Flourishing Spaces Team Spotlight: Dr. Ana Cabral
Co-creative flourishing spaces at Queen Mary
Co-creation offers a transformative space where hierarchies are flattened, and staff and students move beyond traditional roles to become partners in learning and discovery. When staff and students come together in genuine partnership, co-creation becomes a powerful space for flourishing — a dynamic environment where everyone can grow, contribute, and thrive.
These flourishing spaces incorporate multiple dimensions. Relational flourishing emerges as partnerships are grounded in trust, empathy, and care. These relationships create spaces of openness and psychological safety, where experimentation and honest dialogue are possible. Intellectual flourishing follows as curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking are collectively cultivated. Co-creative projects allow diverse perspectives to shape the direction of learning, leading to deeper engagement and innovation. At the same time, emotional and ethical flourishing arise when collaboration is rooted in compassion and authenticity. Co-creation encourages vulnerability — an acknowledgment that learning is a shared, human process. When educators and learners co-create, they experience not only academic growth but also enhanced well-being, confidence, and motivation. Finally, community and institutional flourishing occur when co-creation becomes embedded in the culture of an institution. Collaborative practices strengthen the sense of community, promote belonging, inclusion and equity, and inspire systemic change. Institutions that embrace co-creation cultivate environments that are more adaptive, humane, and connected to the lived realities of learners and educators alike.
At Queen Mary we have two schemes to make co-creation happen as part of our strategy to co-create teaching and learning and celebrate our mission to enable staff and students to flourish:
· Go co-create: Educators and learners as co-creators – resources, support and training for educators and learners
· Student Enhanced Engagement and Development award (SEED)– scheme to recognise the student contributions to the enhancement of curriculum and learning experience across Queen Mary through working co-creatively with educators
Examples of the impact of co-creation: SEED award (Queen Mary’s recognition scheme) as a flourishing space- latest impact case study
Impact on students: SEED award winner receives international recognition: Student Partnership Impact Award (SPIA)
Tosin Olajide, who recently graduated BSc in Marketing and Management from the Queen Mary School of Business & Management, has received international recognition through the prestigious Student Partnership Impact Award (SPIA) awarded by the Staff and Educational Development Association and Jisc. In 2023/24, Tosin was awarded the SEED Award and SEED Prize, which included support from the Queen Mary Academy to apply for the SPIA.
Tosin was a key contributor to the Step Ahead Plus Programme, where a team of five students co-designed and delivered workshops to support BTEC and A-level students transitioning into undergraduate study. These sessions, developed in collaboration with academic staff, focused on academic reading, note-taking, coursework management, and holistic well-being.
Tosin led a session on student life balance and presentation skills, drawing on personal experience to foster leadership and teaching capabilities.
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Reflecting on the experience, Tosin shared:
“Witnessing students’ heightened excitement and reduced anxiety was rewarding. Throughout, I supported my team, and I’d gladly participate in this again.”
Tosin also appreciated the QMA support:
“I’m really grateful for your support and guidance throughout the process - it made a big difference.”
Impact on staff: Ishani Chandrasekara from HSS has received one of the 2025 SEED Prize for Educators.
Ishani has worked co-creatively with students in the Queen Mary’s Flying Start programme.
Ishani has shared their satisfaction with the recognition on LinkedIn, her post is shown on the right.
Text by:
Dr Ana Cabral (BA, PGCE equivalent, PhD, SFHEA)
Academic Practice and Student Engagement Manager
