Dr Stephanie Nowack is a Research Associate in the Department. She is Co-Investigator on the John Fell-funded Oxford Hope Project, where she explores culturally sensitive methods to understand how marginalised students conceptualize hope for education in contexts of precarity. Her efforts are focused on exploring the hopes and aspirations of British Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage students toward elite universities.
As a LEGO Foundation and Cambridge Trust Scholar, she holds a PhD in Education from the University of Cambridge, within the Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL) Research Centre, Cambridge Network for Disability and Education Research (CaNDER), Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre and Play & Communication Lab. Her doctoral research focused on neurodivergent and geo-political manifestations of learning through play. In particular, she explored a South African pedagogy of play for autistic learners.
Stephanie has a decade’s experience leading multi-stakeholder research projects in international contexts. Her research interests are underpinned by a social – & epistemic justice lens, focusing on education on the margins. She is passionate about contextually-grounded understandings of playful learning, teacher professional development, and gender – & disability inclusive education. At the heart of her research lie the questions: whose ‘voices’ are heard, whose knowledge counts, and whose childhoods matter?
Previously based at the NPO Care for Education, she led research focused on playful educational resources for children in low-income settings. This included the Foundation Phase Initiative, a cross-sector partnership between the LEGO Foundation, UNICEF and the South African Department of Basic Education. She also led the OECD & PISA Creative Thinking Pilot as well as the Six Bricks and Playbox evaluations.
As Researcher with Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero Pedagogy of Play team, she collaboratively explored playful learning in South African mainstream classrooms and co-created the ‘Indicators of a South African Pedagogy of Play’.
Stephanie is a member of the Cambridge Network for Disability and Education Research (CaNDER), and an Advisory Council Member of the Winford Centre for Children and Women in Nigeria.
Research Projects
Institution: University of Oxford, Department of Education
Funder: John Fell Fund
Research team: Dr Aliya Khalid, Dr Joonghyun Kwak, Dr Stephanie Nowack
Status: Ongoing
Toward a South African Pedagogy of Play
Institution: Harvard Graduate School of Education, Project Zero (Pedagogy of Play)
Funder: Lego Foundation
Research team: Prof Benjamin Mardell, Dr Lynneth Solis, Dr Stephanie Nowack, Kgopotso Khumalo
Status: Complete
Collaboration for Comics and Autism
Institution: University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education
Funder: Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
Research team: Prof Jenny Gibson, Dr Joe Sutliff Sanders, Dr Stephanie Nowack, Lily Rose Fitzmaurice
Status: Complete
OECD & PISA Creative Thinking 2021 South Africa Pilot; LEGO Foundation Tinkering Study; Six Bricks & Playbox Evaluation; Experience Tool Pilot
Institution: Care for Education
Funder: Lego Foundation
Research team: Dr Stephanie Nowack, Jonathan Klapwijk, Kgopotso Khumalo
Status: Complete
Right to Play’s Play to Grow Flex Pilot Evaluation
Institution: Oxford MeasurEd
Research team: Paulina Valenzuela, Dr Terese Cregan, Dr Rachel Outhred, Dr Stephanie Nowack
Status: Complete
How can emotionally healthy workplaces support emotionally healthy families?
Institution: University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education (PEDAL Centre)
Research team: Dr Stephanie Nowack, Dr Beth Barker, Sally Hogg
Status: Complete
Watch, Play, Learn Early Learning Videos: A Practitioner’s Toolkit, Watch, Play, Learn Toolkit Overview
Institution: Sesame Workshop
Funder: Lego Foundation
Status: Complete
Institution: University of Cambridge, REAL Centre, and Tetra Tech International Development Europe
Funder: FCDO
Status: Complete