Editorial

Voices of Change

Grace Fisher, University of Warwick

As editor of Reinvention: an International Journal of Undergraduate Research, it is my pleasure to introduce this latest issue and to celebrate the outstanding work of the student authors whose research appears within it. Each new issue of Reinvention reaffirms something important: undergraduate scholarship is vibrant, rigorous and deeply relevant. The contributions gathered here demonstrate not only academic excellence, but also curiosity, creativity and the confidence to ask challenging questions.

The theme of this issue, Voices of Change, reflects the power of research to question assumptions, challenge established narratives and imagine new possibilities. Change is often driven first by those willing to speak, create and critically reflect. In that spirit, the papers collected here show how undergraduate researchers are contributing meaningful voices to conversations across a variety of subjects.

This edition brings together work that spans literary criticism, cultural analysis, medical education, reflective practice and the wider undergraduate research community. Though diverse in subject matter, each contribution demonstrates how fresh perspectives can reshape understanding.

In Feminine Passion as Feminine Power: Challenging Mary Wollstonecraft’s ‘Rational Woman’ in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey and Charlotte Smith’s Elegiac Sonnets, readers are invited to reconsider literary traditions through attention to gender, authorship and the voices often overlooked. By revisiting the Romantic period through a new lens, this paper shows how scholarship can recover perspectives previously marginalised.

Questions of voice and representation also sit at the centre of Rethinking Muslim Women’s Agency in Orientalist, Nationalist and Identity Discourses Beyond Abu-Lughod. This contribution investigates inherited assumptions and challenges reductive portrayals, highlighting the importance of nuance when discussing identity, autonomy and culture. It is a powerful example of how research can contribute to more thoughtful and inclusive discourse.

Our issue also features work grounded in professional education and reflective practice. Establishing the WMS NICU Society: A Critical Reflection Using the DIEP Model on Interdisciplinary Learning, Medical Education and Enhancing Speciality Awareness explores how student initiative can create meaningful institutional change. Through collaboration and reflection, the paper demonstrates the positive impact students can have on their own educational environments.

Creativity takes centre stage in How Songwriting Can Shape Imaginative Experiences: A Critical Reflection. This contribution reminds us that change is not only political or structural—it can also be personal and imaginative. Through creative practice, new ways of thinking, feeling and understanding can emerge.

In addition, Samyuktha Shankar, assistant editor, has contributed a thought-provoking critical reflection, offering insight into Critical Reflection: Researching the Seasonal Fishing Ban in Chennai and Presenting at BCUR.

In this issue we also include a book review on Educating for Creativity within Higher Education: Integration of Research into Media Practice, which explores how creativity can be embedded into university teaching and learning. This theme was further discussed in a recent Reinvention Blog with Dr Juliet Raynsford, reflecting on the importance of creativity in the undergraduate curriculum and its links to employability and resilience, helping us to generate the future Voices of Change.

Beyond the journal articles themselves, this issue celebrates undergraduate research culture more broadly with student research voices of change. We are pleased to include the Book of Abstracts and some reflections from participants at the British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR), 1-2 April 2026 at the University of Glasgow.

Student research conferences such as BCUR provide invaluable spaces where students share ideas, gain confidence and recognise the impact of their own scholarly voices.

Together, these works reflect the values at the heart of Reinvention: interdisciplinarity, accessibility and the belief that excellent ideas can emerge at every stage of academic life. They show that undergraduate researchers are not waiting to shape the future—they are already doing so.

I would like to thank our authors, reviewers, editorial board and readers for their continued support of the journal. Their time, expertise and enthusiasm make each issue possible.

As this is my final issue as the Editor of Reinvention, it is also an opportunity for reflection and gratitude. It has been a privilege to help showcase the exceptional work of undergraduate researchers and to contribute to a journal so committed to student scholarship. I now look forward to welcoming the next editor, who will no doubt bring fresh ideas, energy and vision to the continued success of Reinvention.

We hope this collection informs, challenges and inspires, and we are proud to share these contributions with our global readership.