Queen Mary Academy Fellowships

Queen Mary Academy Fellowships are high-profile opportunities for staff to develop, share and promote their educational and scholarship practice.

“The Queen Mary Academy Fellowship has been a truly transformative experience, deepening my understanding of curriculum design, academic leadership, and scholarship. I am thankful for the invaluable opportunities I have had to collaborate across disciplines, broaden my professional network, and enhance my approach to education and leadership. This experience has been both rewarding and inspiring, and I look forward to the lasting impact this new curriculum will have on our students and the future of dental education".
— Dr Radhika Desai, Institute of Dentistry

Overview

The Queen Mary Academy Fellowship scheme supports the University’s Strategy 2030 by enabling experienced staff to lead transformative educational projects.

Fellowships provide part-time, fixed-term secondments for senior academic staff to:

Lead strategic educational change

Influence practice across Schools, Institutes and Faculties

Enhance the Queen Mary student experience

QMA Fellowships– Curriculum 2030 Directed Call

Curriculum 2030 is a major institutional programme aimed at delivering a consistently excellent education for all Queen Mary students.

Call for Queen Mary Academy Curriculum 2030 Fellows

Queen Mary Academy (QMA) seeks to appoint several Curriculum 2030 Fellows on a part-time buy-out basis (0.3–0.4 FTE) for a period of up to 12 months. The Fellowships will support colleagues to lead institution-wide work aligned with Curriculum 2030 in one of the following priority areas:

Priority Theme 1: AI in Education

Priority Theme 2: Experiential Learning

Priority 1: AI in Education

The University has approved a new AI in Assessment taxonomy (red, amber, green) with implementation commencing in the 2026/7 academic year. The purpose of the AI in Education QMA Curriculum 2030 Fellow(s) is to provide programme teams with intensive, tailored support and advice through AI literacy programme redesign accelerators. These accelerators are already demonstrating a positive impact, creating a need to expand this support in order to rapidly build institutional capacity and capability in AI-enhanced education across the University.

Priority 2: Experiential Learning

Our ACE approach includes ‘learning by doing’ as part of our distinct Queen Mary pedagogy. In line with the Employability and Skills Framework, Queen Mary undergraduate and postgraduate taught students will apply their learning to real-world contexts through engaging with meaningful experiential learning. At Queen Mary, we define ‘meaningful’ experiential learning’ as structured opportunities where students apply their academic knowledge to authentic problems, contexts, and environments, supported by preparation and reflection and authentically assessed where possible.

The development of Employability Skills, including our Graduate Attributes, is embedded throughout our curriculum. However, Curriculum 2030 requires that all UG programmes incorporate an element of credit-bearing experiential learning provision. This provision must be explicitly ‘badged’ to students as an employability and skills module. The minimum expectation is that programmes include at least one 15- credit module at level 5, which is designed specifically to enhance positive employability outcomes for our students.

The purpose of the Experiential Learning QMA C2030 Fellow(s) is to provide programme teams with intensive, tailored support and expert guidance to embed experiential learning within their curricula that meet the associated Curriculum 2030 requirements.

Fellows will lead experiential learning redesign accelerators, supporting programme teams to develop, implement, and evaluate innovative curriculum approaches. Applications are especially welcome from colleagues who can specifically support programmes in HSS and S&E.

Purpose of Fellowships

As experienced change agents, Curriculum 2030 Fellows will lead strategic enhancement activities across the University to support the implementation of the key Curriculum 2030 priorities. Working in partnership with the Queen Mary Academy, Faculties, Schools, Institutes and professional services colleagues, Fellows will provide strategic leadership, specialist expertise, and practical support to enable curriculum enhancement and redesign.

Fellows will work directly with programme teams to accelerate curriculum development in either AI or experiential learning, building Queen Mary’s capacity in these areas and supporting sustainable implementation of our Curriculum 2030 ambitions.

Responsibilities of Fellows

QMA Fellowships provide part-time, fixed-term secondments for academic colleagues to:

Lead strategic educational change.

Influence educational practice across Schools, Institutes and Faculties.

Enhance the Queen Mary student experience.

Share outcomes, resources and recommendations with the wider University community.

A Queen Mary Academy Fellowship is a senior academic leadership role with a University-wide remit. QMA Curriculum 2030 Fellows will provide both strategic leadership and practical implementation support for delivery teams. In close collaboration with the Queen Mary Academy and relevant stakeholders, responsibilities may include:

Working directly with programme teams to support their curriculum review, redesign, and implementation.

Providing intensive, tailored advice and consultancy to accelerate adoption of Curriculum 2030 priorities.

Designing and facilitating workshops, communities of practice, and development activities.

Identifying and sharing effective practice across Schools, Institutes and Faculties.

Evaluating the impact of interventions and providing recommendations for future development of policy and practice.

Disseminating outcomes through internal events, reports, publications and conference presentations.

Eligibility

Applicants must:

Be able to start the Fellowship in Semester A 2026/27
Be employed by Queen Mary University of London in an academic role.
Secure the support of their Head of School or Institute.

Demonstrate experience of educational leadership, innovation and enhancement (equivalent to SFHEA).

We particularly welcome applications from colleagues who:

Have a successful track record of leading educational change.

Can evidence impact beyond their immediate discipline or local context.

Can propose a high-impact, scalable project aligned with Curriculum 2030 priorities

Funding and Support

Successful applicants will receive buy-out support of 0.3–0.4 FTE for up to 12 months, subject to agreement with their School or Institute.

Fellows will be supported by the Queen Mary Academy and will join a cohort of colleagues contributing to strategic educational enhancement across the University.

Application Process

Applicants should complete the Queen Mary Academy Fellowship Form - Directed Call: Queen Mary Academy Fellowship Application Form - Directed Call.docx [DOC 38KB]

Please submit your application to: qmacademy@qmul.ac.uk

Application Timeline

Call opens: Wednesday 12th August 2026

Application deadline: Midnight on Wednesday 2nd September 2026

Outcome notification: w/c 21st September 2026

Fellowship start date: As soon as possible

For informal enquiries about this Directed Fellowship scheme or the Curriculum 2030 priorities, please contact: Queen Mary Academy qmacademy@qmul.ac.uk.

A Queen Mary Academy Fellowship is a strategic leadership role with an institutional remit. Fellows are therefore expected to make an active contribution to Queen Mary’s educational priorities, alongside delivering their own project.

As a Fellow, you will: