PhD Supervision - Areas of Interest

Ashwin, Paul

I am interested in recieving PhD proposals in most areas related to researching teaching, learning and assessment in higher education. The work of my current and past doctoral students includes:

• An phenomenographic analysis of tutors' conceptions of creativity in teaching and learning in higher education;
• An examination of the relations between art and design tutors' conceptions of their professional practice and their teaching practice;
• A Bernsteinian analysis of the pedagogic discourse of nursing;
• An examination of threshold concepts in prosthetics and orthotics;
• An examination of how midwives use a personal learning system to support their continuing professional development after graduation;
• A Bourdieusian examination of how the practices of nurse educators structure the curriculum;
• A phenomenographic analysis of students' and tutors' experiences of learning support in higher education.

Further information on doctoral study in the department can be found here

Cuban, Sondra

Adult literacy, new literacies, ICT, education and basic skills, women's studies/gender studies, migration studies, qualitative research, ethnographic studies.

Dempster, Steven

Gender in education, masculinities,student experience of Higher Education, educational transitions. Co supervision only.

Fritz, Catherine

• Learning and remembering, especially with respect to the role of practice and repetition and/or interest and motivation;
• Issues related to effective learning of statistics, maths and/or science;
• Constructive nature of perception, memory and reasoning, including investigation of biases;
• Memory improvement strategies;
• Remembering names.

Hamilton, Mary

• Adult language, literacy and numeracy education and the new literacy studies;
• Informal adult learning and everyday practices across the lifespan;
• Policy issues in ALLN and comparative perspectives;
• Media representations of educational issues;
• Participatory research methodologies;
• Use of visual data in research and computer assisted qualitative analysis.

Houghton, Ann-Marie

On areas associated with my research interests but in particular in the next few years on widening participation and the academic and learning experiences of disabled learners, or Black and Minority Ethnic students, from a multi-agency perspective the policy agenda of Schools that will encompass family and intergenerational learning from the perspective of the Extended Schools or Faith Schools agenda and finally the transitions issues into education and the workplace, especially for disabled graduates.

Jackson, Carolyn

Gender and education.

Social psychology of teaching and learning, especially motives for learning or not learning.

Fear in education.

Lewis, Bob

I am happy to work on-line with doctoral students in the general area of knowledge sharing and in particular e-learning. My focus is on learning in groups.

Parchoma, Gale

I am especially interested in proposals from potential doctoral students in the areas of personalisation and customisation in online learning environments, social negotiation and social capital in online learning environments, identities in online learning environments, enhancing learning through the use of technology, digital identity, and distributed cognition.

Rogers, Colin

• Motivational processes in education
• Aspects of group based learning
• Problem based learning
• Teacher expectations

Saunders, Murray

• Educational policy implementation and change;
• Work and the curriculum;
• National and international policy evaluation, evaluation theory and method, evaluation of complex change processes e.g. e-learning.
• Informal learning in communities,

Sime, Julie-Ann

• The development of competence and expertise in professional learning
• Cognitive approaches to the design of learning technology;
• Games and simulations in teaching and learning;
• The use of multiple representations in thinking, teaching and learning with technology;
• Use of qualitative simulations in learning environments
• Adoption of new technologies in teaching and learning, e.g. Second Life and other virtual environments.

Thompson, Leanne

Perception and information processing in "normal" or SEN / disabled groups. This could involve a focus on information presentation in a variety of modalities (vision, touch, audition etc.) or a focus on perceptual processes themselves(e.g. during reading). Alternatively the focus could be on perceptual processes resulting from various types of impairment (e.g. blindness, autism etc.). I'm particularly keen on exploring the educational implications (i.e. impact on learning & memory) of different types of information (visual, tactual, auditory etc.), whether this is due to a particular SEN or just preference.

Tight, Malcolm

• Changing patterns of academic work;
• The nature of the academic experience;
• The history and meaning of higher education;
• Alternative modes of study;
• The postgraduate and research student experience;
• Mature and 'non-traditional' students;
• Comparative studies;
• Patterns of participation;
• The role of learning in adult life

Trowler, Paul

• Higher education policy-making and policy implementation;
• The analysis of organisational and professional cultures in universitities, particularly as they relate to change-management processes;
• The reception and impact in differing social contexts of learning, teaching and assessment policies and practices;
• Discourse and identities in higher education; ethnographic research methodologies.

Warin, Jo

I would be interested in receiving proposals on:

• The development of identity through the school years
• Parenting (especially with a focus on gender)
• The home-school relationship
• Gender issues in education (particularly those concerned with issues about male staff in early years education)
• Early childhood

Zenios, Maria

I am interested in supervising PhD candidates researching the innovative ways in which emerging technologies can support and augment learning and teaching, including their potential, impact and applications in education and life-long learning. I am very keen in receiving PhD proposals in the following areas:

• Technology-enhanced learning;
• Networked learning and e-learning design;
• Open and distance learning;
• Collaborative knowledge construction;
• Online communities;
• Computer-supported collaborative learning.