Scheme Overview
If you have over two years’ Higher Education teaching experience, you can gain HEA Fellowship and recognition of your teaching expertise under Bangor University’s Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Scheme. This scheme is typically for experienced lecturers who are able to meet all the criteria of the UK Professional Standards Framework. This is an autonomous route to accreditation with weekly one-to-one support sessions available. Submission points are mid June and mid December.
Applicants must demonstrate:
- their experience across different areas of teaching activity
- knowledge and understanding of teaching and learning
- commitment to the professional values of a teaching academic in Higher Education
HEA Fellowship
Gaining a HEA Fellowship demonstrates your qualification to teach in Higher Education and your commitment to your professional development. This is a highly respected and nationally recognised teaching award, and Bangor University is accredited by Advance HE to award HEA Fellowships to PHD students and staff. There are four categories of HEA Fellowship to suit your level of experience:
- Associate Fellow - Suitable for early-career researchers with some teaching responsibilities, such as PhD students or post-doctoral researchers; those new to HE teaching with a limited portfolio; or support staff such as librarians or technicians with some teaching responsibility.
- Fellow - Suitable for early-career academics; those in academic support roles with substantial teaching responsibilities; experienced academics who are new to higher education; or workplace-based educators.
- Senior Fellow - Suitable for experienced academics who lead on organising learning programmes; experienced subject or new teacher mentors; or experienced staff with teaching responsibilities.
- Principal Fellow - Suitable for highly experienced academics in strategic leadership roles; education policy makers; senior staff whose strategic impact extends beyond their own institution.
Learn More
If you would like to learn more about the CPD Recognition Scheme or are interested in applying, email l.grange@bangor.ac.uk to express your interest. You will be added to the HEA Fellowships Blackboard site where you can view additional information about applying for HEA Fellowship through the CPD Recognition Scheme, including the Scheme handbook, guidance and application forms. The site contains announcements about the deadlines for applications and the dates of term-time, weekly one-to-one support sessions, which are currently run by Dr Laura Grange. If you have any questions after looking at the Blackboard site or would like to apply for HEA Fellowship via the CPD Recognition Scheme, contact Dr Laura Grange.
Participants' Feedback
T&R Lecturer in Marine Biology/Ecology in the School of Ocean Sciences
I was awarded an HEA Fellowship in 2023. I joined Bangor University as a research officer in 2015, moving onto a fixed-term lectureship in 2017, and then a full-time lectureship in 2019. Since starting teaching, I have developed approaches influenced by personal ideas and style, but also collective feedback and suggestions of university colleagues and peers. Throughout the previous 6 years, I have been fortunate enough to receive advice from more experienced colleagues, and observe these colleagues in the classroom and field.
I think absorbing diverse approaches and philosophies is crucial, as it enables the development of a unique style which exploits your strengths and passions, but also acknowledges the developments and advances made by others. My scientific research is focussed on fieldwork, and developing questions and hypotheses based on my observations. I design teaching session around these core-concepts, encouraging students to watch animals in-situ, and think about how animals are responding to their environment. I hope these approaches develop individual curiosity and exploration. I also hope that I demonstrate how individual interests can be met by exploring the coastlines, finding study-sites, collecting data sets, answering questions, and testing hypotheses. I hope that my enthusiasm encourages Bangor University students into careers which provide them with personal enjoyment and fulfilment.
Lecturer in Economics, Bangor Business School
I am always looking for ways to develop myself professionally, and have been eager to do so specifically in academia. I spoke with various colleagues, did my own research, and decided that applying for Senior Fellowship HEA (SFHEA) was the logical next step for me. Not only would this allow me to grow as a professional, but it would also enable me to benchmark my practice against professional standards.
The SFHEA application process gave me an opportunity to reflect on my teaching and the different roles I have within the Business School, contemplate what I had achieved and think about how to take it further. It was a challenging application process, however the support I received from colleagues across the University ensured that I understood what was required which allowed me to be successful with my first application. Going through the process of writing my application made me reflect on my professional journey, it disciplined my writing and made me realise how far I had come in understanding my teaching and learning. It also gave me a better understanding of the impact my work has had on colleagues and students.
Being awarded SFHEA has given me confidence in what I can deliver and also changed my approach to certain aspects of my work - I am now more conscious of the need for reflection and critical assessment of what I do. It was a valuable, albeit very challenging, pause for critical reflection and next steps planning, and I would highly recommend it to everyone at the University. I have come through this process feeling that it was a genuinely rewarding experience and not just a means to an end.
Senior Lecturer in Psychology, School of Psychology and Sport Science
I am delighted to receive HEA Principal Fellowship. At first glance, filling out a long application form bringing together one’s teaching and professional practice is a daunting task. However, by the end of it I was surprised to find how the PFHEA application process allowed me to reflect on my body of work in a way I had not done before. This perspective revealed how much of my work knits together around the topic of health and wellbeing. Being Director of the Master’s in Mindfulness-Based Approaches at the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice has led me and our team to develop the pedagogy of how best to train mindfulness teachers, this includes the inside out group model, a reflective practice tool called the MBI:TLC, and two recent books called ‘Essential Resources for Mindfulness Teachers’ and ‘Teaching Mindfulness-Based groups: The inside out model’. This also included my role as Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor for Health and Wellbeing between 2020-2022 – being in that post allowed me to be part of a thriving health and wellbeing team and implement university-wide initiatives such as staff wellbeing champions.
I originally studied Psychology back in 2004 with the hope that I would one day be able to have a positive impact. The PFHEA allowed me to take stock of this original intention, and it helped me to clearly see how our teaching and research we do at the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice ripples out far beyond Bangor.