Place-responsive higher education at a distance

This thesis explores what effects place-responsive distance education could have on postgraduate students and programmes, addressing specific challenges for animal and veterinary scientists. Online, part-time, postgraduate education provides a flexible approach for veterinary and animal sciences professionals to achieve their requisite continuing professional development. For the majority of students, studying “at distance” may mean visiting the campus for graduation only, whilst those living nearby or on programmes that include “summer schools” or placement options may visit more frequently. In the main, these online postgraduate programmes focus on theoretical knowledge with some opportunities for practical work, such as during the dissertation project. Online distance postgraduate education in veterinary and animal sciences at the University of Edinburgh provides the context for this research. Central to the veterinary and animal sciences disciplines is the concept of “One Health”. This recognises the inter-related nature of human, animal and ecosystem health; however, this conceptual understanding has not translated into the curriculum design. Instead, a primarily objective view of the researcher as separate from their observations prevails. This contradiction, coupled with impact-driven, time-limited research funding has led to a form of research where scientists spend short amounts of time in the field to observe and gather data before returning to the campus. This disconnected “fast science” research culture limits the opportunities to develop an ethics of care for communities and ecosystems. It may also be perceived as an element of the hidden curriculum for postgraduate students, encouraged on the one hand to be reflexive in their academic work, while on the other observing their academic mentors driven to chase grant funding and “publish or perish”. This fast culture disregards a central challenge in addressing the climate emergency; that Global North researchers should operate locally and connect remotely to other local researchers, rather than relying on air travel to sustain global research practices. Operating from a feminist, postdigital perspective to understand and theorise place-responsive higher education at a distance, this thesis examines how place-responsive educational principles could work to resolve this disconnect. Applying an ecohermeneutic lens to the research and data centres the entangled nature of research, embedding the importance of attuning to places and listening to more-than-human participants in a spirit of respect, reciprocity and relationality. Qualitative data are primarily drawn from semi-structured interviews with postgraduate students studying animal and veterinary sciences online at a distance, and staff interviewed from a range of disciplines. Additional data are drawn from an assessment inquiry group and small student survey. The methodology and analysis is explored in depth as part of an autoethnographic review of what it means to be an ecohermeneutical researcher, proposing a method of learning to listen to the world at a distance as part of a slow research approach. Specifically, this research considers the affordances of place-responsive, low-tech approaches within postgraduate part-time study in relation to truly sustainable conservation research.