Win! Win! Win! Win! A case study of student / tutor / researcher / technician collaboration in teaching & research integration

Researchers at the Centre for Floods, Communities and Resilience and academics in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management have involved undergraduate students in the activities of the research centre. Researchers needed ways of encouraging conversations with stakeholders about drought impacts, and were struggling to find a compelling in-road to a problem that seems less imminent and is poorly comprehended in comparison to flooding. The idea of using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to develop a range of ‘conversation pieces’ was recognised as way developing an effective prompt for stakeholder engagement. Potential implementation of the approach was constrained by GIS capacity and/or expertise in the academic and research staff. 3rd year GIS students were given the opportunity to pursue projects, within their existing assessments, that addressed the needs of the researchers. The approach is a win-win-win-win; teaching staff increasing their research activities, researchers developing new skills and getting valuable output to support their activities, students being stretched and undertaking real-world projects with impact, and technical staff becoming more involved in university activities beyond their usual realm.