Members of the Department of Education and Social Justice

Andrew Peterson is Professor of Character and Citizenship Education at the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues. In broad terms his research focuses on the relationship between character and citizenship education, particularly the nature of civic virtues. His research has also focused on a number of themes connected to character and citizenship education, including global citizenship ...

Simon Asquith is Programmes Director of the MA/ PGDip Educational Leadership Programmes (including the Level 7 ‘Senior Leader Apprenticeship’ Programme).

He has taught and held leadership roles in the school sector in Leeds, Bradford and Cumbria and has lectured in teacher education and in geography and geographical and environmental education at Liverpool Hope University. He has ...

Kalwant Bhopal is Professor of Education and Social Justice. She was appointed Professorial Research Fellow from 2017-2020. In January 2020 she became Director of the Centre for Research in Race and Education (CRRE) in the School of Education.

Kalwant’s research focuses on the achievements and experiences of minority ethnic groups in education. She has conducted ...

Dr Megan Birney is a social psychologist interested in identity processes, intergroup relations, social influence, toxic behaviours, and conspiracy theories.

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Professor Helen Breadmore is a psychologist whose research focuses on language and literacy development. She is Deputy Head of Department and research lead for the Department of Education and Social Justice, and leads the School of Education Literacy research network.

Helen Breadmore’s research focuses on understanding the processes and skills that underpin successful reading and ...

Juan Cristobal Castro-Alonso (Dr Cris Castro) is a Biochemist, Master’s in Communication and Education, and PhD in Education. He is principal investigator and collaborator in research projects about educational psychology, cognitive science, STEM education, and multimedia learning. He has a proven record in quantitative experimental design, data processing, and statistical analyses. Dr ...

Dr Laura D’Olimpio is Associate Professor of Philosophy of Education at the University of Birmingham, UK. Prior to taking up this position in 2019, Laura was Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at The University of Notre Dame Australia. 

Laura completed her PhD ‘The Moral Possibilities of Mass Art’ at The University of Western Australia. She is co-founder and co-editor of the ...

Laura joined the School of Education in 2011 after completing a Birmingham Research Fellowship. Prior to that she worked as a member of a team on a large-scale research programme, the National Evaluation of the Children's Fund (DfES) at the University of Birmingham. She joined the University of Birmingham from the University of Oxford where she held an ESRC research studentship and ESRC ...

Jane is a postdoctoral fellow funded by the ESRC working on the case for teaching philosophy in schools. This work is a development of her PhD research, and will include publishing a monograph based on my thesis called ‘Why Teach Philosophy in Schools: the case for philosophy on the curriculum’.

Her research falls under the heading of ‘philosophy of education’. She ...

Reza Gholami is Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Birmingham and the founding co-director of the Birmingham Research Group on Education Policy (BREP). He earned his PhD in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at SOAS, University of London, followed by post-doctoral research funded by the AHRC. Professor Gholami’s research is internationally recognised and ...

David is Professor of Critical Race Studies and editor-in-chief of the journal Race Ethnicity and Education.

David’s research focuses on race inequalities in education, especially the role of racism as a changing and complex characteristic of the system. He has written 6 books and more than 180 refereed articles, chapters and reports that range from original studies in classrooms and ...

Sarah Gillborn is a Lecturer in Psychology in Education in the Department of Education and Social Justice. She is a critical psychologist interested in critical feminist and qualitative research. Sarah’s research focuses on analyses of discourse and voice, particularly in relation to public policy, in order to understand how social issues are officially constructed and re/negotiated by ...

Michael Hand is Professor of Philosophy of Education in the School of Education. He is Vice-Chair of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain and Series Editor of Bloomsbury Philosophy of Education.

Michael's research interests are in the areas of moral, political, religious and philosophical education. His books include A Theory of Moral Education (Routledge, ...

Professor Tom Harrison is the Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor for Education Innovation at the University of Birmingham.  He is also the Director  of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues.  Tom is an HEA Principal Fellow and National Teaching Fellow and Secretary and Trustee for the Society for Educational Studies (SES).

Tom Harrison’s ...

Saba Hussain is an Assistant Professor in Education Studies in the Department of Education and Social Justice. She holds a PhD in Sociology from University of Warwick and master’s degrees from London School of Economics (Development Studies) and Delhi University (Sociology).

Saba is a feminist Sociologist of Education with a particular interest in theorizations of social justice, ...

Balwant Kaur is Assistant Professor for Race, Social Justice and Education in the Department of Education and Social Justice.

Kamran Khan is currently the director of the MOSAIC research group on multilingualism and an associate professor of language, social justice and education.He has been a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow and worked on ESRC (Economic, Social and Research Council), European Commission and British Academy projects. He has worked in Denmark, Spain and Japan previously. He has  also previously been ...

Ben Kotzee is a Professor of Philosophy of Education at the University of Birmingham. He works on topics in the philosophy of education and focuses on applying insights from contemporary epistemology to questions regarding intellectual development. He also has research interests in professional ethics and in professional education. Ben Kotzee is the editor of the journal Theory and Research ...

Eleni Mariou is the Programme Director of the MSc TESOL Education.

Before joining the School of Education in 2014, Eleni worked as a Teaching Fellow in TESOL at the University of Edinburgh, and also was an Associate Tutor on the distance-learning MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL programme at the University of Leicester for several years. Eleni has extensive experience teaching English for ...

Jane moved to Birmingham from the Institute of Education, University of London, where she was Head of Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. She is Director of the Domus Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Histories of Education and Childhood and Executive Editor of Educational Review.

She teaches and researches on gender and history, education policy and social justice, ...

Ian’s work is focussed on the sociological analysis of youth and youth services. His research has taken place within youth service providers, and has focussed on how policy on education, youth and localism relates to the identities and practices of youth workers and related occupational groups. Central to his work is a concern with inequality and social justice, and the role youth services ...

Dr. Valentina Migliarini is an Assistant Professor in Education Studies in the School of Education in the Department of Education and Social Justice.

Her work, both in research and teaching, focuses on increasing access to equitable education for students from multiply marginalised communities, specifically disabled students from migrant and forced migrant backgrounds, in secondary education. ...

Tarek is a Associate Professor in Education and Public Policy at the School of Education, University of Birmingham. Previously, he was a policy analyst at the OECD directorate of Education and Skills (PISA team) and a Senior Research Associate at University College London, Institute of Education.

His research interests include education, public and social policy, assessment, equity in education, ...

Kevin joined the University of Birmingham in 2000. He teaches social history and education on the BA (Hons) Education programme and he is a member of the editorial boards for the journals, Education Review, History of Education and Paedagogica Historica.

His current learning and teaching role is to lead the Teachers for Educational Equityproject with partner schools and philanthropic ...

Jawiria joined the School of Education in 2017 as a Lecturer in Education. Previously, she held lectureships in Community Development at Birkbeck, University of London and in Sociology at Paris-Dauphine University. She earned her PhD in Sociology in the Department of Social Science at UCL Institute of Education. 

Jawiria is interested in cross-country comparative research examining how ...

Siân joined the School of Education in 2016. Siân initially trained as an archivist, and worked as a senior archives practitioner in the heritage sector for several years. During this period she was involved in a number of archives and heritage learning projects, most notably the Heritage Lottery Funded Connecting Histories project and the Children’s Lives project. Before ...

His current work draws on both his background in research chemistry and psychology, and new data as to what practices (philosophically, educationally, pedagogically and culturally) might best be adopted to encourage personally meaningful educational practices.

Dr Ruth Wareham is a Lecturer in Philosophy of Education who joined the School of Education in September 2021. Prior to that, she was Education Campaigns Manager for Humanists UK, where she continues to work as an Education Policy Researcher.   

Ruth’s primary research interests sit at the intersection between religion and education and she previously worked as a ...

Dr Bassetti is an applied linguist, who is researching bilingualism and second language learning. In particular, Dr Bassetti is investigating the learning and use of second language writing systems (scripts/orthographies), and bilingual cognition (language and thought in bilinguals and language learners). 

 

Ann-Marie Bathmaker joined the University of Birmingham in 2012 as Professor of Vocational and Higher Education. She started her career working in provision of English for Speakers of Other Languages, and she then worked as a local authority advisor for equal opportunities as part of the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative, before moving into higher education. Her career in higher ...

Marion is an academic, teacher and community worker with over 40 years’ experience of developing, managing and researching adult and community education practice and policy both in the U.K. and overseas. She has held a range of management roles in the School of Education, including Head of Division, Deputy Head of Department, Director of Postgraduate Research and Director of ...

Lynn Davies is Emeritus Professor of International Education in the School of Education at the University of Birmingham. 

Her background is in teaching at primary, secondary and teacher education levels, in Mauritius and Malaysia as well as UK.  Research and consultancy interests lie in the broad field of education governance and equity, but with a particular focus on conflict, ...

Following experience as a head of department in a secondary school, Peter joined the School of Education at the University of Manchester where he worked in teacher education and the development of assessments for the National Curriculum. Joining the Department of Economics at Staffordshire University in 1994 he established and led the Institute for Education Policy Research. He moved to the ...

Ian Grosvenor is Professor of Urban Educational History. He is author of numerous articles and books on racism, education and identity, the visual in educational research, the material culture of education and the history of urban education. Books include, Assimilating Identities. Racism and Education in Post 1945 Britain (1997), Silences and Images. The Social History of the Classroom (1999) ...

Clive Harber is Emeritus Professor of International Education. He was formerly a social science teacher in secondary schools and an initial teacher educator.

From 1995-9, he was head of the School of Education at the then University of Natal, South Africa. He was also head of the School of Education, University of Birmingham from 2003-2006. He has recently completed books on education, ...

Marilyn Martin-Jones is Emeritus Professor and former Director of the MOSAIC Centre for Research on Multilingualism. She has been involved in research on bilingualism and multilingualism in different regions of Britain for thirty years. She has undertaken three broad types of research: (1.) research on the use of multilingual resources in face-to-face interaction; (2.) research on multilingual ...

Professor Christine Skelton is Emeritus Professor of Gender Education in the School of Education. Since retirement, she has taken her research specialism in gender and masculinity in a new direction, focusing on historical constructions of these for the lives of Victorian women. Her book, Charles Dickens and Georgina Hogarth: A curious and enduring relationship was published in 2023 by Manchester ...

Ruth Watts is Emeritus Professor of History of Education at the University of Birmingham. Her research interests are in the history of education and gender and she has published much on these, her first book being Gender, Power and the Unitarians in England, 1760-1860 (Longman, 1997) and her latest being Women in Science: A Social and Cultural History(Routledge, 2007). She is on the Board of ...