I joined the Department of Educational Studies in August 2023. I currently serve as Chair of BALID (British Association for Literacy in Development) and Academic Associate with the UNESCO Chair in Adult Literacy and Learning for Social Transformation, University of East Anglia.
MA in Lifelong Learning Policy and Management 2016
Teaching and supervision
I am Deputy Head of Programme of the MA Social Justice in Education. I am module leader of the 'Global Education, Power Practice and Policy' and contribute to the modules 'Living Multilingualism' and 'Introduction to Social Justice in Education' and 'Researching Social Justice in Education'. I also co-lead of the Comparative and International Education Module in the BA Education Programme.
I welcome enquiries from PhD students with potential links with my research areas/interests and would like to explore collaboration. Please get in touch!
My research interests sit at the intersection of youth learning/literacies and social justice. I research participation of young people in/through volunteering and social activism and how these cultivate and/or confine learning processes and personal transformations. I employ ethnographic, participatory and participatory action research methods.
I am interested in the conceptualisation of youth activist spaces as (informal) learning spaces that shape and/or are shaped by wider social dynamics.
My research keywords include:
Youth literacies and informal learning
Literacy as social practice
Youth participation and social movement learning
Education and international development and the SDGs
Volunteerism, activism and student movements
Education and social justice
Comparative education
Methodologically, I am interested in approaches to research that 'model' participation - sharing some degree of power to research collaborators. These include:
2022:
Literacies of Dissent: learning, youth activism and social change A youth-led participatory research project exploring the learning & literacy dimensions of youth social movements in the Global South. Funded by the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship
2024:
Policy and practice toolkit on meaningful youth engagement
A Goldsmiths Research Impact Fund Award alongwith collaborator, Global Compaign for Education (based in South Africa).
Research Engagement
I am committed to exploring how research could be utilised towards improving practice, particularly in development and youth-involving organisations. I have previously developed research and commissioned projects with organisations such as UN Volunteers, SAIH (Norwegian Students' and Academics' International Assistance Fund), the International Association for Volunteer Effort and the Global Campaign for Education (see reports on the publications section of this page).