Dr Janet Francis

Associate Professor

Digital, Tech, Innovation & Business

Following a brief career as a secondary school science teacher, I worked in the IT industry. After twelve years in various roles, including software engineer, Database Consultant and Project Manager, I moved to Staffordshire University as a senior lecturer. I was particularly interested in the university’s focus on practical scholarship and its links to local industry. My own industrial experience continues to help me illustrate academic concepts through real life experiences and link my classroom teaching to career roles.

My previous work in industry underpins my firm belief that our experiences in non-formal and informal settings both complement and extend our formal learning. Throughout my time at Staffordshire University, I have been a passionate exponent of experiential and life-long learning. This has resulted in me leading the development of programmes such as negotiated learning frameworks and degree apprenticeships which support these goals and provide alternative pathways through Higher Education.

I welcome opportunities to work with industry partners and am involved in part-funded innovation projects in the areas of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science. I am a member of the C3 research centre, and my cross-disciplinary research also links to the SCoLLP research centre. It is focussed on improving the learning experience including developing innovative pedagogies for non-traditional learners, and understanding the perspectives of apprenticeship stakeholders including apprentices, employers, mentors, regulatory bodies and government departments.

My teaching includes work on degree apprenticeship programmes as well as non-apprenticeship courses at levels 3 through to 7. My teaching focus reflects my industrial experience and is centred on Informatics, Data Science, Technical Service Management and IT Project Management. Additionally, I enjoy working with non-traditional students and am heavily involved in academic skills development and strengths coaching with the computing foundation year.

I am delighted to have been conferred as Associate Professor of Life-long and Life-wide Learning as the title reflects my journey and my continuing mission to innovate and inspire learners of all ages in formal and other diverse settings.

Professional memberships and activities

Member of the British Computer Society
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Academic qualifications

Doctorate in Education, Staffordshire University
MSc in Computer Science, University of Birmingham
PGCE (Science Teaching), Chelsea College, University of London
PGCert Research Methods, Staffordshire University

Expertise

The following areas of expertise underpin my teaching, research and industry collaborations:

Data Management and Databases
Data Analytics and Business Intelligence
IT Project Management
Phenomenon Based Learning (PhBL)
Service Innovation and Digital Transformation
Legitimation Code Theory (LCT)
Service Dominant Logic (SD-Logic)

Research interests

I am a member of the C3 research centre, and my cross-disciplinary research also links to the SCoLLP research centre. It is focussed on:

Apprenticeship and Work-based learning
Service Innovation and Digital Transformation
Pedagogies for non-traditional learners and learning modes

Enterprise and commercial interests

I enjoy working with educational and industry partners in the following roles;

Academic supervisor in Knowledge Transfer Programmes (KTPs) and similar employer partnership programmes in the area of data analytics.
Academic Link Tutor Link tutor for Apprenticeship programmes and Higher Technical Qualifications.

Teaching

My teaching areas reflect my work in industry and include:

IT Project Management
Databases and Information Systems
Service Innovation
Digital Transformation
Academic and Professional Skills

Publications

Selected Publications and conference papers are as follows:

Francis, J. (2024) Visualisation of Variations in Autonomy, Proceedings of EDULEARN24, (16th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies) Palma, Spain. 1-3 July 2024. pp. 2065-2073., pp. 2055-2064.

Campbell, D. Francis, J. (2024) Using Mind Maps To Deliver Phenomenon-Based Learning in a Post 1992 University: An Academic Perspective, Proceedings of EDULEARN24, (16th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies) Palma, Spain. 1-3 July 2024. pp. 2065-2073.

Stanier C., Mansfield G, Lawton J., Wilson E., Hasan M., Knight F., Francis J., Cornes R., Eardley W.A., Hodgkiss D. (2017) Sharing Ideas and Practice In Higher Education Proceedings of INTED 2017 (11th International Technology, Education and Development Conference) 6-8 March 2017, Valencia, Spain.

Behl, R. Dearing W., Francis, J., Freed, J., Varga B (2015) (unpublished) “Building a digital ready leadership and workforce” Presented at E-health Conference, London. 2015.

Uden, L., Francis, J. (2010) Service Innovation Using Actor Network Theory, In Tatnall, Arthur, Ed. Actor-Network Theory and Technology Innovation: Advancements and New Concepts. IGI Global.

Uden, L., Francis, J.(2009) Actor-network theory for service innovation, International Journal of Actor Network Theory and Technological Innovation Vol. 1, Issue 1 Pages: 23-44.

Uden, L., Francis, J., Dai, W (2008) Service Quality For Service Innovation, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Service Operations and Logistics, and Informatics, October 12-15, 2008, Beijing, China, Volume 2 Page(s): 2779-2784

j.francis@staffs.ac.uk

External profiles

ORCID