CIER Projects

Enhancing system support for teacher well-being and retention in Sub-Saharan Africa: Towards a place-based, collaborative research agenda

This project, led by a transatlantic and interdisciplinary team of researchers from George Washington University (USA) and the University of Nottingham, aims to: 

1. provide research-informed and locally relevant knowledge about why teachers leave or stay in the profession in comparative analysis of three diverse and regionally representative systems in sub-Saharan Africa- Senegal, Tanzania and Zimbabwe
2. ensure the collaborative design of locally-led, place-based, multi-membership networks and operational hubs aimed at cultivating practical, locally developed solutions to facilitate longer-term transformation.

Principal investigator: Professor Chris Day
Research team: Professor Juliet Thondhlana and Dr Tingting Yuan
Funding body: Spencer Foundation vision grant

Mapping the TVET-industry ecosystem: a methodology for identifying innovative partnerships between TVET institutions and workplaces

The challenge of connecting technical and vocational education (TVET) to industry is cross-regional, albeit one which manifests in different ways in different geographic and socio-economic contexts. This UNEVOC Networking Coaction Initiative draws on the cross-regional TVET-Industry expertise of UNEVOC Centres in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, Jamaica and Chile, to develop a practical tool, shareable through the UNESCO-UNEVOC Network for TVET institutions to map the actual and potential connections to industry and work that is adaptable to different TVET-Industry contexts.

Principal investigator: Dr Jo-Anna Russon
Research team: Professor Volker Wedekind
Funding body: UNESCO-UNEVOC
Further information: UNEVOC Network Coaction Initiative website

Extending TVET research impact: (re)theorising the relationship between TVET-industry 

This fund supports the knowledge exchange/impact of our portfolio of projects on technical and vocational education and training (TVET), by consolidating our research under one strategic theme: (re)theorising the relationship between TVET and industry. The gap between TVET and industry (in both the formal and informal economy) was identified as a sub-theme in ongoing/recently completed School of Education projects:  

• VET Africa 4.0: informality in the catering sector (Uganda)  
• RAELL: inadequate training in support of conservation agriculture (South Africa and Uganda) 
• DHET project: disconnect between TVET lecturers and industry (South Africa) 
• Midlands Innovation: sustainable agriculture training is mainly non-formal (UK) 

Through this work we aim to consolidate these thematic findings, building in a cross-comparative element between South Africa, Uganda and the UK.

Principal investigator: Dr Jo-Anna Russon
Research team: Professor Volker Wedekind
Funding body: University of Nottingham

Addressing female STEM lecturers' underrepresentation in leadership in technical universities in Ghana

This project is a qualitative study, with an interdisciplinary scope, led by, co-designed by and with the participation of female Global North and South scholars. It draws on the collaborative partnership between the School of Education at the University of Nottingham, Ho Technical University in Ghana and the Association of African Universities. Through semi-structured interviews and a sponsored writing workshop for 30 female STEM lecturers and 10-month mentorship programme, we aim to give voice and develop the skills of a small group of female STEM lecturers in Ghanian technical universities who work in different STEM disciplines and who have experienced difficulties in securing a leadership position due to their limited research output.

Principal investigator: Dr Alica Bowman
Co-investigator: Professor Juliet Thondhlana (University of Nottingham), Dr Effah-Manu (Ho Technical University, Ghana) and Dr Mkrumah-Kuagbedzi (Assocaition of African Universities, Ghana)
Funder: British Council's Going Global Partnerships
Further information: project webpage

Comparing donor logic between China and Japan: Development practitioners' agentic self

The purpose of this study is to reveal, from the perspective of development practitioners, the aid logic (values and codes of conduct supporting aid in terms of ideology) in educational cooperation in Japan, a country that transitioned from being a recipient to a donor after the war, and China, which has recently increased its presence as an emerging donor through South-South Cooperation.

Principal investigators: Dr. Nozomi Sakata, Hiroshima University, Japan
Co-investigator: Dr Tingting Yuan
Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)

Poetic research by teachers in higher education: Methods, features and contributions

This project explores how higher education teachers use poetry as research to enhance their teaching, contributing to global educational discussions. By incorporating poetry's artistic, symbolic, and rhythmic qualities, educators across disciplines like arts, music, nursing, and more infuse creativity, empathy, and expression into their research. The study draws on various international contexts, highlighting how poetic inquiry qualitatively enriches teaching knowledge and practices. It aims to transform local poetic research into internationally recognised public knowledge, making it accessible to a broad audience. This innovative approach advances educational practices and supports the common good by integrating scholarly creativity into the academic dialogue.

Principal investigator: Professor Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan
Funder: The British Academy

Empowering the future: Children voices and actions on climate change education in Mozambique

This project takes an interdisciplinary and participatory approach to bring Mozambican children's voices to the fore in the fight to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Mozambique is one of the countries most affected by climate change in Africa, due to its vast sea exposure through its 1,600-mile-long coastline. This awareness has led to the development of national policies aimed at increasing the country’s resilience to climate shocks. However, the role played by schools mostly focuses on infrastructural resilience, forgoing their responsibilities towards future generations. This study bridges the gap by producing policy-ready insight with children: schools are in charge of significant sections of young people’s learning – so offer the potential to impact significantly on those elements of behaviour that may be required to change to reach climate targets.

Principal investigator: Dr Francesca Salvi
Research team: Dr Elena Colonna, CoMeDia, Mozambique
Funding body: The British Academy

Towards caring fathers: The role of young fathers' mothers in enabling alternative masculinities in South Africa

This study considers how young men in South Africa embrace fatherhood through the support of their own mothers. When African teenagers in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa become fathers out of wedlock, cultural practices around the acknowledgement of paternity and the payment of damages are invoked. However, teenage fathers are mostly in education, and therefore not economically productive, transferring this cost on to their immediate kin. Initial findings (Bhana and Salvi, 2022) suggest that grandmothers can thus act as ‘enablers’, by supporting their sons through fatherhood. Yet, the modalities of these practices remain unclear, as well as their impacts on gender norms – for both young fathers and older mothers. Focusing on this intergenerational dimension will enable us to contextualise social change around gender norms regulating masculinity and parenthood.

Principal investigator: Dr Francesca Salvi
Research Team: Professor Deevia Bhana, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Funding body: The British Academy

Gatekeepers of Knowledge Production on Higher Education: Journal Editorial Board Networks and Working Practices

This project explores how academic knowledge about higher education is shaped and sanctioned by the editorial boards of higher education journals. To do so, it will provide an analysis of editorial board practices in relation to the published aims and objectives of higher education journals. In particular the research will identify the range of different approaches adopted when recruiting new editorial board members; the extent to which editorial boards appear to be exclusive or open networks of scholars; and, the degree to which editorial boards overlap or interlock. The research will explore the likely extent that some scholarship about higher education is effectively excluded from publication for factors such as its geographical origination or authorship outside of known networks. By doing so the research will provide evidence of the inclusivity or exclusivity of knowledge production about higher education.

Principal investigator: Dr Rita Hordósy
Research team: Dr Martin Myers, Anto Castillo-Vega and Elizabeth Brown
Funder: Society for Research into Higher Education Research Awards 

Impact acceleration of the internationalisation of higher education policy in Zimbabwe: Evidence and knowledge exchange project

Principal investigator: Professor Juliet Thondhlana
Funding body: General charity funding

Further information coming soon.