Dawne Irving-Bell, PhD, is a Reader in Learning and Teaching and Senior Learning and Teaching Fellow working in the Centre for Learning and Teaching at Edge Hill University.

With extensive experience of working in secondary, further and Higher Education settings as a teacher, Dawne is passionate about inspiring students, enabling them to achieve their full potential. Dawne’s experiences shape her values, and she believes that effective learning is cultivated from positive relationships with students, which starts with excellent teaching. With students at the heart of her practice she creates ‘conversational’ environments where mutual respect nurtures the spirit as well as the mind, engaging learning opportunities that help all students to reach their potential.

Dawne is dedicated to raising the profile of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and passionate about creating opportunities for others. She established The National Teaching Repository, an Open Education Resource (OER) with proven reach and impact across the global Higher Education community. A platform where colleagues can share interventions that lead to real improvements in teaching and learning in a way that secures recognition for their practice, making it citable, sharable, and discoverable.

Dawne is a member of The Centre for Higher Education Research and Evaluation at Lancaster University, and her research interests include the formation of learner identity, with a particular focus on STEM subject disciplines. SoTL, and pedagogical approaches to learning and teaching, including the use of technology to engage and enhance learning. She also enjoys lecturing on visual thinking and advocates for technology and design education, for which she received a National Award sponsored by The Royal Academy of Engineers from her Subject Association in recognition of her outstanding contribution to re-shaping Teacher Education and teaching and learning in the discipline.  

Dawne is a member of the International Federation of National Teaching Fellows (IFNTF), The Staff and Educational Development Association’s (SEDA) Conference and Events Committee, EuroSoTL’s Scientific Committee. She is Network Lead for the Advance HE Connect Social-Media for Learning Group and edits the Journal of Social-Media for Learning.

Following an invitation from the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning's (ISSOTL) Dawne was appointed Co-Chair of the Recognition Committee, and selected from a field of International academic scholars she was appointed to lead ISSOTL's International Teaching Fellows in the delivery of a global pedagogy and scholarship project. 

At her institution Dawne leads on her University’s Graduate Teaching Assistant Teaching in Higher Education Programme, and the PGCert in Teaching in Higher Education Developing Practice through Pedagogic Research Module. As an experienced External Examiner Dawne is accredited to deliver Advance HE's Professional Development Course (PDC) for external examiners and in her current position chairs institutional validations and leads on university-wide strategies to enhance the student learning experience. 

Dawne is a National Teaching Fellow (NTF), Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA) and proud recipient of a Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE).

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8943-9559

Email: belld@edgehill.ac.uk