Stirling Professor becomes first in Scotland to receive prestigious award for educational research
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A University of Stirling Professor has become the first recipient from Scotland to be awarded the prestigious John Nisbet Fellowship.
Professor Walter Humes, who is Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences, has been recognised by the British Educational Research Association (BERA) for his outstanding contribution to educational research.
Named after the organisation’s first president, the award is bestowed upon individuals who encourage educational research and its application for the improvement of practice and public benefit.
Honorary Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences
I am delighted and honoured to receive this award, especially as I am the first recipient from Scotland. It is a particular pleasure as I came to know Professor John Nisbet - the first President of BERA - quite well in his later years. As well as having an outstanding academic career, he was a man of unfailing courtesy and kindness.
Professor Humes, who is just one of three people to receive the Fellowship this year, said: “I am delighted and honoured to receive this award, especially as I am the first recipient from Scotland.
“It is a particular pleasure as I came to know Professor John Nisbet - the first President of BERA - quite well in his later years, when I was on the staff at Aberdeen University. As well as having an outstanding academic career, he was a man of unfailing courtesy and kindness.”
Professor Humes is a former Professor of Education at the Universities of Aberdeen, Strathclyde and West of Scotland, and has been published widely on a range of fields within educational studies; from policy analysis, curriculum development and history of education; to teacher education, professionalism, leadership and management.
The recurring theme of his writing has been a desire to question orthodoxies and challenge the complacency of official thinking. He has also written about globalisation, the corporate drift of higher education, the infrastructure of educational research and the teaching of controversial issues.
As well as his academic output, Professo Humes has published a substantial amount of journalism, having been a columnist for the Times Educational Supplement (Scotland) for ten years and a contributor to the online journals Scottish Review and Sceptical Scot.
As a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Education Committee, he has been involved in responding to government policy proposals, and in 2010 was made an Honorary Member of the Scottish Educational Research Association.