The Raleigh International/Birkbeck Partnership

The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) between Raleigh International and Birkbeck was funded by ESRC/TSB for 2 years, and started in January 2009. Its overall aim was to better develop Raleigh's pedagogical framework, and to accredit the experiential learning experience of its expeditions. This led to improved practice and educational outcomes, and enhanced awareness and credibility of the Raleigh brand - helping to maintain our position as a leading experiential, adventure and service learning provider. The KTP also contributed to academic knowledge in intercultural interaction, informal learning and debates on assessment, as well as influencing educational policy in these areas.  The Raleigh/Birkbeck Educational Advisory Board (EAB) was also set-up to provide expert strategic and practical guidance to the KTP.

The key personnel involved in this KTP were:

Stacey Adams KTP Company Lead & Chief Executive, Raleigh International
Dr. Brandon Charleston KTP Associate Birkbeck & Education and Development Adviser, Raleigh International
Valerie De Ruyter KTP Administrator & Business Relations Unit, Arts and Cultural Enterprise, Birkbeck
Professor Sue Jackson KTP Lead Academic & Pro-Vice-Master, Learning and Teaching & Professor of Lifelong Learning and Gender, Birkbeck
Tony Willetts KTP Company Supervisor, & Lead of Operations, Raleigh International
Professer Zhu Hua KTP Academic Supervisor & Reader in Applied Linguistics and Communication, Birkbeck

Major Milestones & Achievements

The KTP commenced in January 2009 and has:

• Reviewed and evaluated the expedition programme to better understand the 'Raleigh Way' and methodology
• Set up an Educational Advisory Board that offers expert guidance to the partnership
• Researched, designed and developed a new qualification based on the experiential learning of Raleigh's volunteer managers
• Launched this new Postgraduate Certificate in International Field Leadership, starting from the Autumn 2010 expeditions
• Undertaken a field visit to Costa Rica, please see Birkbeck press release for further information

In addition, Raleigh have presented at the following conferences:

• 'Raleigh, 25 years of Learning By Doing' at the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences Conference, held at Birkbeck in March 2009
• 'Building the case for international volunteering' at the Volunteering Counts: A research conference on voluntary action, held at Chancellors Conference Centre, Manchester in March 2010
• 'Enhancing employability through international volunteering expeditions' at the Responding to Employers: Moving to the Mainstream, an employer engagement & employability conference, De Montfort University, June 2010
• 'More than just employability: Leadership and Talent Development through Experiential learning'. Leadership and Talent Management 2010. New Era- New Challenges Conference for the public sector. QE2 Conference Centre, London. 7 September 2010
• 'International Volunteering as an employability enhancement strategy: Raleigh'. ASET Annual Conference 2010. The Placement and Employability Professionals' Conference. Leicester University. 8 September 2010
• "An academic and an adventurer walk into the jungle: the challenges and benefits of accrediting learning beyond the classroom" - The Asian Conference On Education. Osaka, Japan. 2-5 December 2010

Related Educational Resources

The Institute of Public Policy Research (ippr) Report on how Raleigh overseas youth expeditions make a long term impact on participants from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Expeditions and the social construction of the self, Simon Beames, 2005

Critical elements of an expedition experience, Simon Beames, 2004

Raleigh Participant Impact Evaluation Report, Simon Beames and Tim Stott, 2007

The Raleigh team is also developing other relevant awards/qualifications for its schools expeditions and for the young people who participate on its general expedition programmes.

If you would like more information on this Knowledge Transfer partnership project; or its guiding Educational Advisory Board, please email Brandon at brandon.charleston@raleigh.org.uk.

Project Team Biographies

Stacey Adams

Stacey Adams joined Raleigh International as Chief Executive in January 2007. She began her career as a research associate in the genetics Department of Birmingham University working on a national twin study. She left to become a graduate trainee with the BBC and eventually became an executive producer of schools programmes. Following fifteen years at the BBC, she went to Unicef in the UK, running their media centre and overseeing campaigns to raise awareness of issues affecting children in the developing world.

Moving into the healthcare field in 1998, she joined Imperial Cancer Research and then went to the Health Development Agency, working to increase awareness of effective interventions to improve people's health and reduce health inequalities.

Stacey joined the Healthcare Commission as part of the executive team in 2004. The role included leadership and change management; supporting the design a new system of assessment for NHS trusts in England; and relationship and stakeholder engagement.

At Raleigh, Stacey has led the review of Raleigh's vision and mission and an organisational change programme, including building the evidence base of Raleigh's impact and working with Raleigh societies around the world to build its global community.

Stacey is a Fellow of the RSA and is married with four children between 18 and 25 years. Her daughter volunteered with Raleigh in India 2008 and her son has just returned from volunteering with Raleigh in Borneo.

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Dr. Brandon Charleston

Brandon is the KTP Associate at Birkbeck and the Education and Development Adviser at Raleigh.

Prior to this appointment Brandon was an independent trainer, coach and researcher, working with organisations from small NGOs to large corporations, in the areas of leadership and cross-cultural capability. Over his career Brandon has volunteered on four Raleigh expeditions, led five shorter CSR/ Leadership Development expeditions in Namibia and was lead facilitator for the British Council, Young Global Citizens Programmes in Indonesia and the Philippines. Brandon started his career as an electrician, and after working in managerial positions left the utility industry in 1999 to pursue his passions more closely.

In 2008, Brandon completed his doctoral studies with the title: Mind the Gap: Exploring the cross-cultural encounters of managers working on overseas development projects for NGOs - the case of Raleigh International in Sabah. This work is 1 of 3 recently short listed for the Gunnar Hedlund Award, a yearly prize for the best PhD thesis in the world in the field of International Business, organised by the Stockholm School of Economics, in collaboration with The European International Business Academy (EIBA).

Brandon lives in London with his wife and two young sons. More information on Brandon can be found on his Birkbeck webpage.

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Valerie De Ruyter

Valerie De Ruyter joined Birkbeck as Business Relations Manager for Education, Arts and Culture in the Business Relations Department at the beginning of September. In her role, Valerie will mainly work with the schools to create links between the college and businesses, encourage the uptake of employer sponsored studies and support the application of academic expertise through consultancy.

A French national, Valerie studied Literature and graduated with an MA from the University of Nantes before working as Assistant Director of theatre in regional and local companies for three years before moving to the UK. Here she worked for public and private sector organisations such as the British Council, the Department of Health and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, in a programme and project manager capacity where she developed her strategic thinking and ability to bring ideas to fruition.

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Professor Sue Jackson

Sue Jackson is Professor of Lifelong Learning at Birkbeck, where she is Pro-Vice-Master for Learning and Teaching, and Director of Birkbeck Institute for Lifelong Learning. She is programme director for Birkbeck's MSc Education, Power and Social Change and for the Postgraduate Certificate in Education: Higher Education. She Lead Academic on the Knowledge Transfer Partnership between Birkbeck and Raleigh International, and publishes widely in the field of lifelong learning and gender. More information on Sue can be found on her Birkbeck webpage.

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Tony Willetts

Tony joined Raleigh as Head of Operations after a long career in personal development and leadership in physical and adventure training while serving in the British Army at home and overseas. Tony has an academic interest in Sociology and Psychology and is a keen outdoorsman. His many experiences as a participant in sport and adventure expeditions (primarily in mountain based activities), and as a trainer, coach and organiser on expedition have fuelled his passion for wild places and challenging situations as the route to personal and team growth. Joining Raleigh is a natural extension of this lifelong journey.

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Professor Zhu Hua

Zhu Hua is the KTP Academic Supervisor for this project and a Reader in Applied Linguistics and Communication, Birkbeck. She is specialised in cross-cultural education and children's and young persons' social, cognitive and linguistic development; identity development of people of multicultural and multilingual backgrounds. She has published extensively on language learning and teaching, children and young persons' development. She set up one of the very first MA in Cross-Cultural Communication programme in the UK when she was based in Newcastle University and is now Director of MA in Intercultural Communication for Business and Professions in Birkbeck and external examiner for MA in Intercultural Communication at Bedfordshire University and Cardiff University. Dr Zhu has extensive experience working with charities and NGOs. She has successfully led a three year KTP project (ref KTP000505) with a children's international charity specialised in developing children's intercultural communicative competence. More information on Zhu Hua can be found on her Birkbeck webpage.

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About Knowledge Transfer Partnerships

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships is a UK-wide programme to encourage business/knowledge base collaborations. Knowledge Transfer Partnerships help businesses and organisations to improve their competitiveness and/or productivity through the use of the knowledge, technology and skills that reside within academic institutions, namely Higher Education institutions, Research Organisations, and Further Education Colleges. For more information, go to ktponline.org.uk

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About Birkbeck

Founded in 1823, Birkbeck, University of London is a world-class research and teaching institution, a vibrant centre of academic excellence and London's only specialist provider of evening higher education. It provides part-time higher education courses which meet the changing educational, cultural, personal and career needs of adults; in particular those who live or work in the London region. Over 90% of Birkbeck academics are research-active, the highest rate for any multi-faculty institution in London and the fifth highest in the UK. More than 80% of the research carried out at Birkbeck is rated as being of international importance. In 2006 Birkbeck was awarded a prestigious Queen's Anniversary Prize for excellence in higher education research. Birkbeck encourages applications from students without traditional qualifications and has a wide range of programmes to suit every entry level, enabling adult students from diverse social and educational backgrounds to participate in its courses. Its academic reputation also attracts many home and international full-time postgraduate students. Over 19,000 (mainly part-time) students every year join a community that is as diverse and cosmopolitan as London's population.

Of particular relevance to this project is Birkbeck's expertise in Intercultural Communication, Education and Lifelong Learning, Work-based Learning and Citizenship. See Birkbeck's webpage for more information.

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