The Engineering Education Research Group (EERG) was established in 2018 with a simple goal: to create a community for people passionate about teaching and learning in engineering.
The group was originally spearheaded by Lucy Berthoud, who brought together interested colleagues through an open meeting for staff with a shared interest in education. What began as an informal gathering soon developed into a more structured research group with support from the then Faculty of Engineering.
At its heart, EERG was designed to provide a space where colleagues—particularly those on education-focused career pathways, but also anyone interested in teaching excellence—could come together to share ideas, discuss challenges, and learn from one another. At a time when educational scholarship was receiving less recognition than it does today, creating that sense of community was particularly important.
From Informal Conversations to a Faculty-Wide Network
In its early days, EERG centred around seminars, informal discussions, and opportunities for colleagues to connect over lunch. These gatherings provided a valuable forum for sharing teaching practices, discussing educational challenges, and building networks across departments.
Over time, the group expanded both in scale and ambition. One of its most significant achievements was helping to bring the Horizons in STEM Higher Education Conference to Bristol. Hosting the conference provided an opportunity to showcase educational innovation taking place across the University and to strengthen connections with the wider STEM education community.
Importantly, this was not solely an EERG initiative but a collaborative effort involving colleagues from across the University, led by Alice Robson and supported by a broader community of STEM educators.
Creating Opportunities for Collaboration
While major events have helped raise the group’s profile, much of EERG’s impact comes from its regular activities and ongoing support for educational innovation.
Seminars and Research Sharing
One of the group’s core activities has been a programme of seminars where colleagues can:
- Present work in progress
- Rehearse conference presentations
- Share educational research findings
- Discuss challenges and seek advice from peers
These sessions have created opportunities for collaboration and helped build confidence among colleagues developing educational scholarship projects.
Informal Discussion Spaces
Alongside formal seminars, EERG has regularly organised informal tea mornings and discussion sessions focused on topics of common interest.
Themes have included:
- Assessment and feedback
- Group work
- Personal tutoring
- Student engagement
- Peer feedback
These conversations provide a valuable space for colleagues to exchange experiences and explore solutions to shared challenges.
Journal Clubs
Journal clubs have also played an important role, particularly during the COVID-19 period. By reading and discussing educational research together, colleagues were able to stay connected and engage with emerging ideas in engineering education.
Supporting Innovation Through Student Internships
Perhaps one of the group’s most successful initiatives has been its support for educational research internships.
Through faculty funding, staff members have been able to recruit students to work on educational innovation projects during the summer. These internships provide additional capacity for teaching-focused projects while creating opportunities for meaningful student partnership and co-creation.
The impact has been significant. Internship projects have directly influenced teaching practices, introduced new learning activities, and generated research outputs that have been shared at conferences and beyond.
As educational funding structures have evolved, responsibility for some internship schemes has moved to larger faculty-level groups, but student partnership remains a central part of EERG’s approach.
Engaging Students as Partners
One particularly innovative development was the creation of a student-led version of EERG. For several years, a student network provided opportunities for discussion, collaboration, and the continuation of educational projects beyond individual placements. The success of these initiatives demonstrated that engineering students were genuinely interested in educational research and innovation.
As a result, engineering education has now become an option for final-year projects, allowing students to investigate teaching and learning challenges using the same problem-solving approaches they apply to traditional engineering projects.
This has been a major achievement for the group and provides students with opportunities to apply engineering skills in new and meaningful contexts.
Challenges Along the Way
EERG has had to navigate several ongoing challenges.
Funding
Securing funding remains a perennial issue.
While the group has benefited from faculty support over the years, educational research projects often require longer-term investment than short internship schemes can provide. Sustained funding is needed to support larger-scale projects capable of delivering significant impact.
Time and Capacity
Perhaps the greatest challenge is finding time.
Across higher education, staff workloads have increased, making it harder for colleagues to engage with seminars, research activities, and scholarly communities alongside their day-to-day responsibilities.
Attendance at events has inevitably fluctuated as competing pressures have grown, particularly since the pandemic.
Avoiding Duplication
Another challenge is ensuring that educational researchers across a large institution remain connected.
Many colleagues may be working on similar topics—such as feedback, assessment, peer learning, or student engagement—without necessarily being aware of one another’s work. Building connections across schools and faculties remains essential to avoid duplication and maximise collective impact.
What Has Worked Well?
Reflecting on the group’s development, several factors stand out.
Building a Community
Above all, EERG has provided a sense of community.
For colleagues interested in teaching and learning, having a dedicated space to share ideas, discuss challenges, and build relationships has been invaluable. The group has helped foster informal mentoring networks and supported colleagues in developing their careers and educational research interests.
Supporting Educational Innovation
Student internships have enabled projects that might never otherwise have happened. Many of these initiatives have led directly to improvements in teaching and learning, benefiting both staff and students.
Creating an Inclusive Space
One of EERG’s guiding principles has been openness.
The group was never designed as an exclusive space for colleagues on education-focused pathways. Instead, it welcomed anyone with an interest in teaching, regardless of role or career pathway.
This inclusive approach has helped strengthen the visibility and legitimacy of education-focused careers while simultaneously breaking down barriers between teaching- and research-focused staff.
Connecting the Faculty
As a faculty-wide initiative, EERG has brought together colleagues from different schools and disciplines who might otherwise never have met.
Many educational challenges are shared across engineering programmes, but opportunities to discuss them are often limited. The group has created valuable connections, enabling colleagues to learn from one another and adopt successful approaches developed elsewhere.
Impact and Achievements
Externally, hosting major events such as the Horizons in STEM Conference has raised Bristol’s profile within the educational research community.
Internally, the group has:
- Strengthened the status and visibility of education-focused careers.
- Improved teaching through the sharing of evidence-based practice.
- Supported staff development, promotion, and professional recognition.
- Fostered collaborative educational research.
- Enabled student co-creation and partnership.
- Created opportunities for conference presentations and scholarly outputs.
- Established engineering education as a recognised final-year project theme.
Projects have explored topics ranging from personal tutoring and feedback to entirely new teaching activities developed and presented by students themselves.
Perhaps the most enduring achievement of EERG has been its creation of a supportive community for people who care deeply about engineering education. Sometimes it begins with something simple: bringing together people who share a passion for teaching and creating opportunities for them to learn from one another.
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