An exploration of sense of belonging at Leeds

Mike Kerr supervised by Bridgette Bewick

About the student researcher

I'm Mike Kerr and I am a 3rd Year Medical Student at Leeds. I was delighted to be asked to do a research project on belonging and it's relationship with academic outcomes at Leeds. This falls under the wider research of pedagogical wellbeing that is being researched at Leeds. I am very passionate about this topic as a widening participation student and do a lot of work in the third sector with disadvantaged groups. It is very important that all higher education institutions provide opportunities for equal access to learning and view students holistically when completing their studies.

Project overview

The research project was a rapid literature review of belonging in higher education and it's relationship to quantifiable academic outcomes such as Grade Point Average. I have used two large databases; ERIC and OVID, and then commenced screening and went through the literature review process. The particular focus is all students attending any higher education institution, although some of the data has shown great insight into the challenges Black, Asian and minority ethnic individuals face to belonging in higher education.