Academic Team Research Articles

Harnessing the power of RNA therapeutics in treating ischemic heart failure: the TRAIN-HEART story.

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is one of the world's foremost killers, accounting for 16% of all deaths worldwide. IHD is the main cause of heart failure (HF), as it leads to pathological changes in the heart, improper pumping function and eventual death. Therapeutic interventions usually follow a systemic general strategy for all heart failure subtypes due to the lack of a deep understanding of the disease mechanisms. Hence, HF and IHD therapeutics need groundbreaking concepts to guide the development of a new therapeutics class that tackles the disease at a molecular level. The TRAIN-HEART consortium, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Innovative Training Network (MSCA-ITN) funded by the European Commission, was established with the goal of filling that gap and developing RNA-based cardiovascular therapeutics. Created in the context of the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, TRAIN-HEART comprises three key work packages (WPs) focusing on the pathogenesis of heart disease (WP1), the therapeutic potential of RNA therapeutics (WP2), and the development of new efficient delivery systems (WP3). Fifteen international early stage researchers (ESRs) from multiple complementary scientific disciplines were recruited to collaborate with a network of PIs from nine academic and eight non-academic partners in various disciplines to fully harness their collective potential for the betterment of HF treatment. This article provides an overview of the benefits of being part of an MSCA-ITN, with its different training and networking opportunities, maximizing ESRs' potential and broadening collaborative research possibilities. Finally, it describes what was like to do a PhD during the COVID-19 pandemic, with all the uncertainty and concern attached to it. Luckily, TRAIN-HEART stood out as a proactive network, finding new initiatives and alternatives to promote scientific and personal development. By bringing together leading academic teams, (biotech) companies, and highly motivated researchers, TRAIN-HEART is expanding scientific horizons and accelerating future development of effective RNA-based therapies to treat IHD.

Team science competencies across the career life course for translational science teams

Abstract Introduction: Translational science (TS) teams develop and conduct translational research. Academic TS teams can be categorized under three constituency groups: trainees and faculty, clinical research professionals (CRP), and community partners. Our study objectives were to define individual and team competencies of these three constituency groups during their career life course and determine relative importance and the level of mastery of each of the competencies needed at different stages of their life course. Methods: Each group was composed of experts for their constituency group. We applied individual and team competencies in TS teams by Lotrecchiano et al. (2020) as a starting point for structured expert discussions following a modified Delphi approach that we adapted based on the emergent needs and insights per constituency group. Results: The degree of relevance and level of mastery for individual and team competencies varies for trainees and faculty members across the career life course based on opportunities provided and relative importance at that career stage. However, CRPs enter TS teams at various career stages with fundamental, skilled, or advanced levels of smart skills that may or may not be contextual to their role. Community partners equally possess and develop competencies in a non-linear and contextual fashion that are required to facilitate constructive, bi-directional collaboration with other members of TS teams. Conclusions: Team science competencies across the career life course do not develop linearly among different constituency groups and require an adaptive framework to enhance TS team effectiveness.

Academic pedigree diversity and global virtual team dynamics and performance

Academic pedigree diversity and global virtual team dynamics and performance

Identifying the key components of social support for patients living with type 2 diabetes: A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis of type 2 diabetes social support interventions.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a disease that impacts a huge portion of the world's population. The number of T2D cases is expected to keep rising during the next decade. Committing to the treatment to manage this condition makes participants feel a burden of emotions making them require emotional support from caregivers or close ones. Support from family or caregivers can help improve glycaemia control, medication adherence, and T2D self-management. However, little is known about what aspects of social support effectively improve patients' T2D self-management outcomes. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to identify the effective components of social support that can help participants improve their T2D self-management. Methods: The protocol of this review was developed based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The PRISMA recommendations were applied to develop a search strategy in collaboration with a team of academics to identify relevant T2D social support interventions via healthcare and psychology databases, Medline, Web of Science, ProQuest, CINHAL. Discussion: This review will provide an overview of what intervention social support components have a significant impact on T2D glycaemia control. These findings will inform future T2D interventions on what social support components could be used to encourage better diabetes self-management and glycemic control.

Perceived Academic Team Leaders’ Authentic Leadership and Team Members’ Psychological Safety: A Cross‐Sectional Online Survey

Perceived Academic Team Leaders’ Authentic Leadership and Team Members’ Psychological Safety: A Cross‐Sectional Online Survey

Identity and Role Challenges for Academic Teams Engaging with a First-Year Transition Program

Identity and Role Challenges for Academic Teams Engaging with a First-Year Transition Program

Using Infographics to Strengthen Academic Integrity: An Experience of the School of Educational Sciences of the Distance State University of Costa Rica

This article is a systematization of the experience carried out by the Academic Integrity Team (ETIA in Spanish) of the School of Educational Sciences (ECE in Spanish) of the State Distance University of Costa Rica (UNED in Spanish), with the aim of raising awareness of academic integrity as a response to the increase in fraudulent practices that occurred during the year 2020, as a result of the massive virtualization of subjects, on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. Seeking to transcend the traditional punitive approach to academic fraud used as a strategy, two series of ten infographics were produced, under three key axes (awareness training, theoretical, and reflective), which address both regulatory theoretical aspects of academic fraud and plagiarism, as well as surrounding elements of learning that affect academic success. Having said this, the main result of the experience was that the work carried out by the ETIA was reflected in a reduction in the number of complaints about academic fraud and the like filed with the ECE, which suggests not only the relevance of the strategy, but also of the theoretical axes that guided it.

Towards More Appropriate Care for Low Back Pain: Understanding Primary Care Factors that Increase Best Practices and Collaborative Approaches to Care

Moving towards more appropriate care for low back pain is an important health services research issue in Ontario, Canada especially as evidence suggests there is overuse of health care resources for this problem. Low back pain involves excessive imaging, over-referrals for specialist care, and overuse of drug therapy. At the present time, there is also poor uptake of best practices, an evidence to practice gap, and low back pain management and outcomes have changed little over the past 35 years. 
 The emerging field of implementation science will be useful to address the central research question which asks “What factors amongst primary care physicians that manage low back pain, enable or constrain their ability to implement best practices in their care?“ Implementation science (IS) is drawn upon to help advance the uptake of research findings into practice and provide understanding as to why the implementation of evidence into practice may be successful or not. 
 Using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) model helps to identify barriers and facilitators to the uptake of best practices. Older frameworks have focused narrowly on physician behavior change, but CFIR recognizes that implementation must also consider features of context and setting to have a greater chance of success. As such, CFIR informs the study by using a meta-analytic framework, and focuses on elements of intervention characteristics, outer setting, inner setting, individual characteristics and process, which have been found to influence uptake of interventions. 
 The study uses a mixed methods approach which is appropriate when attempting to understand the social and practice environment involved in providing primary care. In this multi-phase study, a literature review was first conducted to provide a current understanding of what is currently known on the topic. This informed Phase 2, which involved sending quantitative surveys to a sample of Ontario primary care providers, mainly including family physicians. A final Phase 3 involved qualitative in-depth interviews with a subset of those providers to provide context and help explain patterns in the research findings.
 Results from 240 surveys will be presented, including a discussion of descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, hypothesis testing and a principal components analysis (PCA). Findings from 21 interviews will also be discussed, where 7 themes and multiple subthemes were found, with a particular emphasis on: the usage of evidence, inter-professional practice, changing practice patterns, expanding virtual care, and centering patient preferences. Overall, multiple barriers and facilitators for the adoption of best practices including the use of clinical practice guidelines will be discussed. 
 The research committee, engaged in the project co-design, is made up of an interdisciplinary team of health service researchers, clinicians and academics with diverse expertise and experience. The study aims to address gaps in the application of best practices for providers delivering low back pain care and recommends more integrated models of care. An overall goal is to help improve low back pain management at the primary care level, as this remains a prevalent and costly issue for the Canadian province of Ontario. 

Leading Academic Development in Dynamic Higher Education International Settings

Within the super complex higher education environment academic development inhabits a dynamic domain that varies from institution to institution. Leading academic development requires the ability to effectively lead change, people, programmes, and yourself. This paper provides a critically reflective narrative of my experiences leading academic development across a lifespan in Australia and the UK. The narrative of my leadership development is shaped by my reflection on the University of Liverpool’s Leadership Commitment Framework and the UK Professional Standards Framework for Teaching and Supporting Learning in Higher Education and integrated throughout three case studies. The first case study, set in a large Faculty in an Australian university, explores inspirational, distributed, and entrepreneurial leadership; academic development initiatives are relatively informal in this case. The second case study, set in a large Australian university at the institutional level explores strategic leadership of processes and people; academic development initiatives are more formalised through university governance processes in this case. The third case, set in a Russell Group university in the UK, explores transformational leadership relevant to leading academic development teams and programmes in a highly regulated environment. Across the three cases issues of identity, influence, and power in relation to leading academic development in dynamic environments are explored and insights highlighted to provide advice and guidance to aspiring leaders of academic development and leaders of learning and teaching in higher education.

EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF BIO-EXPERIENTIAL TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT PERSONS WITH DEMENTIA AND CARE PARTNERS AT HOME

Abstract Bio-experiential approaches offer an interactive, multisensory, immersive environmental experience using technology and physical design to promote mind-body wellness. These designs have the potential to provide an in-home solution to help persons living with dementia and their care-partners manage challenges including agitation, conflict, stress, and difficult emotions (e.g., grief). This presentation discusses a partnership between an interdisciplinary academic team and a creative design and technology studio that has pioneered bio-experiential designs. This partnership’s mission is to develop a free interactive, immersive bio-experiential platform that offers a positive and engaging experience for both persons living with dementia and their care-partner(s). Our team iteratively developed an initial prototype using multiple strategies rooted in user-centered design, including a literature review, design thinking workshop with the full team, and two focus groups with clinicians (N=10; neurologists, geriatric psychiatrists, geriatricians, neuropsychologists, social workers, occupational therapists). Early development emphasized safety to minimize risk of increased agitation or other neuropsychiatric symptoms (e.g., hallucinations, sleep impairments). Key recommendations to enhance safety and usability included simple calming visuals and sounds, personalized experiences, familiar stimuli, and multisensory engagement (e.g., music, tactile stimuli). Increasing accessibility was also discussed related to ease of use and availability of platforms (e.g., laptop, television). We are now preparing for “live” iterative usability testing of our prototype (i.e., beta testing) with a diverse group of persons living with dementia and care-partner(s) before efficacy testing. The larger goal is implementation and wide dissemination as well as adaptations for other neurodegenerative conditions. *Dr. Vranceanu and Ritchie are co-senior authors.

User-Centered Development of STOP (Successful Treatment for Paranoia): Material Development and Usability Testing for a Digital Therapeutic for Paranoia.

Paranoia is a highly debilitating mental health condition. One novel intervention for paranoia is cognitive bias modification for paranoia (CBM-pa). CBM-pa comes from a class of interventions that focus on manipulating interpretation bias. Here, we aimed to develop and evaluate new therapy content for CBM-pa for later use in a self-administered digital therapeutic for paranoia called STOP ("Successful Treatment of Paranoia"). This study aimed to (1) take a user-centered approach with input from living experts, clinicians, and academics to create and evaluate paranoia-relevant item content to be used in STOP and (2) engage with living experts and the design team from a digital health care solutions company to cocreate and pilot-test the STOP mobile app prototype. We invited 18 people with living or lived experiences of paranoia to create text exemplars of personal, everyday emotionally ambiguous scenarios that could provoke paranoid thoughts. Researchers then adapted 240 suitable exemplars into corresponding intervention items in the format commonly used for CBM training and created 240 control items for the purpose of testing STOP. Each item included newly developed, visually enriching graphics content to increase the engagement and realism of the basic text scenarios. All items were then evaluated for their paranoia severity and readability by living experts (n=8) and clinicians (n=7) and for their item length by the research team. Items were evenly distributed into six 40-item sessions based on these evaluations. Finalized items were presented in the STOP mobile app, which was co-designed with a digital health care solutions company, living or lived experts, and the academic team; user acceptance was evaluated across 2 pilot tests involving living or lived experts. All materials reached predefined acceptable thresholds on all rating criteria: paranoia severity (intervention items: ≥1; control items: ≤1, readability: ≥3, and length of the scenarios), and there was no systematic difference between the intervention and control group materials overall or between individual sessions within each group. For item graphics, we also found no systematic differences in users' ratings of complexity (P=.68), attractiveness (P=.15), and interest (P=.14) between intervention and control group materials. User acceptance testing of the mobile app found that it is easy to use and navigate, interactive, and helpful. Material development for any new digital therapeutic requires an iterative and rigorous process of testing involving multiple contributing groups. Appropriate user-centered development can create user-friendly mobile health apps, which may improve face validity and have a greater chance of being engaging and acceptable to the target end users.

Bridging the Implementation Gap between Pomace Waste and Large-Scale Baker’s Yeast Production

The objectives set in the European Green Deal constitute the starting point of this review, which then focuses on the current implementation gap between agro-industrial wastes as resources for large-scale bioprocesses (e.g., baker’s yeast, bioethanol, citric acid, and amino acids). This review highlights the current lack of sustainability of the post-harvest processing of grapes and apples. In light of the European Green Deal, industrial biotechnology often lacks sustainability as well. We reviewed the recent progress reported in the literature to enhance the valorization of grape and apple pomace and the current failure to implement this research in technical processes. Nevertheless, selected recent papers show new perspectives to bridge this gap by establishing close collaborations between academic teams and industrial partners. As a final outcome, for the first time, we drew a circular flow diagram that connects agriculture post-harvest transformation with the industrial biotechnology and other industries through the substantial valorization of apple and grape pomace into renewable energy (solid biofuels) and sugar extracts as feedstock for large-scale bioprocesses (production of baker’s yeast industry, citric acid, bioethanol and amino acids). Finally, we discussed the requirements needed to achieve the successful bridging of the implementation gap between academic research and industrial innovation.

There has to be a better way

With your laptop open in front of you, you’re ready to take notes on the new teaching intervention being introduced at today’s session. You’re feeling distracted by the research ideas you wanted to work on this morning, and the assessment grading you need to finish this afternoon. Today wasn’t a good time to focus on course development, but it was the only time this professional development session was being offered. At the end of the session you leave with a collection of notes, some great ideas, and the enthusiasm to implement changes that really make a difference. You go back to your grading, your research, and your teaching. Weeks later you look at your notes and wonder how you’re going to actually make those changes. There has to be a better way. As a TELedvisor, you find these one-off professional development sessions just as frustrating. Fresh teaching ideas are presented, champions share their exemplary practice, and opportunities for collaboration are provided, but often the same fully engaged academics attend each session. Overall improvement in course development across the institution doesn’t take place. You could run a day or three of focused course design sessions, if lecturers could commit to attending. You could have instructional designers develop the online or blended elements of a course, but if the teacher isn’t invested, or doesn’t understand the reasoning behind the design or the activities that have been implemented, then time-poor lecturers often teach in the way that they’ve been used to. Formal qualifications in tertiary teaching can support the development of a greater understanding, but only a few lecturers have the time or the enthusiasm to undertake these. There has to be a better way. The Academic Development team are trying something different at the University of Canterbury. We are implementing a learner centric process for professional development for teaching and course development. We have designed a flexible, blended, learner driven professional development process, in which lecturers are invited to take part. This process utilises many of the recommended practices for effective professional development (Cordingley et al.,2015; Darling-Hammond et al.,2017; Hertz et al., 2022; Richardson & Díaz Maggioli, 2018) as well as strategies we recommend for tertiary teaching, and is undertaken at a time and pace that works for the lecturer(s) of a course. Through both format and content, the process provides examples of good practice, involves lecturers in flipped learning, offers expert support, incorporates collaborative course development, and promotes reflective practice. How has this process been designed? How does it work? How is it being implemented? Is it having an impact? Commit seven minutes of your time to finding out (and bring your laptop to take notes).

More than the sum of its parts

Curriculum renewal in higher education is a complex process involving multiple stakeholders across faculties, departments and supporting units with priorities and processes that commonly differ, adding to the complexity. Incentives for instructors to modify their curriculum include funded centralised programs that may also draw on the expertise of academic developers, learning designers and media producers. Here we reflect on our recent experiences working together across disparate academic and professional teams within a centrally funded curriculum renewal and innovation program in a large research-intensive university. One year after the implementation of a formalised network of supporting academic fellows, program reach significantly improved, and several projects implemented award-winning innovations. Early reflections on experiences across our supporting teams suggest that collaborative project work has contributed to more effective and innovative curriculum change initiatives. We propose a deeper investigation of these processes in a research project, to further inform curriculum innovation at research-intensive universities.

Evaluating programme-wide course redevelopment within a learning management system

Introduction: Effective course design within the architecture of a learning management system (LMS) is crucial for achieving high-quality learning outcomes in blended and online courses (Bollinger & Martin, 2021; Spiceland et al., 2015; Vaughan, 2010). Implementing a consistent visual design template across multiple courses can promote student engagement and achievement of learning objectives (Ralston-Berg & Braatz, 2021). Other elements of effective course design include clear instructions, structured learning activities, and effective mechanisms for interaction and feedback (Baldwin et al., 2018; Martin et al., 2021). Method: A comprehensive redesign was conducted of the LMS component of 34 undergraduate course instances (20 blended on-campus courses; 14 online distance courses) across three programmes in the science and health faculties at a New Zealand university. The redesigned template aimed to improve the clarity and ease of navigation to important course information, structure student learning tasks, and provide a foundation for effective course delivery. The initial phase involved creating and testing the template. This was subsequently presented to faculty as a means to cultivate commitment and collaboration among academics, academic support teams, and administrative staff. The template was designed to minimise cognitive load to promote comprehension and retention (Schnotz & Kürschner, 2007). It incorporated evidence-based course components based on principles of effective course design, including detailed and comprehensive information on the course and assessments; weekly modules with clearly stated learning outcomes, task lists, lecture slides and recording links, required readings, tutorial and lab materials; assessment requirements; supplementary materials; and links to available course support (Bollinger & Martin, 2021). While maintaining a standardised visual design, the template was flexible to accommodate the specific needs of individual courses. Results and Discussion: An evaluation of the impact of the redesign project will be conducted. Data sources will include student surveys administered midway through and at the end of each course, as well as coded feedback from academic and support staff. The effect of the redesign on key student and instructor outcomes will be analysed. Based on research on effective blended and online course design, we expect our evaluation will uncover systematic benefits to student experience as measured by perceptions of course organisation and engagement of course material. For instructors, we anticipate that the standardised template will reduce time on administrative activities such as answering student emails, allowing them to focus on higher-value tasks. Conclusion: This study aims to provide valuable insights into effective practises for course design that promote student engagement and the achievement of intended learning outcomes. The project aligns with Ascilite 2023 subthemes. The focus on effective course design relates to subtheme 3 on digital pedagogy. Designing an effective online component of blended courses represents a key challenge for educators in a digital world. Additionally, the collaborations between academics, administrators, and support staff reflect subtheme 2 on building deeper partnerships within an institution. By evaluating a programme focused on enhancing blended learning through partnership and pedagogical research, this study will offer critical perspectives on key issues in teaching and learning in a digital world.

Spotlight on the academic multidisciplinary team: proposals from the 3rd NIHR Newcastle BRC Academic Geriatric Medicine Workshop.

High-quality care for older people is best delivered by multidisciplinary teams involving a range of professions. Similarly, if research evidence is to effectively inform practice, it needs to be designed and executed by teams that are both multidisciplinary and multiprofessional. Here, we summarise the discussions from a 1-day workshop convened by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre in Spring 2021, which focussed on multidisciplinary academic teams. Barriers to success include small numbers of clinical academic researchers across all professions focussing on older people, and lack of career pathways, role models and support for non-medical clinical researchers. The workshop identified strengths in the tradition of multidisciplinary working in the care of older people, research questions that lend themselves naturally to multidisciplinary working, increasing interest from funders in multidisciplinary research, and untapped opportunities for greater commercial engagement. Initiatives to improve engagement of students and trainees, mentorship, career pathways, networking across research centres and possibly developing a national School of Older People's Care Research are all ways that we can ensure the growth of multidisciplinary research to best serve older people's health and social care in the future.

How learning development and learning design can inform each other: reflections and discussion points

Learning Development and Learning Design have contributed to the transformation of higher education (HE) over recent decades, in the move towards a learner-centred approach in HE. While Learning Design is still somewhat ill-defined and emergent, practice has quickly gained traction since the Covid-19 pandemic, and it is now generally well embedded into academic training and institutional terminology (JISC, 2022). What does the intersection of these two ‘learning’ fields look like, and how could existing collaboration be strengthened for the benefit of learners? This poster aimed to promote discussion on the topic. The poster briefly summarises the history of Learning Design and explores commonalities in the two fields such as an interest in universal design, a focus on empathy, inclusivity, and active learning approaches. Then it explores the limits of Learning Design and gives examples of ways in which the author’s practice as a Learning Designer is strongly influenced by Learning Development. In particular, it discusses how Learning Development values, as laid out by ALDinHE provide a grounding for the author, and how the substantial body of work in Academic Literacies (Lillis, 2019) provides a critical framing for working with academic teams when exploring issues of belonging, identity and student learning within Learning Design. Finally, it explores how roles intersect, how practitioners from the two fields do (and could) work together, for example, to collectively deepen understanding about the learning experience and improve co-creation with students. It also outlines what adopting a strong ‘design’ approach could offer the Learning Development community.

The Youth Collaborative Mental Health Survey: A Community-Based Participatory Research Approach Using Constructivism With Majority Hispanic Youth

Youth today face novel mental health challenges compared to youth of previous generations. Youth voice in research is necessary to better understand and alleviate this national youth mental health crisis, but current U.S. nationally representative datasets on youth mental health lack youth voice in their survey designs. The academic team collaborated with 19 high school students to design a comprehensive youth mental health survey called the Youth Collaborative Mental Health Survey (YCMHS). The youth co-investigators represented the diversity of San Antonio, Texas, and were majority Hispanic. The constructivism pedagogy in education, which empowers youth voice in the learning process, was utilized to facilitate the youth-led creation of the YCMHS. During eight 2-hour meetings, the youth co-investigators designed the YCMHS with 20 domains and 195 questions. The YCMHS embraced respondent flexibility and voice and included 42 conditional response questions and 29 free-text response questions. The youth co-investigators led the survey administration at five schools during the 2020–2021 school year. The youth-led research design also strengthened collaboration between community and school partners. Takeaways from the academic team include the importance of being flexible and patient and advocating for the youth collaborators. Takeaways from the youth co-investigators include the importance of being open-minded, asking honest questions related to youth mental health, and being persistent. Future work will strengthen the scientific rigor of the YCMHS and highlight preliminary survey results.

The 'master's dissertation fair': reflections on impact and future development

Every year in early spring, postgraduate taught (PGT) students start preparing for their dissertation project. At the University of Reading, this time coincides with the end of teaching, including the Library seminars supporting skills development. Acknowledging that our sessions were ill-timed to support effectively our PGT students at a challenging stage in their degree trajectory, the Study Advice and Academic Liaison teams at the University of Reading Library trialled in June 2020 a week of webinars tailored to PGT level and focusing on elements of the dissertation. The Master’s Dissertation Fair was born! The popularity and positive reception of the initiative took us by surprise and motivated us to continue running the Master’s Dissertation Fair as an annual tradition ever since.
 In this session, we shared our reflections on the successes and lessons learnt from the first three iterations of this programme, focusing on its Study Advice component. We reviewed the student feedback collected post session and explored what the impact was on our one-to-one service in supporting PGT students with dissertation projects over the summer. We also discussed how this initiative impacted our team, as it provided a (rare for us) opportunity to plan and develop collaboratively a coherent and complementary set of sessions. Finally, we explored how this reflection on impact can inform our planning for a more holistic approach to PGT support. For example, are there opportunities to use new formats beyond the webinar? What else could we do to improve our reach and inclusivity?

Bridging the transition gap

Issues around transition to university have been widely discussed, with the recent pandemic highlighting issues such as students’ lack of confidence in engaging in higher education and lack of knowledge around some of the expectations and skills required (Advance HE,2020), but one aspect which has been somewhat under researched is the link between academic skills required by 6th form students and stage 1 undergraduate students (Baker, 2016) . The Bridging the Gap project is a collaboration between students, the Academic Skills team and the Education Outreach team at Newcastle University. Our project co-created accessible, engaging, interactive resources based on feedback from both 6th form students and (undergraduate (UG) students with the student voice at the heart of the project. We worked with paid interns to not only use the information gathered from focus groups to inform resource development but also to consider how our message was communicated to students. To date, several resources have been developed around topics such as time management and evaluation of sources. Although still in the development phase, the project team has been able to gather some formative feedback from UG students, 6th form students as well as teachers. Further, the impact of the project has been highlighted by gaining additional funding for a two-year project coordinator. This session outlined what we have learned about working collaboratively with students to provide resources to help develop core academic and research skills to build confidence and support the transition from secondary to higher education. We highlighted the project phases, how we were able to work collaboratively and how we were able to ensure that the student input and evaluation were central to the project in order to provide a good practice framework.