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.
Leesa Wheelahan is a professor in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto where she holds William G. Davis Chair in Community College Leadership. Prior to commencing at the University of Toronto in 2014, she was an associate professor of adult and vocational education at the University of Melbourne. She is a past editor of the Journal of Vocational Education and Training.
Her research interests focus on the role of theoretical knowledge in qualifications; pathways between the sectors of tertiary education and between tertiary education and the labour market; relations between colleges and universities; and tertiary education policy. In recent years, her research has focused on baccalaureate degrees in colleges; marketisation and privatisation in vocational education and in the college sector; and the role that colleges play in society and in their communities.
Gavin Killip is Professor of Buildings & Energy Policy at Nottingham Trent University and an Honorary Research Associate at the Department of Education’s Research Centre for Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE).
Gavin’s research is motivated by finding solutions to climate change, particularly in relation to energy efficiency and energy systems in buildings and cities. He has an interest in the development of supply chains and business models, which intersects with issues around jobs and training in the construction sector. Gavin has previously collaborated with SKOPE colleagues on the state of provision for construction training in the FE sector. He has worked with innovators in the construction sector on new courses and with industry bodies on the wider policy context for the energy system and the built environment.
Gavin was previously a Senior Researcher at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford before taking up a professorship in the School of Architecture Design & Built Environment at Nottingham Trent University. As an Honorary Research Associate, Gavin seeks to deepen the existing links with SKOPE, bringing closer together the research on construction skills and the practice of HE and FE on the ground.
Gavin is interested in the relations between further and higher education in the UK and in similar wealthy countries with liberal market economies.
See ResearchGate for Gavin’s full list of publications.
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.
Emmanuel Edudzie is a Doctoral Student and a member of the Comparative and International Education Research Group at the Department of Education, University of Oxford.
His doctoral research is at the confluence of education policy and school-to-work transition in Africa, with a specific focus on the effect of secondary education on the employability skills of school-leavers in Ghana. When completed, the research will contribute to strengthening learning ecosystems across Africa so that they are more focused on and effective in the development of foundational skills and socioemotional learning.
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, scholarly writing and publishing, and PhD career trajectories.
Kelsey works on the OFS and Research England ‘Close the Gap’ project, which aims to transform the PhD selection and admissions processes at Oxford and Cambridge towards the goal of a more inclusive research culture.
Kelsey received a DPhil in Education in 2020 and worked as a Senior Researcher at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland from 2021-2022. She currently serves as the Junior Coordinator for the EARLI SIG 24 on Researcher Education and Careers.