Personal statement

Personal Statement

Dr David Roxburgh is a Principal Teaching Fellow and Depute Head of the Strathclyde Institute of Education (SIoE), with strategic responsibility for Innovation and Impact. His work brings together academic leadership, the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), Knowledge Exchange (KE), international and intercultural education, and the development of research-informed educational practice.

Before joining the University of Strathclyde, David spent 17 years teaching in Glasgow primary schools and was awarded Chartered Teacher status by the General Teaching Council for Scotland. He joined SIoE in 2012, was promoted to Senior Teaching Fellow in 2016 and to Principal Teaching Fellow in 2023.

Academic leadership, scholarship and impact

A major focus of David's current leadership is strengthening the relationship between scholarship, educational practice and external engagement across SIoE. He leads the Institute's development of SoTL and Knowledge Exchange, including work to support collaborative inquiry, mentoring and dissemination; increase the visibility and reach of colleagues' scholarship; develop professional learning; diversify external partnerships; and strengthen sustainable Knowledge Exchange activity and income.

His particular interest is in moving beyond isolated examples of educational innovation towards sustainable cultures in which scholarship, professional learning, Knowledge Exchange and evidence of impact are embedded within academic practice. He is also developing research examining approaches to strengthening engagement with SoTL within higher education.

More broadly, his scholarship connects higher education pedagogy, teacher education, international and intercultural education, student partnership, and the translation of educational innovation into wider professional and institutional practice.

International, intercultural and multilingual education

International and intercultural education is a sustained strand of David's academic work. His doctoral research examined third-language approaches to teaching Chinese culture within Scottish primary education. His subsequent work has developed a particular interest in multilingual and intercultural pedagogies and in the potential of 'local language' approaches to engage with the linguistic and cultural diversity of contemporary classrooms.

He is currently involved in collaborative work exploring emerging plurilingual and intercultural pedagogies in primary English language teacher education, supported through a Royal Society of Edinburgh Network Grant. This work brings together colleagues in Scotland and France and contributes to a developing international programme of scholarship around multilingualism, teacher learning and intercultural education.

David also has longstanding experience of educational collaboration with China. He was previously Depute Director of the Strathclyde China Institute and, from 2020 to 2024, Director for Global Engagement within SIoE, where he led the development and implementation of the Institute's internationalisation strategy and supported colleagues in developing international partnerships across teaching, research and Knowledge Exchange.

Knowledge Exchange, partnerships and transnational education

David was Principal Investigator of a British Council Going Global Partnerships project with Beijing Normal University focused on developing transnational, innovative and culturally sensitive approaches to inclusive education. The project brought together students, academics and educational partners in the UK and China through collaborative professional learning, international educational experiences and Knowledge Exchange.

A major output from this work was A Toolkit for Inclusive Academic Practice in Transnational Partnerships. The Toolkit encourages critical consideration of the assumptions, relationships, contexts and decisions that shape international educational partnerships and contributes to David's wider interest in developing more inclusive and context-sensitive approaches to transnational education.

This work reflects a broader approach to Knowledge Exchange centred on sustained partnership, reciprocal learning and the development of educational resources and professional learning that can be adapted beyond the individual projects from which they emerge.

Educational innovation and international collaboration

David has a particular interest in educational collaboration that creates meaningful opportunities for students and educators to learn across institutional, cultural and national boundaries.

He has contributed to a Fulbright Global Challenges Teaching Award collaboration involving Virtual Exchange and Collaborative Online International Learning (VE/COIL). This forms part of his wider interest in how international and intercultural learning can be embedded within curricula and made accessible to students beyond conventional physical mobility.

His developing work also includes approaches that position students as active partners and co-researchers in investigating their educational and intercultural experiences. Across these strands, a recurring concern is how internationalisation can move beyond mobility or partnership activity alone towards more inclusive, critically informed and educationally meaningful forms of international and intercultural learning.

Research, funding and doctoral supervision

David's recent work has attracted external support from organisations including the British Council, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account and the Fulbright programme.

His current research and scholarship interests include the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and educational development in higher education; multilingual and intercultural pedagogies in teacher education; internationalisation and intercultural learning; transnational education and international educational partnerships; student partnership and co-research; Virtual Exchange and Collaborative Online International Learning; and Knowledge Exchange and the translation of educational innovation into wider practice.

David teaches and supervises across undergraduate and postgraduate education and supervises doctoral researchers. He welcomes enquiries from prospective doctoral researchers whose interests intersect with these areas.

External contribution and recognition

David has substantial experience of external examining and academic quality assurance. He has served as External Examiner for Primary Education at the University of Aberdeen and as Chief External Examiner for Primary Initial Teacher Education at the University of Birmingham. He also works with the National Institute of Teaching in England through external examining and associated academic quality activity.

David is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the University Senate, contributing to institutional governance and decision-making. He is also a committee member of the British Association for Applied Linguistics Asian Languages Special Interest Group.

His contributions to international education, Knowledge Exchange and student experience have received institutional and external recognition, including a Strathclyde Team Medal for Knowledge Exchange with Chinese partners and a Faculty award for Outstanding Student Experience. In 2022, he was named a Goodwill Ambassador in recognition of his contribution to strengthening links with Nanjing Normal University.

David welcomes opportunities for research, Knowledge Exchange, educational development and international collaboration with academic, professional and external partners.