Culture, history and society

Higher Education Group

This is an IOP special interest group, which is a community of IOP members focused on a particular discipline, application or area of interest.

Special interest groups allow members to connect and share knowledge and ideas. The IOP funds groups to deliver a range of activities including events, prizes and bursaries. All of our groups are driven by members.

About the group

As a special interest, member-driven group, we provide physics education members with meetings across the UK and Ireland and regularly organise joint physics events with other IOP groups. We also support members with links to professional networks, physics resources and blogs.

What interests us is:

conceptual understanding in physics
subject-based physics in higher education research
degree accreditation
influencing policy
sharing funding information
employability

What the group does

We develop networks with overseas groups with similar interests and encourage members to discuss their ideas or projects. We invite our members to apply for funding to organise meetings.

In 2018, we contributed to the IOP response to the post-18 review of education and funding (PDF, 327KB).

We also support networks of:

admission tutors
directors of teaching and learning
disability officers
heads of physics
outreach and public engagement
PhD supervisors

Joining an IOP special interest group

For non-IOP members: Become a member now

For IOP members: Find out how to join a group

Group physics prize

Lillian McDermott Award in Physics Education Research

The award recognises the most outstanding poster presentation in the field of physics education research at the annual meeting of the Institute of Physics Higher Education Group.

Find out more about the Lillian McDermott Award in Physics Education Research

Physics resources

Group annual general meetings

Annual General Meeting, online, 18 August 2021:

Minutes of our annual general meeting (PDF, 130KB)

Annual General Meeting, online, 19 August 2020:

Minutes of our annual general meeting (PDF, 79.3KB)

Annual General Meeting, University of Bristol, 21 August 2019:

Annual General Meeting, University of Sheffield, 22 August 2018:

Resources from group meetings

Variety in Chemistry Education (VICE) and Physics Higher Education Conference (PHEC) satellite meeting: “What is meaningful assessment in physics?”, August 2021:

Keynote presentation from Professor Sally Jordan (Open University): “Assessment at a distance: Past, present and lessons for the assessment of physics in the future” (PPT, 2.4MB)

Joint meeting with the Computational Physics Group: “Lessons Learned in Lockdown: Teaching Computational Physics in 2020 and Beyond”, online, 14 April 2021:

Videos of presentations are available on YouTube

Joint meeting with the History of Physics Group, online, 9-10 November 2020

Developments in Physics Teaching and Learning in Higher Education During the Last 100 Years

Learning and teaching community meetings on the challenges of online and blended learning in physics, online, May-August 2020

Physics Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Community Meetings

Variety in Chemistry Education (VICE) and Physics Higher Education Conference (PHEC) satellite meeting, Bristol, 21 August 2019:

How can we help our students flourish? (PDF, 1.5MB) Fabienne Vailes, University of Bristol. Virtual presentation
Support and student community initiatives the IOP uses to engage new students (PDF, 405KB) Julian Guassardo
Belonging and engaging – factors for success in physics (PDF, 2.5MB) Alison Voice, University of Leeds

Regional meeting, Bristol, 15 May 2019:

Experiences with running an experimental physics lab for students (PDF, 7.5MB) Craig McNeile
Teaching Science Communication to Physics Students – a case study (PDF, 1.5MB) Wendy Sadler
International Mentoring – a new opportunity for physics undergraduates (PDF, 360KB) Walther Schwarzacher
Realism in Practice: Implementation, Critique, and Scaling of Research Group-based Taught Master's Learning (PDF, 861KB) Richard Lewis

Regional meeting, London, 26 November 2018:

Variety in Chemistry Education (VICE) and Physics Higher Education Conference (PHEC) satellite meeting on demographic gaps in recruitment, retention and attainment, University of Sheffield, 22 August 2018:

Effects of Workshop Group Gender Balance on Student Exam Performance (PDF, 290KB) Ross Galloway, University of Edinburgh
What factors are causing our students to drop out? (PDF, 88KB) Sally Jordan, Open University

Regional Meeting, University of Glasgow, 12 June 2018:

Technology-enhanced Assessment, University of Edinburgh, 13 December 2016 – programme and abstracts (PDF, 237KB) by:

Barry Ryan
Paul Chin
Morag Casey
Sally Jordan
Chris Sangwin

Developments in Teaching Physics Students’ Computer Programming Skills, University of Sheffield, 2 June 2015:

Promoting learning through technology, University of Edinburgh, 23 October 2013:

Teaching of Thermodynamics, Institute of Physics, 5 December 2012:

Group events

Find events for the Higher Education Group

Newsletters

Blogs

Our higher physics education blogs cover:

policy
events
research
comment

Blogs are written by IOP staff, members and event speakers.

Committee and contacts

Chair	Dr James Uhomoibhi, CPhys MInstP
Treasurer	Dr Tom Stallard, MInstP
Ordinary Member	Dr Emily Brunsden, MInstP
Ordinary Member	Miss Bethan Cornell, MInstP
Ordinary Member	Dr Andrea Jiménez Dalmaroni, MInstP
Ordinary Member	Dr Angela Dyson, MInstP
Ordinary Member	Professor Gareth Jones, CPhys MInstP
Ordinary Member	Dr Nicolas Labrosse, FInstP
Ordinary Member	Professor Peter Main, FInstP
Ordinary Member	Dr Edward Tarte, CPhys FInstP
Ordinary Member	Dr Helen Vaughan, MInstP

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @IOPHEG