Praxis Festival of Scholarship 2025

Dates

Wednesday, May 21, 2025 - 09:45 to 16:00

Location

MSTeams

ABOUT THE EVENT

After six successful years as an inward-facing event, we’re excited to open the festival out to the wider Higher Education sector, encouraging collaboration and dialogue beyond our institution. The festival is a great opportunity to celebrate the diverse Praxis projects from the past year, from innovative uses of video technology in teacher education to exploring staff perspectives on anti-racist and inclusive assessment practices.

What unites all Praxis projects is a shared commitment to research-rich practices in teaching, a focus on enhancing student learning, and a curiosity for professional growth.

This event will feature presentations on issues relevant to Wellness, Education and Language Studies and the broader Higher Education sector. We invite anyone interested in innovative pedagogic research to join us for lively discussions that could shape the future of teaching and learning. The full programme will be shared closer to the event date—stay tuned!

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

This year we are delighted to welcome Syra Shakir as our keynote speaker. Syra is an Associate Professor in Learning and Teaching and Strategic Lead on Race Equity at Leeds Trinity University. Syra works on embedding race equity in the curriculum, decolonisation, anti-racist pedagogy, storytelling and co- creation with students to build belonging. Syra delivers a range of anti-racist training workshops to universities, schools, the public and private sectors using creative outputs and alternative ways of dealing with wicked problems of racism. Syra is also a qualified social worker with children and families.

This year the keynote will be From the Race Equality Charter to building an Anti-Racist University: Mechanisms for Change

Several years ago, my leadership within the Race Equality Charter deepened my commitment to tackling racial inequities in higher education. It became clear to me that, for decades, universities have failed to address the differential outcomes experienced by students from racialised backgrounds, manifesting in poor retention rates and the persistent awarding gap. At the same time, students across all backgrounds have struggled with developing a true sense of belonging, feeling disconnected from their institutions, their peers, and the curriculum. These systemic issues have profound consequences for student achievement, well-being, and engagement. This realisation propelled my mission to work towards building an anti-racist university, one where every student and staff member, irrespective of race, feels seen, valued, and supported to succeed. It is time to move beyond rhetoric and into action, building a university where all students and staff, no matter their background, can thrive. I will discuss mechanisms to support much needed changes, reflecting research findings, theoretical underpinnings, radical activism and sharing lived experiences.