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Background: Undergraduate research is evident in many forms across higher education: in journals, at conferences and on research placements. It is widely reported that undergraduate research can encourage the development of discipline-specific and transferable communication skills and, in some cases, a more complex development of higher-order critical appraisal. Recent studies of extracurricular undergraduate research conferences have also found that participants report a development of self-authorship and an appreciation of the conference as liminal and transformative space. With many published studies measuring immediate feedback surrounding conference events, there is also a need to explore participants' reflections over a longer term period of time. Purpose: This small-scale project investigated participants' self-report of whether and in what ways participation in a non-assessed, extracurricular undergraduate research conference had impacted their academic and professional practices, one year after their involvement in the conference. Method: The qualitative study took place over two academic years with participants from an undergraduate conference which was held annually. The investigation adopted an action research methodology and completed two cycles of research. Data were collected firstly through an online survey with open questions, yielding feedback from 44 respondents. Focus groups were then conducted with nine of these students to explore this data further. A thematic approach was used to analyse the data. Findings: The two cycles of data collection and analyses resulted in the identification of four central themes: (1) general positive impact on studies or career; (2) the development of presentation skills and personal confidence; (3) the development of research skills and perspectives; (4) an increased engagement with extracurricular opportunities. Conclusions: Overall, our analysis identified that participants reported a development in communication skills and an enhanced relationship with the concept of 'research' and self-authorship. Students' report that participation directly led to increased engagement with additional extracurricular activities is particularly noteworthy, as it contributes something new to the growing body of literature surrounding undergraduate research. More widely, the study suggests the potential for undergraduate conferences to act as springboards for increased extracurricular engagement.

Teaching assistants, adjunct faculty and graduate assistants at CUPE 3903 at York University, Toronto went out on strike for seven weeks in early 2024. This article reflects on some key dynamics of the struggle in this particular institution and how they sit within the wider higher education sector, particularly amidst unprecedented erosion of wages against inflation and the wider fight on academic freedom, job security and the nature of the university itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores staff awareness and confidence in implementing reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities in higher education (HE) contexts from a variety of faculty staff at one institution. The duty for UK HE providers to make reasonable adjustments was included in the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 and later transposed into the Equality Act in 2010. This project aimed to explore current levels of teaching staff awareness concerning implementing reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities. Alongside this, the project also sought to better understand the attitudes towards reasonable adjustments that teaching staff currently hold. A small-scale survey-based study was conducted between July 2020 and October 2020, gaining qualitative data from 38 staff members across one HE provider. The data reveals staff committed to assisting students to access education. However, as with other literature, our findings demonstrate that there are high levels of staff anxiety around reasonable adjustments and a desire for further training and support. Significantly, the data also indicated a lack of understanding of the requirement to make reasonable adjustments as a legal obligation and duty as a means of combatting discrimination and exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comaprison of the electrical properties of the HyBrID and the CuBr-H laser with and without added hydrogen under conditions of maximum efficiency showed that the two lasers were similar in tube geometry and size and were operated with the same conditions of excitation. The electrical properties of the lasers were found to be the similar. High efficiency, high average output power and excitation pulse waveforms of the laser can be quantitatively explained if the HBr will be assumed affecting the operation.

A Ne-H2-CuBr laser (lambda 510.6, 578.2 nm) which produced an average output power of 120 W at 2.5% efficiency and 100 W at 3% efficiency, is presented. These output power and efficiency values are record figures for copper bromide lasers. The sealed-off device yielded maximum output power at a pulse recurrency frequency of 17.5 kHz. Laser operating characteristics and electrical parameters are presented.