Dr Michael Murray
Senior Teaching Fellow
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Area of Expertise
External Examiner
University College of Estate Management: External Examiner, MSc Construction Management programme, October 2020- October 2025.
Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland: External Examiner, BSc (Hons) Construction Project Management, Faculty of Engineering & Science, 2012-2016
University of Central England, Birmingham: External Examiner MSc Construction Project Management, School of Property, Construction and Planning, 2006-2009
Member of external Course Validation Panel: MSc Construction Project Management, School of the Built Environment, Napier University, Edinburgh, June 2004
Peer Reviewer (Journals)
- European Journal of Engineering Education, 2016 onward.
- Civil Engineering and Environmental Systems, 2017 onward.
- Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 2017 onward.
- International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education- 2018 onward.
- Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning-2018 onward.
Prize And Awards
- University of Strathclyde Medal Awards 2024 (Making a Significant Contribution to the Success of Others)
- Recipient
- 5/9/2024
- Winner-Excellence in Staff Collaboration- Strathclyde Student Union Teaching Excellence Awards (TEAs)-
- Recipient
- 17/5/2024
- Short Listed- Going the Extra Mile, Strathclyde Student Union Teaching Excellence Awards (TEAs)-
- Recipient
- 18/5/2023
- University of Strathclyde Teaching Awards-Nominated (Long Listed) Most Enthusiastic university Teacher
- Recipient
- 15/5/2019
- University of Strathclyde Teaching Awards-Winner-Most Innovative University Teacher & Shortlisted Best Teacher in Faculty of Engineering.
- Recipient
- 11/5/2018
- University of Strathclyde Teaching Awards-Shortlisted Best Teacher in Faculty of Engineering
- Recipient
- 17/5/2017
Publications
- Civil engineering employers engagement in work-integrated learning
- Murray Mike
- Proceedings of Institution of Civil Engineers: Management, Procurement and Law, pp. 1-13 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1680/jmapl.24.00034
- Chat-GPT : a clever search engine or a creative design assistant for students and industry?
- Maclachlan Ross, Adams Richard, Lauro Veeti, Murray Michael, Magueijo Vitor, Flockhart Gordon, Hasty William
- 26th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (2024)
- Employers engagement in work-integrated learning : university- industry collaboration in curricular & co-curricular studies 2010-2024
- Murray Michael
- (2024)
- Example Coursework : Developing Intercultural Competence in Engineering Students
- Murray Michael
- (2024)
- Provocateur Pedagogies in Higher Education : Punks, Pirates and Guerillas!
- Murray Michael
- (2024)
- An autoethnography of becoming an innovative engineering academic : punk, pirate and guerilla pedagogy
- Murray Michael
- SEFI Conference 2023, pp. 2545-2556 (2023)
- https://doi.org/10.21427/FJHE-0551
Teaching
Teaching Philosophy
I seek to deliver a student learning experience that promotes intellectual curiosity. My epistemic beliefs reflect a dominant constructivist perspective and the pedagogy that I deploy supports student agency through innovative Assessment for Learning activities (i.e. Flipped Learning / Book Jigsaw / Rich Pictures/ Vlogging for reflection).
As a Senior Teaching Fellow I have directed my efforts to creating reciprocal knowledge exchange between students and employers. This has resulted in significant ‘time in kind’ and direct financial contributions by employers for undergraduate curriculum & co-curriculum activities:
Graduate Mentoring 3rd year Students 2010-2024. As of May 2024, 1130 student mentees have participated, 80 employers have assisted and 306 industry mentors have providing guidance to the mentees.
Constructionarium (ConStructEd Scotland) 2010-2024. Co-curricular 5 day summer camp (experiential learning) since where student teams project manage and build replica structures. As of May 2024 this has resulted in 275 undergraduates participating and this has created circa 11'000 hrs. of voluntary student CPD and circa £160,000 of industrial sponsor support through materials, construction plant and management costs.
Civil Engineering 4 Real (CE4R 2012-2024) co-curricular problem based workshops facilitate peer (voluntary attendance, N=533) learning across all five years of the undergraduate course. As of May 2024, 133 workshops have been delivered by 218 engineers representing 76 employers. 2867 student attendances has resulted in 5734 hrs. of student CPD.
My pedagogy has been commended by the Quinqennial Review Panel (2015 & 2021) and recognized by the Joint Board of Moderators (JBM) Accreditation panels 2010, 2015, 2020; External Examiners Report 2020, and is explicitly referenced in the annual National Student Survey (NSS) free-text positive responses.
Awards / Nominations / Shortlist
05/09/2024: University of Strathclyde Medal Awards 2024:Making a significant contribution to others. Presented by Professor Sir Jim McDonald (Principal & Vice-Chancellor) for an outstanding contribution to the success of the University of Strathclyde and for demostration of the University Values.
17/05/2024:Winner-Staff Collaboration, Strtahlcyde Student Union Teaching Excellence Awards.
18/05/2023: Short Listed (Going the Extra Mile) Strathclyde Student Union Teaching Excellence Awards
08/06/2021: Winner- Faculty of Engineering Excellence in Teaching Awards.-Excellence in Supporting Students during the 2020-21 academic year.
30/04/2019: Nominated (Long Listed) Most Enthusiastic Teacher. “It was great to have you as my teacher Mike. You are definitely one of the most enthusiastic lecturers I have ever known or will ever know, probably”.
11/05/2018: Winner- Most Innovative University Teacher & Shortlisted Best Teacher in Faculty of Engineering- “ The amount of different ways this man has found to engage students with the wider Civil Engineering community is too long to list and I hope he finally gets the recognition he deserves”.
17/05/2017: Shortlisted Best Teacher in Faculty of Engineering “He goes above and beyond his role as a lecturer. Mike encourages students to take part in further reading and broaden their education with site visits and workshops. His passion for the course and genuine interest in the industry really encourages students to have ambition whilst pursuing their career”.
14/05/2015: Shortlisted Best Overall University Teacher “I feel I owe an incredible amount to him. He has built relationships with companies, organises site visits and forwards job advertisement to us”…“He makes such an effort for his students, and I think he should be recognised for this”.
07/05/2014: Winner-Best Teacher in Faculty-Engineering “He has such enthusiasm and ensures his students know what working life is like”.
15/05/2013: In Recognition of Teaching Excellence “Not a week goes by when he doesn’t go beyond the call of duty as a lecturer to try to introduce something extra or new, not just to us students but to the department as a whole. He inspires us to set our goals high and engages with students as equals”.
24/03/2010: Award in Recognition of Outstanding Teaching “Mike Murray is one of the best lecturers I have met so far, and has helped immensely in my learning in the department”.
Research Interests
My PhD studies and early publications have focused on construction management topics. However, since 2010, I have found a comfortable home within what I would consider to be ‘active’ pedagogical studies, grounded through my immersion in teaching and learning activities. My personal ontological (reality is subjective) and epistemological (knowledge creation is socially constructed) beliefs shape my approach to learning, teaching and research activities. Recent Publications:
Murray, M., Pytharouli, S & Douglas, J. (2022). Opportunities for the Development of Professional Skills for Undergraduate Civil and Environmental Engineers, European Journal of Engineering Education DOI/MS ID: 10.1080/03043797.2022.2031897 / 210690459
Murray, M. (2022). An Industry-Student Mentoring Scheme 2010-2022, Engineering Professors Council Crucible Project, 16th February, Session 1: Collaborating with industry for teaching and learning, Video3470518334, http://epc.ac.uk/recent-events/ & Toolkit available (Members Portal) @ http://epc.ac.uk/crucible-project-toolkit/
Pilcher, N., Galbrun, L., Craig, N., Murray, M., Forster, A., Tennant, S. (2021).'Role requirements in Academic Recruitment for Construction & Engineering’ European Journal of Engineering Education, 46(2):247-265.https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2020.1725451.
Professional Activities
- Plumber Procrastinator and a Lover of Learning
- Speaker
- 11/12/2024
- Civil Engineering Employers Engagement in Work Integrated Learning (WIL)
- Speaker
- 20/11/2024
- Collaborating with Industry for teaching & Learning in Engineering Education
- Speaker
- 4/9/2023
- International Symposium of Engineering Education (ISEE) 2022
- Chair
- 1/9/2022
- Centre for Engineering Education, UCL, Engineering Round table session on the priorities for Engineering Education Research in the UK.
- Speaker
- 28/6/2022
- Crucible Project
- Speaker
- 16/2/2022
Projects
- Pathways for Equal access to the Energy Research Sector
- Beattie, Stewart (Principal Investigator) Switzer, Christine (Principal Investigator) Kremer, Yannick (Principal Investigator) Murray, Michael (Principal Investigator)
- Ensuring equality and diversity in higher education begins with assembling a diverse learning community. Graduate Apprenticeships were set up to create new pathways into engineering for people from different backgrounds. While the Graduate Apprenticeship in Civil Engineering (GA-CE) diversified the number of stakeholders involved in recruitment and our GA employers are also committed to providing learning opportunities for a wide spectrum of society, there is an apparent lack of diversity in our GA-CE programme, which reflects a wider sector issue in GA programmes. This project seeks to identify the key factors affecting recruitment to the GA and develop recommendations to increase diversity in recruitment of future GA cohorts. The student intern, will conduct interviews and focus groups with employers to characterise the recruitment experience from all angles and inform development of initiatives to improve diversity in future GA applicant pools.
£11,016.61 (100% fEC) IGNITE Network (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI)+ FA2 project, - 10-Jul-2023 - 10-Oct-2023
- ENTICE - ENhancing Transitions In Civil Engineering (HEA Student Transitions)
- Ferguson, Neil (Principal Investigator) Bertram, Doug (Co-investigator) Kenny, Michael (Co-investigator) Murray, Michael (Co-investigator) Switzer, Christine (Co-investigator)
- 11-May-2015 - 30-Oct-2015
- Scottish Enterprise & Applecross Developments
- Murray, Michael (Principal Investigator) Langford, David (Research Co-investigator)
- A Lean Design and Construction Methodology for Applecross Developments
- 10-Oct-2005 - 19-Nov-2007
- Tempus Project: CD_JEP-30047-2002 (SY) Developing an MSc Curriculum in Construction Management for the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Aleppo, Syria
- Murray, Michael (Principal Investigator) Langford, David (Principal Investigator)
- 15-Mar-2004 - 15-Dec-2006
- ESRC Transdiciplinary Seminars Award: People & Culture
- Murray, Michael (Principal Investigator)
- Establishing a network of academics and construction industry practitioners with an interest in work-life balance issues. Seven workshops held under the headings of Work & Quality of Life; Flexible Working Practices; Child Care Issues; Discrimination & Promoting Inclusive Employment Practices; Risk, Safety & the Working Environment and The Impact of Information Technology.
- 19-Jan-2004 - 15-Aug-2005
Contact
Dr
Michael
Murray
Senior Teaching Fellow
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Email: m.d.murray@strath.ac.uk
Tel: Unlisted