and Sustainability Education. She is passionate about real-life learning; radical democracy and participatory methodologies across the arts and sciences. Laura was Co-Invesgitator on the Scottish Government-funded Scottish Attainment Gap research project, Reconceptualising Attainment through shared learning spaces which promote achievement, health and wellbeing, working alongside the SLS team.
Lesley McMillan, City of Edinburgh Council
Lesley is an Interior & Architectural designer at City of Edinburgh Council, experienced in designing education and community environments in local authority and higher education. As chair of the Education Design Advisory council for the Society of British & International Design and Scottish ambassador for HundrED.org Lesley is passionate about designing inclusive and holistic educational spaces. On a secondment at Architecture & Design Scotland earlier this year, Lesley was involved in co-design of ‘Scotlands Learning Landscapes’ a toolkit & process that can be used for co-designing shared learning spaces, using kindness and wellbeing as core values.
https://www.sbid.org/sbid-councils/education-council/
https://hundred.org/en/users/lesley-mcmillan-a3b15ca2-15ba-4a0e-a1e6-4dd97fd4cd5f
Architecture and Design Scotland
We have worked closely with Architecture and Design Scotland, contributing to their Agile and Shared Learning Spaces toolkit, and collaborated on a scoping document outlining our vision for Scotland’s Shared Learning Hub. Our collaboration is committed to exploring co-design for educational spaces, leading to substantial longitudinal research and innovative learning practices for sustainability.
Newbattle High School
We have developed a partnership with Newbattle High School, a digital centre of excellence, over the course of our Scottish Attainment Challenge research project. As part of the collaboration, we held a series of Shared Learning Space events digitally connecting the University with the school. In the events, school pupils took turns presenting mini lessons for student teachers on the topic of how they like to be taught. The purpose of this approach was to enable the pupils to the on the role of experts and allow interaction and sharing with student teachers on an equal footing, deconstructing the typical power dynamic between teacher and learner. Clips from the events are available to view and the research, findings and recommendations are detailed in our report to the Scottish Government. We are now in the process of planning and implementing future research with Newbattle involving pupils and teachers as co-researchers, investigating conceptions of ‘high quality learning’ in the COVID-19 era.
Multivista
Multivista is a world leader in construction photo and video documentation, offering high-quality photo, video, and webcam services worldwide. We are collaborating with Multivista on recording and documenting educational spaces, with a view to making them available digitally and a means for learners and educators to explore spatial literacies and its impact on learning in new and innovative ways.
