Research

Research areas

We use a wide range of data types and research methods – from longitudinal data modelling to photo voice tools – to address pressing social and educational challenges, both nationally and internationally. 

We draw on these disciplines and data to conduct world-leading research not just in formal education settings, but also in society more broadly. Our current research portfolio covers themes such as:

• childhood and youth
• citizenship, democracy, and social movements
• climate change and sustainability
• comparative education
• conflict and peace-building
• digital technologies and artificial technologies
• early years development
• employment and skills
• equality and social justice
• gender and sexualities
• health and wellbeing
• higher, further and adult education
• international development
• mobility and migration
• science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Research impact

Our research has contributed to solving real-world problems and challenges in communities, both nationally and internationally. 

Learn more about how EPS research impacted:

• the public’s views about private schools
• the gender-equity safety and well-being of girls and boys in schools across eight countries in Africa.
• science teachers’ social justice practices
• training and development in Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) teachers in England. 

Current and recent research projects

Our research is funded by UKRI, British Academy, Nuffield Foundation, European Commission, the Leverhulme Trust, among others. 

Featured research projects

A selection of our other present and past funded projects

• Accountability for Gender Equality in Education (AGEE): Bridging the local, national and global
• Admission Impossible: Local battles on school choice and educational equality
• Aspires 3: Young people’s science and career aspirations age 20–23
• Building climate knowledge ecosystems for policy-making in Kenya and Tanzania
• Coastal youth: exploring the impact of coastal towns on young people’s life chances
• Green Jobs for the Future: Reducing Unequal Outcomes for Young People in Coastal Communities
• Flip the script: Improving women’s retention in university Computing degrees
• INVEST-STEM: Investigating STEM Readiness, Inclusion, and Economic Returns
• Measuring and assessing the democratic performance of education systems
• Navigating the challenges of violence, gender and disability: A mixed-method, longitudinal study with young people in Uganda (NAVIGENDI)
• The School Meals Service: Past, present – and future?
• Writing and identity in the age of AI: a global higher education perspective

Research centres

• Centre for Education and International Development (CEID)
• Centre for Engineering Education (CEE)
• Centre for Global Youth
• Centre for Higher Education Studies (CHES)
• Centre for Learning and Life Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies (LLAKES)
• Centre for Philosophy of Education
• Centre for Post-14 Education and Work
• Centre for Sociology of Education and Equity (CSEE)
• International Centre for Historical Research in Education (ICHRE)