Who are the Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change?
The Centre is led by three Co-Directors Chris Chapman, Margery McMahon, Michele Schweisfurth and a Core Membership possessing a range of disciplinary, methodological and contextual expertise. Pooling these research capabilities facilitates a broad and nuanced view, and a commitment to positive educational and social change drives both the research agenda and the way outcomes are translated into impact.
This interdisciplinary and multi-faceted approach also draws a diverse group of Affiliate Members from within on the College of Social Sciences, including Scotland, the Adam Smith Foundation, and more broadly across the University. This allows a deeper and broader understanding of key questions of concern to academics and policymakers alike, for example the efficiency of systems and the production of human capital. Inequalities of access, aspiration, achievement and wider issues of wellbeing are not only short-term problems for individuals and governments: they have longer term and intergenerational economic and social consequences.
An External Think Tank provides critical friendship and helps to ensure our work is relevant to the needs of the Scottish system. A diverse range of international partnerships ensures internationalization remains a key agenda and a comparative perspective complements the insider analysis, and that impact extends beyond the UK and more developed systems.
In addition to the usual academic and professional networks, the Centre is part of a global network of researchers interested in educational equity and systems change in education. An international advisory board informs the strategic direction of the Centre’s work and a number of world-leading academics are International Associates of the Centre. This group of Associates will work with the Centre on collaborative research projects and visiting Scotland to take part in conferences seminars and workshops.
A list of our staff profiles can be see on the University of Glasgow website.