Alison Newby

This profile relates to research work undertaken in the period 2013-2023, when I was associated with the University of Manchester's Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre (from 2016-2022 as Honorary Research Associate), particularly before the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. I have since moved on to other interests and activities. I am leaving this profile as it stands so the work remains available, and readers will have an understanding of the role I fulfilled within the University during those years. 

In my academic role, my special interests are in engagement and the impact of research, striving to make the complex both simple and accessible to the specialist and non-specialist alike. I design and execute focused mini research projects on race relations themes showcasing material from the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre where I'm based (an open access facility that is also University-facing), often interweaving complementary resources from other collections and institutions. I contribute public engagement orientated copy to the Centre's blog under the pseudonym The Roving Reader, and am producing under my own name a 'Research Skills' series aimed at promoting insight into how the Centre's collections can enrich the work of students and researchers.

In my role as an ILM-qualified internal coach, I contribute to the University's coaching capacity geared towards staff (academic and PS) as well as researchers. I am currently a Lead on the committee of the Staff Development Forum (SDF) #coachingHE Tweetchat (a developmental tool for coaches in UK HE) and maintain a personal blog on coaching at http://newbycoachlive.wordpress.com. My writing on coaching has also appeared on the Staff Development Federation (SDF) blog, as well as in Times Higher Education, the International Coach Federation's Coaching World, the Archive & Records Association's ARC Magazine, and The LaunchPad (the blog of the TeachBoost instructional coaching platform).