Education policy and practice PhD

We welcome applications to study for an Education Policy and Practice PhD at the University of Brighton’s School of Education, particularly across the broad themes that are supported through our Research and Enterprise Groups:

As an Education Policy and Practice PhD student, you will undertake applied research, combining theoretical analysis with fieldwork data collection to produce leading edge studies.

The research of our supervisory staff generates knowledge that advances social justice and fosters critical understanding of learning and teaching in diverse cultures and complex worlds.

Staff and PhD student research spans broad areas of education, including for example: investigating children and young people’s rights in UK and international contexts; researching the learning, development and working lives of educators in different educational settings; mentoring and coaching in education settings; and examining pedagogical practices in higher education.

We carry out innovative, creative and participatory research involving children, young people, adults and those who work with them. We also specialise in narrative and biographical methodologies and approaches and, as part of this, listen to educator’s and learner’s stories and examine their life histories, to better understand their experiences and world views.

Our PhD students have gone on to a variety of different roles following the successful completion of their research. These include academic posts as lecturers and postdoctoral research assistants at Brighton and elsewhere. Many have gone on to management positions in related areas such as business consultancy.

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Key information

Education Policy and Practice PhD study is available on a full-time or part-time basis. As one of our postgraduate research students, you will:

benefit from a supervisory team comprising two members of academic staff with expertise in your area of interest. Depending on your research specialism you may also have an additional external supervisor from another school or another research institution, or an external partner from government or industry
benefit from access to a range of electronic resources via the University’s Online Library, as well as to the physical book and journal collections housed within the Aldrich Library and other campus libraries.

Full-time Education Policy and Practice PhD students also have access to desk space and a desktop PC.

Academic environment

Staff and doctoral student research span broad areas of education, including for example: investigating children and young people’s rights in UK and international contexts; researching the learning, development and working lives of educators in different educational settings; mentoring and coaching in education settings; and examining pedagogical practices in higher education.

Based at the university’s Falmer campus, the School of Education has over 90 academic and research staff. Staff expertise within the School of Education span a range of disciplines covering policy, pedagogy, practice and professional development within early years, primary, secondary, further and higher education, as well as within youth work and other non-formal educational contexts.

PhD students take an active role in a range of intellectual and social activities within the Schools. Postgraduate students working on Education Policy and Practice are encouraged to integrate into one or more of our four Research and Enterprise Groups (REGs) listed above. These groups provide you with opportunities to present ‘work in progress’ and network with other researchers.

The Brighton Doctoral College offer a training programme for postgraduate researchers, covering research methods and transferable (including employability) skills. Attendance at appropriate modules within this programme is encouraged, as is contribution to the Schools’ various seminar series. Academic and technical staff also provide more subject-specific training.

Research themes

Researchers within the School of Education are engaged in work across a broad range of areas; we are, therefore, able to accommodate a wide range of doctoral research interests. Our particular areas of expertise currently include:

children and young people’s learning and education
children and young people’s rights and voice
educators’ initial, early and continuing professional learning and development
the role of video technology in facilitating professional learning and development
educators’ use of digital tools
professional identities
educator wellbeing
educator retention
mentoring and coaching
professional migration and boundary crossing
pedagogy in formal and informal contexts
higher education pedagogy, policy and practice.

Some of our supervisors

Dr Nadia Edmond

I currently supervise doctoral students (PhD and EdD), and am interested in supervising new doctoral students, in the following areas:

Professionalism/professional identities/professional development and learning;

Higher Education pedagogy and policy;

Diversity and inclusion in Higher Education;

The development of learning and professional knowledge through postgraduate study.

I am a critical realist and welcome supporting research from that perspective.

Prof Angie Hart

Students drawn to studying with me are generally people with a commitment to social change. All of them share my passion for researching resilience-related topics and most of their studies involve some form of co-production with communities, policymakers or practitioners. Many of them also volunteer for our social enterprise Boingboing and there are loads of opportunities in our CRSJ for students to get involved in some fabulous personal development activities, for example attending conferences on behalf of our Centre, being on the Management Group, staffing a stand at international events, etc.

Prospective supervisory topics I get excited about include:Co-productive and resilience-based approaches to tackling social and environmental issues including:Child, family and adult mental healthPractitioner stress and burnoutSchools practicesHigher Education community-university partnership practices.

Dr Peter Hemming

Peter is interested in supervising PhD and EdD students on a broad range of topics in the fields of sociology of education, childhood/youth and religion. He has particular expertise in the following areas:

Religion/spirtuality and education (including faith schools, collective worship and mindfulness)
Children's and young people's (non-) religious lives and identities
Schools, citizenship and diversity (in relation to religion or more broadly)

If you are interested in undertaking doctoral study with Peter, please feel free to get in touch, preferably with a CV and a 1-2 page proposal outlining your ideas.

Peter has previously supervised the following doctoral candidates to successful completion, and has contributed to a range of other supervisory teams:

Amber Fensham-Smith: Online networks in home schooling (2012-17)
Elena Hailwood: Mindfulness in schools (2016-20)

He has examined a number of doctoral theses, including in an internal and external capacity.

Prof Andrew Hobson

Andy is interested to work with applicants seeking to conduct research relating to the professional learning, development and/or well-being of teachers and other professionals. Specific foci include but are not restricted to studies of:

Teachers’ early professional learning
Teacher well-being
Mentoring for early career teachers / professionals
Mentoring across professions
Judgementoring
ONSIDE Mentoring

Dr Rachel Marks

My supervisory interests include teaching and learning in primary schools, particularly in primary and early years mathematics. I am also interested in the social context of schooling, policy and assessment, including interests related to ability-grouping and equity issues. I am interested in supervising projects involving mixed methods approaches as well as large-scale literature reviews including meta-analyses.

Dr Rachel Masika

Rachel is currently on the supervision team for Joe Waghorne on his thesis, 'Postgraduate research in professional practice: processes, challenges, supervision, support, and success'. She is interested in supervising projects on:

Higher education pedagogies and policy

Equity and inclusivity in higher education

Widening participation in higher education

Higher education students' transitions and experience

Higher education student learning and teaching

Higher education pedagogic research development

Dr Jools Page

I am working with PhD and EdD students within the field of Early Years and I welcome enquiries from prospective candidates who are interested in my specific areas of specialism which include:

'Professional Love'
Infants, toddlers & children under 3 years of age
Attachment based relationships - Love, Care and Intimacy
Theory, policy and practices with infants and toddlers
Quality and learning/ policy, practice and pedagogy
The Rights of babies and young children
Professional adult roles – e.g primary caregiving/key person approach
Parent roles

I have supervised seven students to successful completion of their doctorates and examined 17 full doctoral theses.

For further supervisory staff including cross-disciplinary options, please visit research staff on our research website.

Making an application

You will apply to the University of Brighton through our online application portal. When you do, you will require a research proposal, references, a personal statement and a record of your education.

You will be asked whether you have discussed your research proposal and your suitability for doctoral study with a member of the University of Brighton staff. We recommend that all applications are made with the collaboration of at least one potential supervisor. Approaches to potential supervisors can be made directly through the details available online. If you are unsure, please do contact the Doctoral College for advice.

Please visit our How to apply for a PhD page for detailed information.

Fees and funding

Funding

Undertaking research study will require university fees as well as support for your research activities and plans for subsistance during full or part-time study.

Funding sources include self-funding, funding by an employer or industrial partners; there are competitive funding opportunities available in most disciplines through, for example, our own university studentships or national (UK) research councils. International students may have options from either their home-based research funding organisations or may be eligible for some UK funds.

Learn more about the funding opportunities available to you.

Tuition fees academic year 2020–21

Standard fees are listed below, but may vary depending on subject area. Some subject areas may charge bench fees/consumables; this will be decided as part of any offer made. Fees for UK/EU and international students on full-time and part-time courses are likely to incur a small inflation rise each year of a research programme.

MPhil/PhD
	Full-time	Part-time
UK/EU	£4,407	£2,204
International	£14,976	£7,488
International students registered in the School of Humanities or in the Brighton Business School	£13,194	£6,597

Professional doctorate
Full-time	Part-time
N/A	£2,673 (UK/EU)

PhD by Publication
Full-time	Part-time
N/A	£2,204(UK/EU)

Contact Brighton Doctoral College

To contact the Doctoral College at the University of Brighton we request an email in the first instance. Please visit our contact the Brighton Doctoral College page.

For supervisory contact, please see individual profile pages.