Newer Researchers Prize Benefits

Dr. Natasha Rumyantseva was awarded the 2010 Prize for Newer Researchers for her proposal entitled:

" Academic workplace in the rapidly changing context: a case of Russia"

Natasha is a Lecturer in Higher Education Studies and Lead Tutor for the Educational Management and Leadership Pathway at the University of Southampton.

In Natasha's own words

"The SRHE Newer research prize has enabled me to further develop a number of skills crucial for a successful academic career.
To begin with, I highly appreciate the non-prescriptive nature of the grant in terms of topical or methodological focus. It has been very empowering to have the freedom to explore issues in higher education in Russia and have the freedom to choose a relevant body of literature, data collections and sampling methods.

The award has also enabled me to experience the autonomy so critical to a vast majority of academic activities. I have learnt budget management skills, aiming to be effective and efficient at the same time. I have also had an opportunity to hire students to do transcription work, which extended the financial as well as experiential benefits to them.

All these things taken together have increased my sense of competence related to the research process which will undoubtedly benefit my future endeavours. Although the application stage required a clear outline of a proposed budget, which in itself was a helpful planning exercise, SRHE has been reasonably flexible to allow me to move funds across the categories contingent on the changing circumstances around critical activities.

This has further increased my sense of professional competence as it allowed me to exercise professional judgement within an existing regulatory framework. I believe, the process has been taking place in an atmosphere of mutual trust which provided an additional benefit of creating meaningful professional links."