I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre on Skills, Knowledge, and Organisational Performance (SKOPE). I work on the OFS and Research England’s ‘Close the Gap’ project.
‘Close the Gap’ is a collaborative initiative between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, dedicated to understanding and transforming doctoral admissions cultures, systems, and practices. The project aims to foster a research culture that is more socially and epistemically just, as well as inclusive.
My research focuses on the dynamics of diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education, particularly within elite universities. I am particularly interested in exploring how social class, race/ethnicity, and gender hierarchies and inequalities perpetuate and reproduce themselves, impacting access and success in higher education. My work aims to promote more equitable and inclusive practices within academia.
Bill is a research officer at the Future of Education and Training for the Climate research hub, coordinator of the Climate Education Lab in the School of Geography and the Environment, and curriculum project lead for the University of Oxford environmental sustainability strategy. His research investigates school sustainability, climate education, and hope-based pedagogies and incorporates speculative digital storytelling.
Lulu is a departmental lecturer at the Department and a research associate at the Oxford Internet Institute and Sociology Department Oxford. She is a sociologist and her research spans technology, education, work and employment and organisations.
Lulu leads a project funded by the British Academy, which investigates how educational technology (EdTech) transforms education. Specifically, the project studies the role of EdTech firms – who can be seen as the architects behind the technology – in shaping education by considering the socio-political contexts they are embedded in.
She also works on the project DomesticAI at the Oxford Internet Institute. In this project she focuses on the transformation of paid and unpaid work in the age of AI and robotics. With her team she designed a cross-national harmonised factorial survey experiment.
During her doctoral studies, she researched on the labour market, skills formation systems and organisation studies with a country comparative focus.
Lulu teaches the MSc programme Digital and Social Change and supervises MSc students, focusing on technology and society.
Publications
Peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters:
- Lehdonvirta, V., Shi, L.P. (corresponding author), Hertog, E., Nagase, N., Ohta, Y. (forthcoming): “The Future(s) of Unpaid Work: How susceptible do experts from different backgrounds think the domestic sphere to automation”, In: PLOS One, https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/vzwyd/
- Shi, L.P., Di Stasio, V. (2022): “Finding a job after unemployment – Education as a moderator of unemployment scarring in Norway and Switzerland”, In: Socio-Economic Review, p. 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwaa056
- Shi, L.P., Wang, S. (2021): “Demand-side consequences of unemployment and horizontal skills mismatch across national contexts: An employer-based factorial survey experiment”, In: Social Science Research, p. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102668
- Imdorf, C., Shi, L.P., Sacchi, S., Samuel, R. (2019): “Scars of early job insecurity across Europe: insights from a multi-country employer study”. In: B. Hvinden, C. Hyggen, M. A. Schoyen and T. Sirovatka, Youth Unemployment and Job Insecurity in Europe. Problems, Risk Factors and Policies, 1st ed. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, p. 93–116.
- Parsanoglou, D., Yfanti, A., Hyggen, C., Shi, L.P. (2019): “The impact of active labour market policies on young unemployed: A comparison between Greece and Norway.” In: B. Hvinden, J. O’Reilly, M. A. Schoyen and C. Hyggen, Negotiating early job insecurity. Well-being, scarring and resilience of European youth, 1st ed. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, p. 90–114.
- Shi, L.P., Imdorf, C., Samuel R., Sacchi, S. (2018): “How unemployment scarring affects skilled young workers: evidence from a factorial survey of Swiss recruiters”. In: Journal of Labour Market Research, 52, p.1–15.
Project working papers / policy briefs:
- Shi, L.P., Hertog, E., Nash, V. (2022): Written evidence on technology and data privacy. House of Commons, Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/109471/pdf/
- Shi, L.P., Imdorf, C., Sacchi, S., Samuel, R. (2017): “Employers assessments of young job applicants: Findings from a comparative study”. European Policy Brief, no. 6, p.1–5.
- Imdorf, C., Shi, L.P., Sacchi, S., Samuel, R., Hyggen, C., Stoilova, R., Yordanova, G., Boyadieva, P., Ilieva-Trichkova, P., Parsanoglou, D., Yfanti, A. (2017): “Explaining employers’ hiring decisions: A comparative study of employers’ risk assessment”. NEGOTIATE Working paper No. 7.3, p.1–35.
- Imdorf, I., Shi, L.P., Helbling, L., Sacchi, S., Samuel, R. (2016): “Institutional Determinants of early job insecurity in nine European Countries”. NEGOTIATE Working paper No. 3.4, p.1–43.
- Kilchmann, V., Kobler, C., Shi, L.P., Imdorf, C. (2016): “Strategies to improve labour market integration of young people: Comparing policy coordination in nine European countries”. NEGOTIATE Working paper No. 8.2, p.1–27.
- Hyggen, C., Imdorf, C., Parsanaglou, D., Sacchi, S., Samuel, R., Stoilova, R., Shi, L.P., Yfanti, A., Yordanova, G. (2016): “Understanding unemployment scars: A vignette experiment of employers’ decisions in Bulgaria, Greece, Norway and Switzerland”. NEGOTIATE Working paper No. 7.2, p.1–66.
- Abebe, D.S., Bussi, M., Buttler, D., Hyggen, C., Imdorf, C., Michoń, P., O’Reilly, J., Shi, L.P. (2016): “Explaining consequences of employment insecurity: The dynamics of scarring in the United Kingdom, Poland and Norway”. NEGOTIATE Working paper No. 6.2, p.1–50.
- Shi, L.P., Imdorf, C., Samuel, R. (2015): “Studying employers’ risk assessment and the role of institutions: An experimental design”. NEGOTIATE Working paper No. 7.1, p.1–25.
Mariela is Postdoctoral Researcher at SKOPE carrying out research for the Nuffield Project, ‘Comparing UK policies, outcomes and inequalities in post-16 education & training.’ Her research interests encompass identity and wellbeing theories, in particular the recognition theory and the Capability Approach, children’s rights and the ethics of care. She takes a multi-disciplinary approach in research, drawing on theories in sociology, psychology, human rights and political science to explore what makes a good life, particularly for young people, in contemporary society.
She holds a doctorate in Social Sciences and a Master’s in International Human Rights Law from New College, University of Oxford. Prior to joining SKOPE, she conducted evaluation research for the Rees Centre, research in social care for the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, and provided policy advice and conducted research with young people in refugee camps for the AMAR Foundation.
She is a former Head of the National Authority for Children’s Rights in Romania (2007-2009) and former Policy Officer for the office of the European Commission in Romania where she was responsible for the EU intervention to reform the child protection system in Romania (1999 – 2006). Mariela is founding member of the Oxford Children’s Rights Network.
She is the author of ‘Voices from the Silent Cradles’ (Policy Press, 2021), a book which sheds light on children’s homes, foster care, domestic and international adoption from the perspective of the young people who experienced these types of care and which has been reviewed as complementing Sir Michael Rutter’s longitudinal study of Romanian born adoptees. Her work has been published in The International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, the British Journal of Social Work and Children and Youth Services Review. Her article ‘Children by Request: Romania’s children between rights and international politics’ has been cited in John Tobin’s ‘The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Commentary’ (OUP, 2019) and in the 2017 report of the UN Rapporteur on the Sale and Exploitation of Children.
Visit Mariela’s website: https://marielaneagu.com
Kelsey is a Research Associate at the Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance, and a Supernumerary Fellow at Jesus College. Her research areas include:
- Doctoral education
- Academic writing and publishing
- PhD career trajectories beyond academia
- Student/researcher agency
Currently, Kelsey works on the ‘Close the Gap’ project (funded by OFS and Research England), which aims to transform the PhD selection and admissions processes at Oxford and Cambridge towards the goal of a more inclusive research culture.
Previously, Kelsey was a Senior Researcher at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland from 2021-2022, and served as the Junior Coordinator for the EARLI SIG 24 on Researcher Education and Careers from 2019-2023. She holds a DPhil in Education from the University of Oxford (Clarendon Scholar), and a JD from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Abigail is an ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow. She has three years of experience teaching African history, politics and qualitative social sciences at the African Studies Centre within the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies. Her interdisciplinary research explores the role of educational institutions in postcolonial knowledge production and circulation.
Her doctoral thesis, Decoding ‘Balance’: Learning about the British Empire in English Secondary Schools, analysed students’ discursive constructions of imperialism over the course of a GCSE history module. She has also conducted research on teaching and learning post/colonial history in schools in South Africa and Northern Ireland. Her work extends to higher education, researching the perspectives of Ghanaian and Nigerian academics on the ways in which bibliometric coloniality structures global academic publishing.
She is an Affiliated Researcher with ‘A portrait of the teaching of the British Empire, migration and belonging in English secondary schools’. This collaborative research project brings together scholars from UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society and the University of Oxford’s Department of Education to support teaching and learning about the history of the British Empire and its legacies within British culture, politics and society today.
She holds postgraduate degrees in Post-Conflict and Transitional Justice (University of Cape Town), in Education, Globalisation and International Development (University of Cambridge) and in African Studies (University of Oxford).
Publications
Post-Colonial and Post-Conflict History Education
Abigail Branford, ‘”I’m not Catholic and I’m not Protestant”: Identity, individualisation and challenges for history education in Northern Ireland’, History Education Research Journal, 18 (2), 2021.
Abigail Branford, ‘Transitions, Truth-Telling and Teaching History’, Cambridge Open-Review Educational Research e-Journal, Vol. 4, 2017.
Academic Publishing Practices in West Africa
David Mills, Patricia Kingori, Abigail Branford, Samuel Chatio, Natasha Robinson and Paulina Tindana, Whose Knowledge Counts? Ghanaian Academic Publishing and Global Science, (African Minds: Cape Town), 2023. [Featured in an editorial for Nature]
David Mills and Abigail Branford, ‘Getting by in a Bibliometric Economy: Scholarly Publishing and Academic Credibility in the Nigerian Academy’, Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 92 (5), 2022.
David Mills, Abigail Branford, Kelsey Inouye, Natasha Robinson & Patricia Kingori, “Fake” Journals and the Fragility of Authenticity: Citation Indexes, “Predatory” Publishing, and the African Research Ecosystem’, Journal of African Cultural Studies, 33 (3), 2021.
Xin Xu (许心) is a Departmental Lecturer in Higher/Tertiary Education. Xin teaches on the MSc in Education (Higher Education) programme, and supervises DPhil and MSc dissertations. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
Xin’s research concentrates on higher/tertiary education and research, including:
- Tertiary education and research policy, governance, and assessment;
- Global dynamics and internationalisation of tertiary education and research, including cross-border academic and knowledge mobility;
- Other areas of research on research, including research culture, value and ethics.
Xin is co-editor of Handbook of Meta-Research (with Alis Oancea, Gemma Derrick, Nuzha Nuseibeh; Edward Elgar, 2024) and Changing Higher Education in East Asia (with Simon Marginson; Bloomsbury, 2022) and author of journal articles and book chapters on the themes noted above. She serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Educational Research, and on the Research Management Committee of the Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE). She also convenes the agenda committee of CGHE Oxford.
Projects she currently works on include the ESRC-funded CGHE project ‘Research on Research: the research function and mission of higher education’, SRHE-funded project ‘International academics in mainland China’, and BAICE-funded project ‘Ethical research in international and comparative education during Covid-19’.
In general, Xin’s research aims to:
- Contribute to critical, impactful, cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary research on tertiary education and research;
- Advance conceptualisations of and empirical works on intersectional injustice and inequity in tertiary education, particularly in the changing global context;
- Contribute to cultivating equitable, ethical, collaborative, and resilient futures of tertiary education.
Xin was previously an ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. She holds a BA in English Language and Literature from Tsinghua University (First-Class Honours, one-year exchange study at Heidelberg University), MA in Higher Education from Peking University (Distinction), and DPhil in Education from the University of Oxford (Clarendon Scholar, Emerald/HETL Outstanding Doctoral Research Award winner, CIES Globalization & Education SIG Dissertation Award winner).