The Bath Spa University GALA outreach fund was launched in December with aim of supporting academic and professional staff and student engagement with GALA partners by providing funds for international travel or other activities related to teaching, research, or public engagement. It can also be used to support visits by representatives from GALA partners to Bath Spa. So far, 8 proposals have been approved, including awards to both academic and professional staff. 

Katharine Reeve (Publishing) was awarded funding for a teaching/student collaboration to finalise a publishing project with Francesca Zanella at CSAC at Parma University. This marks the culmination of an 18-month project to publish two catalogues of materials from the CSAC collection at Parma, which has involved BSU students working at BSU and one BSU student spending 2-weeks on placement in Parma in November, establishing a model for further publication projects at Parma and elsewhere.

Karen McGinty and Helena McCaskie (Accommodation Services) were awarded funding to spend 5 days at SUNY Geneseo to learn and share good practice on working with parents, allocating accommodation, SUNY’s successful Life programme to encourage a sense of student community, and growth impact on security, support, and behaviour.

Kate Pullinger (Creative Writing) was awarded partial funding of Donna Hancox’s (QUT) visit to Bath Spa in July to participate in the MIX conference. As part of GALA application, Donna will present a seminar on Creative Practice Research Methods to PG students and staff; meet with staff to discuss creative practice teaching; to discuss a potential international research bid and present a paper at the MIX conference.

Sarah Flavel (Study of Religions) was awarded funding to support travel for her and students to attend a Student Summer School at Beijing Foreign Studies University as part of their new International Academy for Chinese Thought and Culture programme.

Sara Gallagher (Student Support) was awarded funding to visit QUT for two weeks to learn about its student support policies and practices, with specific interest in student engagement, the capture of student voice and particularly the following areas: transition; disabled students; indigenous students; mental health and peer-led projects. It would also directly contribute to Sara’s work towards an MA Student Affairs in Higher Education. She has confirmed with the relevant staff QUT that they are willing to host her visit.

Russell Re Manning (Religion and Philosophy) was awarded funding to bring over Professor Anselm Min from Claremont Graduate University to speak at the 3rd Annual Bath Spa Colloquium for Global Philosophy in March, to run a research seminar and a student masterclass, and to discuss research collaborations.

Samantha Walton (English) was awarded funding to visit Udine University in April  to present a paper related to her AHRC Early Career Researcher project, at an environmental humanities conference organised by Antonella Riem. Sam met with a visiting colleague from Udine in October in her role as an Erasmus co-ordinator, and will look to identify potential research collaborators in the field of environmental humanities. She will also travel by train, to limit the environmental impact of her journey, and proposes to write about this in a newspaper/magazine article and a scholarly article, reflecting on the challenges of being an ecological-conscious academic.

Laura Purcell-Gates (Drama) was awarded funding to visit Concordia to meet with Dr Mark Sussman and colleagues in April to discuss developing a research collaboration relating to applied puppetry and object theatre. Laura, whose own research concerns puppetry and object theatre with young refugees, is already involved in an AHRC international network on applied puppetry, and Dr Sussman is leading figure in the field; he was convenor of the 9th Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics at New York and so is well networked.