Treasure Island Pedagogies: Episode 42, the one with the Kitenge

Posted on: 23 June 2025 by Dr Tunde Varga-Atkins in General

Host and Guests In Online Meeting 42
(Host and Guests in Online Meeting)

In Episode 42, in addition to lightbulb moments, treasure island pedagogies/props and luxury items, our discussion focused on supporting doctoral journeys as supervisors including themes of agency and the transformative power of students taking ownership of their own development,  holistic and student-centred approaches; the importance of the pedagogy of care and creating inclusive communities for doctoral education.  

Speakers: Tunde Varga-Atkins, Doug Cleaver, Hala Mansour, Saneeya Qureshi  

Date: 16 June 2025

Treasure Island Pedagogies: Episode 42 podcast

(Treasure Island Pedagogies Episode 42 - Podcast Transcript)

Read or listen to find out our guests’ lightbulb moments, teaching props, pedagogies and luxury items that they would take to their Treasure Islands for precious contact time with students. 

Doug Cleaver

  • Original discipline: PhD in Physics
  • Current Role: : Director of the Doctoral School (and Professor of Materials Modelling) at SHU and co-Director of the Research SuperVision Project (RSVP). I’ve also been Chair of UKCGE and co-chair of their DDD Network (during lockdown – that's a podcast on its own). And I’m involved in three of the thirteen OfS/RE projects (YCEDE, EDEPI and ASPIRE). I’m also on two UKRI Colleges – EPSRC and Talent – and have mentored a number of FLFs (as well as colleagues within my own institution).
  • Lightbulb moment: Finding Bob Burgess’ handwritten listing of UKCGE’s Working Group themes (written in a few minutes in 1994, still valid today). Doodling structures with a collaborator in a tiny departure lounge after a conference in Ohio – and realising that our computer simulations had been looking in the wrong place (we moved them and got a major result). We are all bombarded with information on a daily basis – the ‘lightbulbness’ depends on how well we filter and, so, extract useable insight.
  • Teaching prop or pedagogy: “10 Ways to annoy your supervisor” and variants along those lines. Also, I don’t know whether it’s an established pedagogy, but as a supervisor I enjoy (with appropriate timing) “taking my hand off the saddle” ~ akin to teaching children to ride a bike.
  • Luxury Item: A dog lead (plus a dog). I have very few original ideas when sitting at a keyboard, but they come quite readily when I’m walking the fields with a muddy labrador. If the island only has beaches and no fields then we’ll adapt accordingly.

Hala Mansour, Royal College of Arts, UK

  • Original discipline: PhD in Management, Leadership and Change, Doctoral Education, PFHEA
  • Current Role: Head of Doctoral Programmes
  • Lightbulb moment: Community and Care - co-creating experience with doctoral researchers and the research communities including inclusive practices to enhance students' experience.
  • Teaching Prop or Pedagogy: Care@HE. A community-based approach to support all those in HE interested in sharing experience and knowledge, whether supervisors or researchers. Create a safe, caring space for them, make their journey for doctoral education more human.
  • Luxury item: A notebook with PhD stories and creative work - arts and design pieces of work

Saneeya Qureshi, University of Liverpool, UK

  • Original discipline: PhD in the Professional Identities of Inclusive Educational Leaders; PG Cert in Research Degree Supervision; and outgoing Emerging Researchers’ Group convenor and Council representative for the European Educational Research Association (EERA). (I moved over from the “dark side” from my undergrad in Marketing and early career working at GlaxoSmithKline :D)
  • Current Role: Head of Researcher Development and Culture at Liverpool and I am also on the External Advisory Board for the UKRI-funded Research SuperVision Project (RSVP)
  • Lightbulb moment: It’s about agency. A powerful moment during a co-designed PGR focus group reminded me how transformative it is when researchers shift from compliance to ownership of their development journeys.
  • Teaching Prop or Pedagogy: A flexible, values-led dialogic/ coaching framework that uses powerful, open questions to foster agency, critical reflection, and ownership in navigating one’s doctoral project, career, and any related change, and relatedly, encouraging doctoral students to be curious (I’ve termed it the Cycle of Strategic Curiosity)
  • Luxury item: A piece of Kenyan kitenge cloth (material known for being vibrant, versatile, and rich with meaning) – and a reminder that adaptability, cultural grounding, and care are essential for rest, strength, and nurturing transformative learning environments (and also a piece of ‘home’ for me on the island :D)

Any Sparks? How Might Our Joined-Up Treasure Islands Look Like?

As for bartering on the Island: (Saneeya): I can certainly see Hala and mine’s (for now, pending info from Doug) joined-up Treasure Island would be a vibrant, values-led space woven with care, curiosity, and community where PGRs are supported not just to succeed, but to belong, be seen, and shape their own meaningful journeys. I love Hala’s notebook of PhD stories and creative work and would be borrowing that often to get inspiration and motivation from 😊 (Doug) I endeavour to support (all) those who work to support PGRs as they develop their thinking, autonomy and ambitions. By necessity, that means adopting (and promoting) learner-focussed approaches and demonstrating a willingness to contextualise, rather than re-centre. I’ll also lend out the dog to anyone on the island who is stuck on something. It’s clear we all enjoy that we’re still learning!

Links / Resources

Hala’s links

Doug’s links

Saneeya’s links