The separation between "research" and "teaching" in universities has been under increasing challenge from scholars who want to place inquiry-based learning at the centre of higher education. An important approach to challenging established paradigms and structures is to question, and thereby destabilise, role distinctions, relationships, language, and learning spaces. In this article we present a case study of a conference organized in collaboration between staff and students for first-year undergraduates. Reinventing the academic conference space is our aim in challenging assumptions about undergraduate education. As co-designers of the conference, we reflect on the activities and institutional context leading to the creation of the event, its design and implementation, and its impact on the undergraduate learning community.
KEYWORDSCo-design, inquiry-based learning, conference, undergraduate, business schools
INTRODUCTIONIn this article we want to explore an "inquiry-based learning" (IBL) approach, incorporating practices often considered the exclusive domain of research into a setting typically described as education or teaching. The case study example we provide is an "Opening Conference" for first-year undergraduate students co-designed by staff and students within a research-intensive UK university. A central motivation for this initiative was to explore the possibility of forming an IBL community with first-year undergraduates and working with staff and students in partnership to challenge the "conspiracy for safety" (Barnett, 1999, p. 164), which, arguably, has become the norm in HE learning design and