Associate Professor Gerlese Åkerlind

Associate Professor Director CEDAM   PhD (Sydney) BA (Hons) ANU Contact Phone: +61  2  6125 0056 Gerlese.Akerlind@anu.edu.au

Teaching and Professional Responsibilities

As Centre Director, Gerlese reports directly to the Pro-Vice Chancellor (Education), providing advice on educational policy, implementation and practice. She is a member of the University's Education Committee and the College of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS) Executive Committee. She is the University’s representative on the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC), Australasian Council on Open, Distance and E-learning (ACODE) and the Council of Australian Directors of Academic Development (CADAD).

On behalf of the University, she oversees administration of the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Education, ANU nominations for ALTC Awards, and ANU applications for ALTC Grants and Fellowships. She also convenes the Capstone course, EDUC8001: Enhancing Your Academic Practice, in the Centre's Graduate Certificate in Higher Education and Masters of Higher Education. She is currently Project Leader for two ALTC grants: A Threshold Concepts Focus to Curriculum Design, and the Promoting Excellence Initiative.

In her broader research, Gerlese has been mapping the nature of academic practice, as experienced by academics themselves. This includes academics' ways of experiencing being a university teacher, researcher, and research supervisor, plus their experience of growing and developing as an academic in these areas. She has also investigated academics' experiences of academic freedom and autonomy. Her mapping of academic practice has extended from doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers, to early, mid and late career academics.

Gerlese is a member of the Editorial Boards for the journals, Educational Research Review, Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, and the International Journal of Researcher Development. She is an honorary Research Associate of the Oxford Learning Institute, Oxford University. 

Research Foci

Over the last ten years, Gerlese has been mapping the nature of academic practice as experienced by academics themselves. This includes academics' ways of experiencing being a university teacher, researcher, and research supervisor, plus their experience of growing and developing as an academic in these areas. She has also investigated academics' experiences of academic freedom and autonomy. Her mapping of academic practice has extended from doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers, to early, mid and late career academics. Gerlese uses a range of research approaches, but has particular expertise in phenomenographic research.

Recent Publications

Refereed Journal Articles:

Åkerlind, G.S. (2008) An academic perspective on research and being a researcher: an integration of the literature, Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 33, pp 17 - 32.

Åkerlind, G.S. (2008) Growing and developing as a university researcher,  Vol 55, pp 241 - 254.Higher Education,

Åkerlind, G.S. (2007) Constraints on academics’ potential for developing as a teacher -- Variation in meaning, Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 32, pp. 21-37.

Åkerlind, G.S. (2005) Academic growth and development -- How do university academics experience it?, Higher Education, Vol. 50, pp. 1-32.

Åkerlind, G.S. (2005) Postdoctoral researchers: Roles, Functions and career prospects, Higher Education Research and Development, Vol. 24, pp. 21-40.

Åkerlind, G.S. (2005) Variation and commonality in phenomenographic research methods, Higher Education Research and Development, Vol. 24, pp. 321-334.

Åkerlind, G.S. (2004), A new dimension to understanding university teaching, Teaching in Higher Education, Vol. 9, pp. 363-376.

Åkerlind, G.S. (2003) Growing and developing as a university teacher -- Variation in meaning, Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 28, pp. 375-390.

Åkerlind, G.S. and Kayrooz, C. (2003)Understanding academic freedom: The views of social scientists, Higher Education Research and Development, Vol. 22, pp. 327-344.

Åkerlind, G.S. and Quinlan, K. (2001) Strengthening collegiality to enhance teaching, research and scholarly practice: An untapped resource for faculty development, To Improve the Academy, Vol. 19, pp. 306-321.

Quinlan, K. and Åkerlind, G.S. (2000) Factors affecting departmental peer collaboration for faculty development: Two cases in context, Higher Education 40, 23-52.

Edited Book:

Kayrooz, C., Åkerlind, G. and Tight, M. (Eds) (2007) Autonomy and Social Science Research: the View from United Kingdom and Australia Universities, International Perspectives on Higher Education Research Volume 4, Elsevier JAI Press: Kidlington, Oxford and Amsterdam.

Book Chapters:

Åkerlind, G. S. (2007) Academic freedom in the social sciences: the freedom to serve society, in C. Kayrooz, G. Åkerlind and M. Tight (Eds) Autonomy and Social Science Research: the View from United Kingdom and Australia Universities, International Perspectives on Higher Education Research Volume 4, Elsevier JAI Press: Kidlington, Oxford and Amsterdam, pp. 31-46.

Kayrooz, C., Åkerlind, G. and Tight, M. (2007) Autonomy in social science research, in C. Kayrooz, G. Åkerlind and M. Tight (Eds) Autonomy and Social Science Research: the View from United Kingdom and Australia Universities, International Perspectives on Higher Education Research Volume 4, Elsevier JAI Press: Kidlington, Oxford and Amsterdam, pp. 1-30.

Tight, M., Kayrooz, C. and Åkerlind, G. (2007) Review and conclusions, in C. Kayrooz, G. Åkerlind and M. Tight (Eds) Autonomy and Social Science Research: the View from United Kingdom and Australia Universities, International Perspectives on Higher Education Research Volume 4, Elsevier JAI Press: Kidlington, Oxford and Amsterdam, pp. 223-231.

Åkerlind, G.S. (2005) Learning about phenomenography: Interviewing, data analysis and the qualitative research paradigm, Chapter 6 in J. Bowden and P. Green (Eds), Doing Developmental Phenomenography, RMIT Press: Melbourne Australia, pp. 63-73.

Åkerlind, G.S. (2005) Phenomenographic methods: A case illustration, Chapter 8 in J. Bowden and P. Green (Eds), Doing Developmental Phenomenography, RMIT Press: Melbourne Australia, pp 103-127.

Åkerlind, G.S., Bowden, J. and Green, P. (2005) Learning to do phenomenography: A reflective discussion, Chapter 7 in J. Bowden and P. Green (Eds), Doing Developmental Phenomenography, RMIT Press: Melbourne Australia, pp. 74-100.

Åkerlind, G.S. (2005) Ways of experiencing being a university researcher, Chapter 10 in J. Bowden and P. Green (Eds), Doing Developmental Phenomenography, RMIT Press: Melbourne Australia, pp. 145-155.