Dr Emily Webb

Profile

I am an education advocate passionate about the development of teaching and learning within UK Higher Education to support all students to achieve their academic, professional and personal goals. I have worked within HE for 10 years, supporting student learning both within the discipline of History and as an academic learning advisor focused on developing student academic and assessment literacies, as well as roles within admissions and widening participation.  

Currently, I am the Learning Development liaison contact for the School of Politics and International Studies and the School of Education and lead our team’s strategic embedding of academic and assessment literacies in the BA and MA programmes of these schools. I work in collaboration with academic colleagues across programmes and modules to ensure that literacies are embedded and surfaced to students throughout their studies. This work often takes the form of collaborative consultation including co-designing activities, teaching sessions, module and assessment briefs, and dissertation supervision. I am also actively involved in the direct delivery of academic and assessment literacies within specific modules, either independently or with academic staff. 

In addition to this, I contribute to several team and institutional priorities, committees, networks and projects. These include the oversight of the Writing Space project, which provides daily peer support sessions for all taught students to seek writings guidance; TIPS steering group and reviewer; Decolonisation of the Reading List Project; Learning Design Agency; Faculty and School Teaching and Student Education Committee; and the Staff-Student Partnership Forum.  

In addition to my professional responsibilities, I continue to undertake historical research examining the role and experience of Bibisi (female concubines) in early colonial British India. Building on my PhD research. Building on the work of Durba Ghosh, I aim to locate and examine the lives of these women through critical interrogation of the recollections of their male companions, challenging the notion that these women have been silenced. Finally, I am also a trustee of the Rodillian Multi-Academy Trust (RMAT) overseeing the education standards of the organisation and facilitating increased partnerships with HE and FE institutions. Within this role, I support colleagues with the development of the KS5 offer available to students and monitor the attainment and destinations of all KS5 students within the Trust.  

Responsibilities

• Writing Space Lead
• Learning Design Agency – Design Sprint Facilitator
• TIPS Steering Group

Research interests

In my capacity as a Learning Advisor, I am currently investigating the scholarship related to student research dissemination. My focus is on how this process contributes to the development of students’ academic and professional skills, as well as the sense of belonging it fosters within the academic community. Additionally, in my role as Writing Space Lead, I am conducting an exploration of peer-mentor provision across the UK higher education sector. This involves comparing our cross-institutional model to more traditional, discipline-based initiatives.

I continue to pursue historical research in addition to student education scholarship. My current research focuses on the role of ‘bibis’ within the colonial domestic and public spheres. I am exploring how these inter-racial relationships operated on a personal level within the colonial context and the ways in which these women were able to exercise elements of agency within the hierarchical colonal framework. 

Qualifications

• PhD History
• MA Social & Cultural History
• BA (hons) History

Professional memberships

• Higher Education Academy (Fellow)
• Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (Member)
• Staff & Educational Development Association (Member)
• Royal Historical Society (Fellow)
• Social History Society (Member)

Student education

I provide embedded academic and research literacies support for module across the School of Politics and International Students and the School of Education. This support takes places across all undergraduate and postgraduate programmes within these schools. 

Research groups and institutes

• Politics and International Studies
• Education