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Group members

Members

Professor Maria Tsouroufli Professor Maria Tsouroufli
Email Professor Maria Tsouroufli Professor in Education
I am Professor of Education at the College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences. Previously I worked as Reader in Women and Gender at the University of Wolverhampton. My research is concerned with social justice with a particular focus on gender inequalities in education and professions. I am a transnational feminist academic and my applied social research aims to advance theorizations of gender and gender equality in the Global South. My intersectional study of identities is underpinned by post-structuralist approaches and is centred around 4 themes with violence as a cross-cutting theme: educational policy inlcuding medical educational policy, decolonization of international partnerships; emotionality of difference and disembodiment of EDI discourses in HE; internationalization and academic migration; and critiques of white mainstream feminism. My research and teaching interests are in gender, intersectionality, identities and inequalities, particularly in relation to teacher, academic and medical professionals. My formation, research and employment has spanned health and medical sociology, organisation studies, education and gender and women's studies. My international and interdisciplinary research has been informed mainly by feminist post-structuralist approaches to education and medical education policy, power and resistance. I have led and have been involved in internally and externally funded research projects conducted in Britain, Europe and Australia employing a variety of methodologies (ethnography, narratology) and methods (quantitative/qualitative and mixed-method) on a wider range of equality and diversity issues. Social Justice with a focus on gender inequalities in education and professions: International and interdisciplinary perspectives, Gender-based violence in schools and on campus, Women in STEMM careers, Athena Swan, Widening Participation, Professional and Student Identities: Intersectional approaches, Narratology, Feminist Post-Structuralist Research Approaches EdD/PhD teaching and research supervision MA teaching, marking, and research supervision BA dissertation supervision and marking
Dr Ourania Filippakou Dr Ourania Filippakou
Email Dr Ourania Filippakou Reader - Education
Ourania Filippakou Giroux is Reader in Education. She did her first degree in Education at University of the Aegean and, then, obtained a scholarship from the Academy of Athens to do her postgraduate studies at the UCL Institute of Education. Her main interest is in the politics of higher education with particular reference to comparative historical analysis, a perspective that seeks to combine the methods of history with social sciences theories and concepts. Books include Rethinking Higher Education and the Crisis of Legitimation in Europe (Routledge, 2022); Creating the the Future? The 1960s New English Universities, co-authored with Ted Tapper (Springer, 2019); and Higher Education as a Public Good, co-edited with Gareth Williams (Peter Lang, 2014). She was a council member of the Society for Research into Higher Education and co-editor of the British Educational Research Journal. She co-edits book series International Studies in Higher Education (Routledge) and Critical Interventions (Routledge). My main interest is in the politics of higher education, with particular reference to comparative historical analysis, a perspective that seeks to combine the methods of history with social science theories and concepts. Other areas of my research and writing include: (i) comparative enquiries into the formation and development of higher educational systems and the role of higher education in social, political and economic change; (ii) the politics of higher educational reforms in liberal democratic polities, with particular reference to the European Union; and (iii) comparative historical enquiries into higher education systems of organizing knowledge and pedagogy. In this connection, I engage the ancient Greeks in their cultural system of paideia to look critically at contemporary discourses and trends that prioritize techno-science and instrumental rationality, and under-emphasise paideia and humanistic knowledge. My research interests centre around three areas of specialization: Global and international higher education Higher education policy and the politics of higher reducation Higher education and social justice Education MA: Comparative & International Education (ED5706); Issues & Perspectives in Education (ED5705) PhD/ EdD supervision
Dr Geeta Ludhra Dr Geeta Ludhra
Email Dr Geeta Ludhra Lecturer in Education
I am a Lecturer in Education and Director for Equality and Diversity. I joined Brunel University in 2006, entering my Higher Education career from a Deputy Headteacher position. I studied my Undergraduate degree, BA (QTS), at Brunel University when I was a mature student as a mother of two young children. I enjoyed my UG degree and it led to an exciting teaching career across West London primary schools, where I worked in the London boroughs of Hounslow, Hillingdon and Ealing. I currently work across PostGraduate education programmes: Initial Teacher Education (ITE), MA and Doctoral programmes. I supervise BA, Masters and Doctoral research students, and am situated in the ‘Interculturality for diversity and global learning’ research group. Prior to joining Brunel, I worked across diverse primary schools, holding leadership posts with a particular focus on English and bilingual learners. My favourite teaching post was in Southall, as I loved the diversity and depth of cultures. Southall Broadway was a rich cultural space for Indian food and clothes, and I had the opportunity to use my Panjabi & Hindi skills within this post. I completed my PhD in 2015, titled: ‘A Black feminist exploration of the cultural experiences and identities of academically ‘successful’ British South-Asian girls’. My PhD is rooted in personal interests around cultural identity, Black Feminist Theory and a critically reflexive position as a narrative researcher and academic of colour. I draw on an autoethnographic lens in my current feminist work, particularly areas around anti-racism, decolonising nature spaces, and developing creative writing collaborations. I currently work part-time as I also lead a registered community interest company (CIC) on educational nature events, with a focus on biodiversity loss and how that is understood through a community lens. My nature work has led to exciting initiatives and collaborations with organisations like Natural England, DEFRA, museums, and a successful Brunel seminar series Award on 'Decolonising Green Spaces', delivered in 2023. Feel free to contact me on: geeta.ludhra@brunel.ac.uk for collaborations or further questions. See 'Research areas' section above. I am currently working on my book research, a project that takes my PhD forwards through an intergenerational Black Feminist lens. I am conducting in-depth narrative interviews with British South Asian women across the generations. I am seeking to present authentic accounts of their 'becoming successful' journeys, recognising the nuances and intersectionalities of their lived experiences and cultural heritage. As a British-born South Asian woman, I see my 'insider' positionality as adding a rich research lens to my work. I draw on auto/biographical studies and celebrate my own cultural heritage as a South Asian woman, daughter of first-generation Indian parents who settled in the U.K during the early 60s. My working-class and South Asian cultural heritage has been an inspiration for my academic work and community writing programme with women of colour. My critical feminist lens has inspired community-based projects, to include setting up a women's writing group (see Instagram page @educatinggeeta). We are currently writing our first South-Asian women's creative writing book, with a focus on our lived experiences through poetry. My PhD is available for download via the Brunel link below: Brunel research group: I am a member of the the following research group: Interculturality for diversity and global learning, see link below to read more about our work: I have set up a feminist reading seminar series, with a particular focus and celebration on writers of colour. The series will include monthly readings, with online discussions over zoom. Please visit the website link above for the 22-23 series, or email geeta.ludhra@brunel.ac.uk for information: Feminist reading group | Brunel University London South Asian women’s ‘success’ stories and cultural heritage - an intergenerational lens. I draw on narrative research approaches through a critically reflexive ‘insider’ lens. I frame my work through Black Feminist/Decolonial Feminist Theory. I raise questions about how power operates for women of colour across personal and professional spaces of their lives, to include the complex intersections of gender, race, class and migration herstories. Language and inclusion pedagogies that support multilingual pupils. Decolonization of the curriculum through a critical planning approach, to reflect diverse communities and histories. In my Curriculum Enhancement teaching, I explore culturally responsive teaching approaches. Diversity, inclusion and representation for people of colour in the countryside green spaces - how inclusion and power operate in rural countryside spaces, which have traditionally been seen as White spaces (see ‘Impact and outreach’ tab in relation to my Secretary of State DEFRA appointed role). See Brunel Seminar Series Award. SCITT Primary & Secondary GPE (General Professional Education) Primary English (EAL, language inclusion and drama) Primary Curriculum Enhancement: Decolonizing the Curiculum: Culturally Responsive Pedagogies Postgraduate research Reading seminar series for the Interculturality research group: Feminist reading group | Brunel University London