WEO Research Seminar: Conceptualising research skills: How do students develop them in university and graduates use them at work?

Event Date: 11 February 2026

Speaker: Dr Rita Hordósy, Associate Professor in Education at the University of Nottingham

Time: 13:45 - 15:30 GMT

Room: Cathedral Wing, CW405, Strathclyde Business School

Abstract:
Universities operate in an era of supercomplexity shaped by digitalisation, artificial intelligence, climate crisis and diverse socio-economic shocks, requiring current and future graduates to adapt to uncertainty (Aoun, 2017). Research skills - conceptualised as higher-order thinking skills to locate, evaluate, and generate knowledge - are central to navigating change (Willison & O’Regan, 2010), and can also act as transformative for students’ disciplinary learning and personal projects (Ashwin, 2025; Hordósy, 2023). Situating our discussion within the broader missions of universities, such as research and teaching (Tight, 2016; Elken & Wollscheid, 2016), this paper will explore some of the key dimensions that enable development of research skills (Healey, 2005; Brew & Mantai, 2017) whilst discussing potential constraints (Wareham & Trowler, 2007; Hordósy & McLean, 2022). Dysfunctional dimensions include narrow curricula, alienation of learners, unpaid student research roles, and marginalisation of teaching-only staff, given prestige and funding asymmetries privileging research over teaching (Advance HE, 2018; Boliver, 2017).

Published: 5 February 2026