LSI aspires to have an open, outward-looking academic community where ideas are shared, assumptions challenged and connections formed across disciplines and beyond the institution. LSI Exchange creates a space for this exchange, bringing together people from within and beyond LSI to explore ideas at the intersection of education, technology and society.
These Terms of Reference define its purpose and principles while keeping LSI Exchange flexible enough to evolve with its community.
Purpose
LSI Exchange is our open academic community for intellectual exchange, exploration and collaboration.
It creates a regular place and time for people within and beyond LSI to come together to share ideas and emerging work, challenge and inspire one another, and explore developments relevant to education, technology and society.
LSI Exchange aims to strengthen LSI’s academic community and connect LSI with wider academic and professional communities. It encourages exchange across disciplines, roles and institutions and creates opportunities for research, scholarship and practice to inform one another.
LSI Exchange provides a visible point of connection for people interested in LSI’s academic work. It is not a research centre or decision-making body. Research and other formal academic activities remain governed through LSI’s established strategies, policies and governance arrangements.
Principles
LSI Exchange strives to be a space that is:
Open: bringing together people from LSI and beyond.
Intellectually curious: creating space for questions and emerging ideas.
Participatory: encouraging discussion, challenge and contribution.
Interdisciplinary: connecting academic, professional, technological and societal perspectives.
Independent in thought: providing space for disagreement, critical discussion and ideas that may challenge existing assumptions or practice.
Connected to practice: allowing research, scholarship and professional experience to inform one another.
Community
LSI Exchange is centred on LSI but deliberately extends beyond it.
Participation may include those who are automatically members (LSI academics, professional staff, researchers, students and alumni, governors and advisors) and also academics and researchers from other institutions, practitioners and industry contributors, professional and sector experts; and others whose perspectives can contribute meaningfully to the community.
Formal membership is not required to attend or contribute to most activities of LSI Exchange. Some activities may be limited to particular groups where the nature of the discussion requires it. The ambition is to develop a community around LSI, not only a community within LSI.
Activities
LSI Exchange will maintain a regular programme of academic exchange and engagement, including research seminars, visiting speakers, roundtables and debates, discussions of emerging research, demonstrations of new educational and technological approaches, scholarship and practice-sharing sessions, reading groups, research showcases, collaborative workshops and, where appropriate, larger public events.
The programme will remain flexible and responsive to emerging ideas and interests across the community. It may also foster research, scholarly activity, CPD, educational innovation and external collaboration. Where these develop into formal activities, they will follow the relevant LSI processes.
Relationship with research, scholarship and CPD
LSI Exchange provides a shared intellectual environment in which research, scholarship and CPD can meet, but it does not own or govern them.
LSI Exchange acts as a connector and catalyst, helping ideas and people move between research, scholarship, practice and innovation.
Research may be presented, discussed, challenged or developed through LSI Exchange. Formal research activity remains governed through LSI’s Research Strategy and research governance arrangements.
Scholarship may be strengthened through engagement with current research, theory, professional practice and dialogue with others.
CPD may arise through participation, discussion and targeted development activities, while responsibility for staff development remains within LSI’s wider institutional arrangements. ACI activities may be classified as CPD credits, if appropriate, by the Director of Education.
Programme group
LSI Exchange will be supported by a programme group bringing together different perspectives from across the LSI community.
The Programme Group will normally include: Director of Education, one representative from the Board of Governors, one representative from the Executive Committee, one representative from the Academic Board, one representative from Student Success Team, one representative from Professional Services, two academic staff, two students; and an external academic or professional contributor where appropriate.
Membership may evolve as LSI and the LSI Exchange community develops. The Programme Group’s role is to shape and curate the LSI Exchange programme, rather than govern LSI activities. It will identify themes and emerging questions, invite ideas from the wider community, develop a varied programme, and bring together contributors from within and beyond LSI. It will also create opportunities for participation, respond to community feedback and interests, encourage collaboration, and reflect on how the LSI Exchangecommunity is developing.
The Programme Group is not a formal decision-making committee and does not replace LSI’s academic, executive or governance bodies. Its membership will be refreshed periodically to introduce new perspectives.
Coordination
Two LSI staff members of the Programme Group will act as coordinators of LSI Exchange, supporting the practical operation of the Exchange. They will coordinate the programme and calendar, communicate activities, liaise with contributors and participants, organise events, maintain appropriate records, and coordinate the Exchange’s annual reflection. They will also run Programme Group meetings and facilitate discussions.
The Coordinators support and facilitate LSI Exchange and report to the Executine Committee, but do not independently determine its intellectual programme.
Academic governance
The Academic Board will maintain oversight of the contribution of LSI Exchange to the development of LSI’s academic community. Where an idea or activity arising through LSI Exchange requires formal approval, it will follow the appropriate LSI governance process.
This separation allows LSI Exchange to remain an open space for intellectual exploration while ensuring that formal activities remain appropriately governed.
Participation
Participation in LSI Exchange should form one of the ways in which LSI staff and students engage with the wider academic community.
Academic staff will be encouraged to contribute by sharing emerging work or scholarship, participating in discussions, proposing themes or contributors, responding critically to the work of others, connecting colleagues with relevant external communities, and developing collaborations where appropriate.
Students will be encouraged not only to attend but to help shape the programme, contribute ideas and present relevant work.
External participation will be actively encouraged where it adds intellectual value and strengthens connections between LSI and wider academic, professional and societal communities.
Review, success measurement, and adaptation
LSI Exchange will operate through a rolling programme rather than a predetermined set of annual outputs. The Programme Group will periodically review and adapt the programme in response to emerging academic and professional developments, interests across the LSI community, ongoing research and scholarship, ideas arising from previous activities, and opportunities for external engagement.
LSI Exchange will evolve as LSI’s academic community grows. Its success will be judged primarily by the strength, diversity and development of that community, rather than simply by the number of events or outputs produced.
Annual reflection
At least annually, the Programme Group will reflect on participation, the range and quality of academic exchange, staff and student engagement, relationships and collaborations created, activities that developed further through LSI Exchange, and its contribution to research, scholarship and academic practice. It will also identify opportunities to strengthen the community in the year ahead. A short annual reflection report will be shared with the Academic Board.
The Academic Board will consider the report and share its reflections with the Board of Governors, including how the development of LSI Exchange aligns with LSI’s strategies.
Note: These Terms of Reference will be reviewed annually by the Academic Board and Board of Governors to ensure LSI Exchange continues to serve its purpose and remains proportionate to LSI’s size and stage of development.