Dr Roberto Di Napoli

Associate Professor

I am Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I initially graduated in Italy, majoring in English and French. I hold a PGCE in ESOL and Modern Languages, an Applied Linguistics MA and a PhD in Higher Education Studies (all from the Institute of Education, University College London). I am a member of the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE).

I have been working in the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Centre (LTEC) since September 2013. I am an associate professor in higher education and programmes director, in this role I lead on all LTEC-validated programmes. These include:

• Introduction to Learning and Teaching (which I co-lead with Penny Burden);
• Learning and Teaching in Higher Education PgCert (online course managed by Dr Colin Clarke);
• Research and Practice in Higher Education MA; and
• a number of short courses (managed by Dr Colin Clarke).

I am currently working with colleagues in the Faculty of Health, Social Care and Education, towards a joint MRes and doctoral programmes in professional and interprofessional education. I am Chair of the LTEC ILG (International Links Group) and a member of the LTEC management team. I contribute to all activities in the Centre.

Prior to my appointment at Kingston University, I held a number of academic and managerial posts in a number of UK universities (Imperial College London; the University of Westminster; Goldsmiths, University of London; and the University of Surrey).

At the University of Westminster, I was leader of a number of modules in modern languages, teacher education and intercultural communication. Since 1999, I have been working in the field of higher education studies, in both academic and leadership roles. At Imperial College London, I co-authored and co-led (with Heather Fry), the then new MA in University Learning and Teaching. At the same institution, I have significantly contributed to the internationally renowned MEd in Surgical Education, since its inception (in terms of curriculum design, delivery and supervisory activities). At the University of Surrey, among other things, I created the framework for a new degree in liberal arts and sciences

In addition to this, I have also worked, in a consultative fashion, for a number of international universities including Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Barcelona (Spain) and the UNESCO Institute of Political Science in Paris (France). I still teach and supervise on the MEd in Surgical Education at Imperial College London. I am currently acting in a consultative fashion for the Università di Teramo (Italy). Throughout my career, I have held a number of national and institutional grants.

I regularly present at international conferences and have been awarded a number of institutional and national grants.

In 2015, I was elected fifth Educator in Residence for the National University of Singapore, for August 2016.

Research interests

During the last 15 years, my scholarly and research interests have been in the field of higher education studies and research. My doctoral research, held at the Institute of Education (at the time, University of London), focused on issues of academic identities in the world of modern languages. This interest was at the source of a number of publications, including an edited book with Professor Ron Barnett on academic identities and voices (in 2008), and a special issue of the International Journal of Academic Development on the theme of values in academic development (in 2014). Other publications focus on international student and staff identities, the doctoral journey, the meanings of ‘impact' beyond quantitative measures, and the idea of time in the managerial university.

My current scholarly interests are mainly theoretical and focus, among other things, on the concept of academic practice (with colleagues from Imperial College London, the University of Lund in Sweden, the National University of Singapore and the University of North Carolina, Charlotte); the meanings and practice of higher education studies and research, and issues of curriculum design in higher education.

I supervise postgraduate students engaged in projects relating to different aspects of higher education studies and surgical education.

I am on the Editorial Board of IETI (Innovation and Teaching International) and Red U (Revista de Docencia Universitaria, Spain).

I regularly review articles for Studies in Higher Education, IJAD (International Journal for Academic Development) and HERSDA.

Publications

Publications include monograms and conference/keynote presentations – read more in Kingston University's Research Repository (a digital archive of published research produced by Kingston University staff and researchers).

Contact details

• Email: r.dinapoli@kingston.ac.uk