Dr Louise Taylor (previously Louise Bunce) is an award-winning educator and Chartered Psychologist, known for applying psychological knowledge and research expertise to improve learning and teaching, both in the UK and internationally. She is a Principal Lecturer Student Experience at Oxford Brookes University and works within an interdisciplinary teaching team on the Social Work program, ranked 1st for Teaching Quality by the Times Good University Guide (2021).
Louise’s work seeks to overcome the negative impacts on students and educators of two issues in contemporary higher education: marketisation and racial inequalities. She has published ground-breaking research, co-produced with students, that provides psychological insights into how these issues affect students’ identities and approaches towards learning. For example, she produced the first ever data showing that the more that students identify as consumers the poorer their attainment, because consumer identities involved superficial rather than meaningful learning strategies. Louise translated these findings into practical interventions that support students to develop identities as learners rather than as consumers. These resources were published by Advance HE and the Times Higher Education Campus, which has resulted in their adoption internationally.
Louise won funding for her anti-racist work from the Global Challenges Research Fund from the UKRI, to develop an innovative student buddying program in collaboration with Hope Africa University, Burundi. By using indigenous concepts to develop and evaluate this program, Louise demonstrated ways to decolonise learning, teaching and research. She has been invited to share this at a national level by both the British Psychological Society and Advance HE.
In 2021 Louise won a national University Alliance ‘Braveheart’ award in recognition of her impact, for being someone who has ‘gone the extra mile’ in learning and teaching. The British Psychological Society and Oxford University Press named her a Higher Education Psychology Teacher of the Year (2021) Finalist. Louise’s roles as co-editor of Psychology Teaching Review, and Chair-Elect of the Psychology of Education Section of the British Psychological Society enable her to serve as a role model and to champion the application of psychological theory and research to improve learning and teaching.