Ella Taylor-Smith
Ella TaylorSmith

Dr Ella Taylor-Smith

Senior Research Fellow

Biography

*Centre for Higher Education Research (CHER) projects*

Council of Professors and Heads of Computing (CPHC) funded project (PI) 2023 to 2024: Investigating and improving induction training for CS work-based learning workplace mentors, especially to ensure inclusion.

Student Experience, 2022, ongoing. Exploring the perspectives and experiences of students in SCEBE (in the School of Computing, Engineering, and the Built Environment).

Graduate Apprenticeships, 2017, ongoing. Investigating graduate and degree apprenticeships in SCEBE and The Business school.

*Gender imbalance projects*

Ada Scotland Festival, Co-founded in 2020, ongoing. https://ada.scot/

Equate Scotland’s STEM champions: Edinburgh Napier staff champion for Equate Scotland’s stem champions.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) funded projects investigating ways to increase women and girls’ participation in computing, especially through role models and peer-mentoring:
* Gender Imbalance in Digital Technology (2021)
* and Role Models Framework Pilot (2021-22), the outcome of which is the Participant-Centred Planning Framework https://ada.scot/framework ;
* Women into Tech (2021-22).

SDS-sponsored collaborative studentship (DoS) 2022, ongoing. Gendered information landscapes and their impact on routes into and through apprenticeships.

*Centre for Computing Education Research (CCER): work placement projects*

Graduate Apprenticeships, 2017 to 2023. Investigating Graduate Apprenticeships in the School of Computing, especially the perspectives and contexts of the apprentices.

Work Experience Joint Study, 2017. Joint study with University of Greenwich, exploring approaches to work experience, through student perceptions, focusing on the influence of economic, social and cultural capitals.

Graduate Outcomes, 2016. Investigating the impacts and challenges of student placements, from the perspectives of computing graduates.

GEP Identity, 2016. Exploring the outcomes of graduate employability projects on undergraduate students, within a theoretical framework focused on identity theory.

* Centre for Computing Education Research: student transitions projects*

Associate Student Project, 2016 to 2022. The Associate Student Project (ASP) supports students who study for diplomas in Further Education colleges then complete their degree at university, entering directly into second or third year.

CfE Transitions Project, 2015 to 2016. Exploring the impact of secondary school curricula on the skills and experiences of School of Computing first year undergraduates.

*Centre for Social Informatics (CSI) projects*

Knitted Memes, 2017 (PI). Explored the emotional resonance of digital photos, shared via social media posts, in the context of local democracy.

Participation Space Studies, 2011 to 2016 (Doctoral research). A socio-technical exploration of activist and community groups’ use of online and offline spaces to support their work.

Research in Librarianship - Impact Evaluation Study, 2011. Investigated the influence of funded research on practice in UK library and information science (LIS). Funded by Library and Information Science Research Coalition.

*International Teledemocracy Centre (ITC) projects*
Hub Websites for Youth Participation (HUWY), 2009 to 2011 (PI of lead partner). Piloting tools and processes to support young people’s informed participation in policy-making around Internet governance. EU-funded project, with eight partner organisations across four countries, led by Edinburgh Napier.

Western Balkans Democratic Participation (WebDep), 2007 to 2009 (PI). Working with Western Balkan news agencies and journalists’ unions to create online news portals and community forums, to support democratic renewal. EU Framework project.

e-Participation Scotland Baseline, 2008 (PI). ESRC-funded event to find out about contemporary eParticipation work in Scotland.

e-Democracy Services for Highland Youth Voice, 2000 to 2007. Working with Highland Council’s youth parliament to develop and evaluate online tools to support their work, including e-voting systems, discussion forums, and a content management system.

e-Petitions projects, 2002 to 2009. Various projects to implement the ITC’s e-petitioner system and align its design and processes to the context of, for example: the Scottish Parliament, the German Parliament, English local councils.

e-Engaging young Scotland on radioactive waste management, 2004. Funded by the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) to pilot the use of online tools and games to support young people’s participation in discussions around radioactive waste management.

e-Consultation: What sort of Scotland do we want to live in? 2001 to 2002. Commissioned by the Environment Group of the Scottish Executive to gather informed input from citizens and groups, to put forward within Scotland's contribution to the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, 2002.

*Programme committees*

Social Media and Society (SMSociety) https://socialmediaandsociety.org/

EGOV-CeDEM-ePart (Merge of the IFIP WG 8.5 Electronic Government, the IFIP WG 8.5 IFIP Electronic Participation, and the Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government. http://www.egov-conference.org

News

Events

Esteem

Fellowships and Awards

  • Researcher Mentoring Pilot

 

Media Activity

  • HUWY event: Young people’s experience and advice on Internet Policies
  • The International Teledemocracy Centre hosts successful workshop to establish baseline for e-Participation in Scotland.
  • Ella Taylor-Smith's invited post on LSE blog

 

Public/Community Engagement

  • Ada Scotland Festival

 

Date


66 results

Students’ gendered experiences of male-dominated Computing and Engineering courses

Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, S., & Fabian, K. (2023)
Students’ gendered experiences of male-dominated Computing and Engineering courses.
How does it feel to be in a gender minority on a STEM programme? Does it have an impact on individual students? Via an online survey (n=255), undergraduate students on Computi...

Investing in degree apprenticeships: Analysing experiences through Conservation of Resources Theory

Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, S., & Bratton, A. (2023)
Investing in degree apprenticeships: Analysing experiences through Conservation of Resources Theory.
Degree apprentices have reported finding work-life-study balance challenging. This study uses the Theory of Conservation of Resources (COR) to investigate the resources invest...

Addressing gender imbalance in STEM graduate apprenticeships

Presentation / Conference
Cecil, M., & Taylor Smith, E. (2023, December)
Addressing gender imbalance in STEM graduate apprenticeships. Paper presented at Society for Research in Higher Education Conference 2023, Birmingham
There is currently significant gender imbalance within Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) graduate apprenticeship (GA) programmes in Scotland. This is a c...

Apprentices’ perspectives of the tripartite collaboration at the heart of degree apprenticeships: a longitudinal study

Journal Article
Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, S., Fabian, K., & Bratton, A. (2023)
Apprentices’ perspectives of the tripartite collaboration at the heart of degree apprenticeships: a longitudinal study. Journal of Workplace Learning, 35(8), 779-795. https://doi.org/10.1108/JWL-01-2023-0007
Purpose: The partnership which underpins degree apprenticeships is a tripartite collaboration between apprentices, employers, and universities. This study investigated the li...

Direct entrants as route guides to the higher education landscape

Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., Meharg, D., & Fabian, K. (2022)
Direct entrants as route guides to the higher education landscape. In SRHE International Conference 2022
Students who study for an HND at further education college and then join the university directly into the 3 rd year of their honours degree are a valuable segment of our acade...

Signalling new opportunities? An analysis of UK job adverts for degree apprenticeships

Journal Article
Fabian, K., Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, S., & Bratton, A. (in press)
Signalling new opportunities? An analysis of UK job adverts for degree apprenticeships. Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning, https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-02-2022-0037
Purpose The purpose of this study is to gain insight into the degree apprenticeship labour market and employers’ strategies for apprenticeship recruitment using job advertisem...

Mobilising more women into computing

Presentation / Conference
Taylor-Smith, E., Shankland, C., Smith, S., & Barr, M. (2022, December)
Mobilising more women into computing. Paper presented at Mobilities in Higher Education: SRHE International Conference 2022, Online
According to HESA data, UK universities' computing departments continue to suffer from a gender imbalance, where at present only 21% of students are female. This imbalance can...

Apprentices' longitudinal perspectives of the tripartite collaboration at the heart of degree apprenticeships

Presentation / Conference
Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, S., & Fabian, K. (2022, September)
Apprentices' longitudinal perspectives of the tripartite collaboration at the heart of degree apprenticeships. Paper presented at Organisational Learning, Knowledge and Capabilities, OLKC 2022, Trollhättan, Sweden
Purpose: In degree apprenticeships, the tripartite collaboration between the apprentice, the employer, and the university is key to success. As the apprentices are at the cent...

Transactional distance in the context of online and blended learning

Presentation / Conference
Fabian, K., Smith, S., Taylor-Smith, E., & Meharg, D. (2022, September)
Transactional distance in the context of online and blended learning. Paper presented at Association for Learning Technology Annual Conference, Manchester
Moore’s (1993) transactional distance theory recognises that communications and psychological distance between learner and teacher are affected by course structure, dialogue b...

Participant-centred planning framework for effective gender balance activities in tech

Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., Barnett, C., Smith, S., Barr, M., & Shankland, C. (2022)
Participant-centred planning framework for effective gender balance activities in tech. In UKICER '22: Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research. https://doi.org/10.1145/3555009.3555016
The gender imbalance in the tech industry [21], mirrored in computing education [13], is problematic in terms of providing appropriate products and services for the whole popu...

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