I am an inter-disciplinary researcher/Assistant Professor studying higher education and international development at the Centre for Global Learning (GLEA). My research interests include globalisation and doctoral education, SDGs-related international research partnerships, the cultural political economy of higher education, higher education regionalism, soft power and knowledge diplomacy in Asia and Europe.

I am currently leading the British Council-funded PEER project investigating Higher Education and Research Partnerships between the UK and 15 East Asian countries in the past decade.

I read Sociology of Education (MA) at Aarhus University, Denmark, MSc in Development Studies at Copenhagen Business School, and earned a PhD degree in Sociology of Higher Education from Bristol University, UK with a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Grant.

I have been working in the education sector since 1996 and at universities in Denmark, Germany and England for over 15 years. Before joining GLEA, I have worked as Collaborative PhD Programmes Manager at Coventry Doctoral College. Building on my previous jobs at the British Council, Aarhus, Bristol and Coventry universities, I have gained solid experience and in-depth knowledge about international education partnerships at institutional, national and regional levels; multi-layered governance and the roles of international organisations in education policy-making.

My academic work draws on my hands-on experience as well as my inter-disciplinary academic background combining educational sociology, development studies and international relations. I am a co-editor and an author of the book ‘Global Regionalisms and Higher Education’ and have published articles in various international journals. In 2017 I was awarded the prize of ‘Excellent Paper from an Emerging Scholar’ by the Standing Group on The Politics of Higher Education, Research and Innovation of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR)

I am interested in studying education policies and practices that facilitate the development of globally-oriented graduates. I view international education partnerships as social constructs that are simultaneously cultural, political and economic projects. They emerge out of the interaction between ideas and imaginaries, as well as strategies that are advanced and (re)produced by a range of social actors. I am keen to explore why these projects emerge, what sources of their legitimacy are, how their agendas get set, by whom and for whom?

I would welcome contact from research partners and/or prospective PhD students about the following research areas:

• Internationalisation of doctoral education, social imaginaries and social mobility;
• Dynamic spatial, temporal and social interactions between education and societies (with a focus on equity and inclusive development);
• SDGs-related educational research partnerships and globally-oriented graduates;
• Cultural political economy of education;
• Globalisation, regionalism and multi-layered governance in transnational higher education;
• Knowledge diplomacy, intercultural engagement and power relations.

PhD principal supervisor for:

Sarah Patrick, PhD candidate, 2022-28. Theme: Collaborative Doctoral Programmes

Jacoba Magdelena Barnard, PhD candidate, Dual Award PhD with Stellenbosch Uni, 2021-25. Theme: Creativity and Higher Education Curriculum in England and South Africa

Michele Curran, PhD candidate, Dual Award PhD with Stellenbosch Uni, 2021-25. Theme: Groupwork in International Online MBA Programmes in England and South Africa

Bontle Beauty Monnanyane, PhD candidate, Dual Award PhD with Stellenbosch Uni, 2021-25. Theme: HE Curriculum and Graduate Attributes

PhD co-supervisor for:

Mark Dawson, PhD candidate, 2020-23. Theme: Collaborative Online International Learning  (COIL) and Global Graduates.

Natalya Steane, PhD candidate, Cotutelle PhD with Aarhus Uni, 2021-24. Theme: Internationalisation of HE and Public Diplomacy.

Benih Hartanti, PhD candidate, 2021-24. Theme: Value-based Leadership and Governance in Private Universities in Indonesia

Emzi Frater, PhD candidate, Part-time, 2021- 27. Theme:  Online Learning

Regular reviewer for several international journals, such as:
- Higher Education Policy Journal, Palgrave
- Policy Futures in Education, SAGE
- Globalisation, Societies and Education, Taylor and Francis
- Asia Pacific Education Review, Springer

- Journal of Asian Public Policy, Taylor and Francis

- The European Journal of Higher Education (EJHE), Taylor and Francis