Ben W. Walker

Postgraduate

• EXPLORE Programme (HE Teacher Education programme conferring Fellowship of Advance HE).

Research interests 

• Academic advising and personal tutoring
• Critical and relational pedagogy
• Student retention and success
• Widening participation
• Inclusive practice
• Student support
• Teaching and learning in Higher Education

Selected conference papers

• "Personal Tutoring in Higher Education: Translating Theory into Practice to Improve Success" (invited keynote speaker), University of Lisbon, Portugal, January 2025.
• "Effective personal tutoring practice: transferable principles from UK higher education" (invited keynote speaker), Autonomous University of Baja California, Mexico and The National Autonomous University of Mexico, January 2025.
• “Advocating for Advising: A cross-institutional approach to Academic Advising”, UK Advising and Tutoring Conference, University of Greenwich, April 2024.
• “Transformational Personal Tutoring” (Invited speaker), St Mary’s University, London, October 2022.
• “Enhancing Academic Advising: Contemporary Stories of Impact and Influence”, (Invited speaker), Annual Learning and Teaching Conference, Middlesex University, September 2022.
• “Personal Tutoring in the 21st Century: What it was, what it is and what it could be”, Personal Tutoring Colloquium, University of Portsmouth, June 2022.
• “Providing effective student support in the pre and post Covid environment” (Invited Keynote presentation), SKVC (Centre for Quality Assurance) International Conference, Lithuania, December 2020.
• “More important than ever and yet impossible to deliver? Tackling the Advising and Tutoring conundrum” (Invited keynote presentation), Regional Universities Network, Australia, December 2020.
• “More important than ever and yet impossible to deliver? Tackling the Advising and Tutoring conundrum with placement students” (Keynote presentation), ASET, The Work-Based and Placement Learning Association, University of Hertfordshire, September 2019.
• The Future of Student Success (Invited keynote speaker / discussion panel member), Salesforce Conference HE Trailblazer panel, London, April 2019.
• “Personal Tutoring - Boundaries in Student Support and Success”, (Invited presentation), International Perspectives in Education (IPIE), University of Derby, June 2018.
• “Beginning with hope: widening undergraduate participation, belonging and relationship building”, BERA (British Educational Research Association) Annual Conference, University of Northumbria, September 2018.
• “How can I be an effective personal tutor and what is out there to help me do this?” Enhancing the role of the personal tutor at the University of Lincoln”, NACADA (The Global Community for Academic Advising) International Conference, University College Dublin, July 2018.

Academic qualifications

• PhD by Published Work, Oxford Brookes University (ongoing, 2024-present).
• Advancing Pedagogy (MA Module), Part of a funded Research Development Fellowship by The Education and Training Foundation (30 credits)University of Sunderland (2015).
• PGCE in Post-compulsory Education and Training, University of Huddersfield (2002).
• MA in Modern and Contemporary Writing, University of Sheffield (1997).
• BA (Hons) Humanities, University of Humberside (1995).

Other professional recognition

• External Examiner for Advance HE accredited programmes, Bradford College University Centre, (2023 - present).
• Vice-Chair of UK Advising and Tutoring association (UKAT) (2019-2021).
• Senior Fellow of Advance HE (2016).