Dr Anne Chappell
Head of Department / Reader

Summary

Anne Chappell is the Head of Department and Reader in the Department of Education and has been in the Department at Brunel University of London since 2004. She teaches on undergraduate and postgraduate education programmes, including Initial Teacher Education. Prior to this she worked in several secondary schools in London and the South-East of England with roles including Head of Year and Head of Physical Education. She studied Education, Physical Education and Science at West Sussex Institute of Higher Education, before completing a Master’s in Education at the University of Southampton and a PhD at Brunel University of London. Anne is a Senior Fellow of Advance Higher Education (previously Higher Education Academy).

Anne's research interests are in auto/biographical and narrative methodologies, education, policy, and the experiences of professionals, children and young people, including those from armed forces families.

She has undertaken funded research with university students from widening participation backgrounds and commuting students and research with teachers at different career stages. She was Brunel's coordinator for the EU funded “Universities Supporting Victims of Sexual Violence: Training for Sustainable Student Services (USVSV)” project. 

Anne's recent and current research, with colleagues, focusses on the experiences of children from armed forces families, including university students: (Next Steps: Understanding children and young people’s experiences of navigating life after their families leave the Armed Forces and University Students from Military Families) and medical educators (The Whole Story: Getting to the heart of patient stories: developing doctors’ use of narrative inquiry for praxis and phronesis in postgraduate medical education).

Anne is the co-editor of The Palgrave Handbook of Auto/Biography with Dr Julie Parsons, University of Plymouth, and she convenes the British Sociological Association's Auto/Biography Study Group: Auto/Biography Study Group (britsoc.co.uk). 

Qualifications

• PhD, Brunel University London (Awarded 2014).
• Post Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Brunel University of London (Awarded 2005).
• MA (Ed) Education, Physical Education and Curriculum Change, University of Southampton (Awarded 1998).
• BEd (Hons) Physical Education and Science (2:1 with distinction), West Sussex Institute of Higher Education, University of Chichester (awarded 1993).

Responsibility

Department Roles

• Head of Department, Department of Education (2021-present)
• Deputy Head of Department, Department of Education (2018-2021)
• Director of Teaching and Learning, Department of Education (2016-2018)

University Responsibilities and Committee Membership

• Senate (elected member 2024-2026, 2018-2021, 2016-2017);
• Safeguarding and Support Working Group;
• Academic Practice and Professional Excellence Recognition Panel member;
• Changing the Culture Working Group member;
• Gender Mentoring Scheme mentor;
• Promotions Working Group member;
• Qualitative Research Methods PGR Workshop Series convener;
• Safeguarding Officer.