It was 1999 when I first encountered Sue. She was bidding to the Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN), a body funded by the UK higher education funding councils, for a Subject Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics. At the time, I was convenor of the Political Studies Association's Teaching and Learning group and I was delighted to support Sue's bid because it focussed on how academics and students could use their disciplinary expertise to undertake learning and teaching research on issues important to them.
Sue's bid was accepted and the Centre for Learning and Teaching – Sociology, Anthropology and Politics (known as C-SAP) was set up at the University of Birmingham with Sue as Director. Co-ordinators for each subject and for communication and information technology were appointed, supported by dedicated administrators. C-SAP convened advisory meetings of interested academics, held bidding rounds for small-scale projects and organised a series of exciting workshops and conferences. The workshops and conferences resulted in the publication of very useful edited volumes and also the launch of Learning and Teaching in the Social Sciences (LATISS) in 2003. Originally published by Intellect, the journal moved to Berghahn under a new title in 2008. Co-editing the journal with Sue is a really rewarding experience, both politically and personally. We share a commitment to publishing work by newcomers to learning and teaching research as well as by established authors and to making sure that the journal's contents are accessible to non-specialist readers.
In celebrating Sue's work and its impact, this splendid set of contributions traces important developments in social science research and higher education policy landscapes. The overall message I take from this collection is that activist scholars can, sometimes intentionally and sometimes serendipitously, make positive and significant differences to their colleagues, students and fields of study.