Dr Liliya Makovskaya from Westminster International University in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, shares her experiences of the reflective process of applying for Advance HE Senior Fellowship. 

Having worked for more than 15 years in higher education, I had never thoroughly analysed my teaching practice, research and other activities that I had been involved in at university. The opportunity to apply for Advance HE Fellowship gave me the reason to do so which may not have happened without it. The explanatory sessions provided by the specialist and completing the Fellowship Category Tool helped me realise that I could be eligible for Senior Fellowship, which I decided to aim for.

The journey was challenging at the beginning. The application requires a huge amount of personal self-reflection and it is not always easy to land on the most impactful examples of practice which would be appropriate for a Senior Fellowship application. 

The first case that came to my mind was being a mentor for the newly employed colleagues in the department. I have in fact been a mentor for many colleagues for several years; sometimes it was part of my job, but many times it was done voluntarily because the novice teachers approached me for advice or support. As I was also a module leader for eight years, the newly appointed module leaders also contacted me, and I have become their unofficial mentor as well. However, it was impossible to analyse this type of mentorship in the application for Senior Fellowship as, in most cases, it was either random or not systematic enough for considering the drawbacks, benefits and long-term outcomes.

Fortunately, I had one very good case of mentorship that worked well from the very beginning. To tell the truth, I was not eager to become an official mentor a couple of years ago, but I was persuaded and encouraged by the head of the department to become one. I have never regretted being the mentor of my colleague, who has become a very efficient mentee, co-module leader and co-researcher of mine for the years we have worked in the department.  

The second case I analysed was my role as the internal moderator of one module taught to first-year students. I should admit that this responsible job was imposed on me, which was frustrating at the time, however the main reason was not the performance of the task but rather the subject itself and the team members who were not easy to deal with. Of course, it was not rocket science, and everything can be learnt and completed in due time, but once I persuaded myself to undertake the task, it actually made taking the role even more interesting.

I have been an internal moderator for four years now and have learnt a lot both about the subject content and structure, and the way to deal with the module leaders of this subject who have completely different visions on assessment. Despite all the challenges that we faced when working together, I am very happy to have been given such an opportunity to be involved in the moderation process of the module.  

If the possibility of applying for the Advance HE Fellowship had not been provided, I probably would have never started reflecting on and analysing everything I have achieved as the mentor and internal moderator. Reading additional literature on similar cases and seeing what kinds of theories exist and strategies recommended, I have realised how interesting and rewarding performing both roles can be. Incorporation of ideas and showing the relevance to my cases in the application helped me to analyse them even deeper. Additionally, aligning my activities in both roles with the dimensions of the Professional Standards Framework was very helpful. All the Vs, Ks, and As should be demonstrated in the application to recognise the variety of professional practice. That is why, when analysing mine, I did my best to evidence how all the criteria statements are reflected in my context.  

Overall, the Senior Fellowship journey helped me to realise a great number of activities that have been done in my professional practice and how experienced I have become, not only as a lecturer but also as a mentor and internal moderator. I believe everyone who is eager to apply should definitely consider it, as they will learn many interesting things, particularly about themselves.