A feature of the work in CREET is the breadth of research interests, ranging from applied linguistics, leadership and management, studies of schools and classrooms to the use of technology in education or developing pedagogies for distance settings.
This range of research interests gives rise to a wealth of research projects that would welcome the input of enthusiastic, budding researchers. The examples below of postgraduate doctoral projects can only give you a first idea of the kinds of doctoral research that can be undertaken within CREET.
If you would like to discuss an idea that you may have for postgraduate research before submitting an application then please follow the procedure laid out on the How to Apply page.
Examples of current and recently completed PhD doctoral research
Childhood and Youth Studies
|
Natalie Canning. PhD thesis title: What processes in children’s play empower them to be autonomous learners? Supervisors: Mr John Oates, Dr Dorothy Faulkner and Dr Rosie Flewitt |
| Aqsa Dar. PhD thesis title: The Career Aspirations of Working Class British Pakistani Women. Supervisors: Professor Martyn Hammersley and Dr Donald MacKinnon |
| Joseph De Lappe. PhD thesis title: Jumpers for goalposts: An ethnographic analysis of the strategic decisions in lesson observation. Supervisors: Dr Mary Jane Kehily and Mr Roger Harrison |
| Liz Dobson. PhD thesis title: An investigation of the processes of interdisciplinary creative collaboration: the case of music technology students working within the performing arts. Supervisors: Professor Karen Littleton, Dr Rosie Flewitt and Professor Dot Miell |
| Amanda Fine. PhD thesis title: Young People and Alcohol-Use; An Ethnography of Drinking Practices in a New Town. Supervisors: Dr Mary Jane Kehily and Professor Martyn Hammersley |
| Jamie Galpin. PhD thesis title: Influences of Affect and Naming on Children's Drawings. Supervisors: Professor David Messer, Professor Vicky Lewis and Dr Esther Burkitt |
| Jen Kearvell-White. PhD thesis title: Executive Function and Lower Attaining Adolescents in mainstream Education. Supervisors: Professor David Messer and Dr Dorothy Faulkner |
| Natalia Kucirkova. PhD thesis title: Personalisation and Early Literacy. Supervisors: Professor David Messer and Dr Kieron Sheehy |
| Uthel Laurent. PhD thesis title: Exploring Student Disengagement within a Caribbean Context. Supervisors. Dr Donald MacKinnon and Professor Martyn Hammersley |
| Eileen Mansfield. PhD thesis title: Time perception in infants: An exploration using eye tracking methodology. Supervisors: Dr Dorothy Faulkner and Professor Vicky Lewis |
| Sanna Nissinen. PhD thesis title: In Search of Visibility: The Ethical Tensions in the Production of Humanitarian Imagery. Supervisors: Dr Heather Montgomery and Dr Mary Jane Kehily |
| Jeanette Normanton-Erry. PhD thesis title: History of Education for the Visually Impaired. Supervisors: Dr Kieron Sheehy and Dr Janet Soler |
| Ruth Ponsford. PhD thesis title: Young Motherhood and Consumption: An exploration into the consumer practices of young mothers in Bristol. Supervisors: Dr Mary Jane Kehily and Dr Rachel Thomson |
| Alison Twiner. PhD thesis title: Sociocultural understandings of technology-mediated education practices: Improvable objects and meaning-making trajectories in the ICT-literate classroom. Supervisors: Professor Karen Littleton, Dr Rosie Flewitt and Professor Dorothy Miell |
Educational Studies
| Tanvir Ahmed. PhD thesis title: Developing Constructivist Teaching Practices for Secondary Science with Student-teachers in Bangladesh: A Cultural Historical Activity Theory Intervention. Supervisors: Professor Frank Banks, Dr Steve Hutchinson and Dr Kris Stutchbury |
| Subhi Ashour. PhD thesis title: Teachers’ Beliefs about Research: a Syrian case. Supervisors: Professor Frank Banks, Dr Maria Leedham and Dr Chris Walsh |
| Peter Bateman. PhD thesis title: A Critical Analysis of the Open Educational Resources (OER) Movement in the Higher Education Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Supervisors: Professor Bob Moon, Professor Andy Lane and Dr Cath Casserley |
| Alison Buckler. PhD thesis title: Understanding the Professional Lives of Female Teachers in rural Sub-Saharan African Schools: A Capability Persective. Supervisors Professor Bob Moon and Dr Hazel Johnson |
| Marion Cartwright. PhD thesis title: A Historical Thematic Exploration of the Development of a Business Orientation to Managing FE Post Incorporation during a Period of Structural and Cultural Change with Reference to Biographical Professional Cultural Influences. Supervisors: Mr Roger Harrison, Dr Fiona Reeve and Dr David Plowright |
| Ian Eyres. PhD thesis title: Writers Teaching Writing. Supervisors: Dr Janet Soler, Professor Teresa Cremin and Dr Roger Hancock |
| Alison Fox - PhD thesis title: An exploration of individual ‘emergent’ leaders’ identity development through the use of learning biographies. Supervisors: Professor Bob McCormick, Dr Steve Hutchinson andDr David Pedder. |
| Kamrul Hassan. PhD thesis title: Teachers' and Learners' Perceived Difficulties in Implementing Communicative Language Teaching in Bangladesh: A Critical Study. Supervisors: Professor Frank Banks and Dr Clare Woodward |
| Theron Muller. PhD thesis title: Experiences and reflections of emerging scholars pursuing academic publication. Supervisors: Professor Theresa Lillis and Dr Ann Hewings |
| Aderemi Oladapo. MRes title: The challenge and impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on teachers’ pedagogical practices in Nigeria. Supervisors: Dr Peter Twining and Dr Pete Bradshaw |
| Santosh Sapkota. PhD thesis title: Teacher Education through Distance Mode: The Nepalese Experience. Supervisors: Professor Frank Banks, Dr Gwyneth Owen-Jackson and Professor Hilary Burgess |
| David Scott. PhD thesis title: The Significance of Sports Leadership Training for Professional Development and Learning. Supervisors: Mr Ben Oakley, Dr Kath Woodward and Dr Christine Wise |
Language and Literacies
| Ewa Biernacka. PhD thesis title: A Discourse Dynamics Investigation of Metonymy in Talk. Supervisors: Professor Lynne Cameron, Dr Daniel Allington and Dr Kieran O'Halloran |
| Amy Brown. PhD thesis title: Discourses of English in the Japanese Twitter community. Supervisors: Dr Philip Seargeant and Dr Ann Hewings |
| David Hann. PhD thesis title: A Study of the Function and Form that the Playful Use of English takes among Language Learners on an Intensive Business English Group Course. Supervisors: Professor Guy Cook, Dr Philip Seargeant and Dr Kieran O'Halloran |
| Afra Hmensa. PhD thesis title: Communicative strategies in Ghanaian radio ads: the producer, the text and the audience. Supervisors: Dr Philip Seargeant and Professor Joan Swann |
| Betul Khalil. MRes title: Overcoming the challenges and limitation to learner autonomy in secondary EFL classrooms in Turkey: A model course design. Supervisors: Dr Tim Lewis and Dr Uwe Baumann |
| Alex Laffer. PhD thesis title: The Poetics of Empathy: How does popular fiction influence attitudes across social group differences? Supervisors: Professor Lynne Cameron and Dr Daniel Allington |
| Chris Lima. PhD thesis title: Narratives from an online reading group for English language professionals: a case study on online interaction and dialogue. Supervisors: Dr Regine Hampel, Professor Jim Coleman and Professor Marie Noelle Lamy |
| Mair Lloyd. PhD thesis title: Technology Assisted Learning for Ancient Languages. Supervisors: Dr Regine Hampel and Dr Uschi Stickler |
| Jenny McMullan. PhD thesis title: Gender in a Study of Academic Writing? An Exploration into the Writing Practices and Experiences of Fifteen Women Enrolled in Research Courses in UK Universities. Supervisors: Professor Theresa Lillis, Dr Lucy Rai and Dr Maria Leedham |
| Chahrazed Mirza. PhD thesis title: Impact on the knowledge construction process of multimodal online interactions in audio-graphic conferencing systems: the case of adult distance learners of French. Supervisors: Professor Marie-Noelle Lamy and Professor Jim Coleman |
| Sarah Mukherjee. PhD thesis title: Analysis of children's language in role play through systemic functional linguistics at 4-5 years. Supervisors: Dr Caroline Coffin and Dr Janet Maybin |
| Stephen Pihlaja. PhD thesis title: The Development of 'drama' in YouTube Discourse. Supervisors: Professor Lynne Cameron and Dr Daniel Allington |
| Jackie Tuck. PhD thesis title: An Exploration of Practice Surrounding Student Writing in the Disciplines in UK Higher Education, from the Perspectives of Academic Teachers. Supervisors: Dr Mary Lea and Professor Theresa Lillis |
| Mabelle Victoria - PhD thesis title: Building Common Ground in Intercultural Encounters. Supervisors: Professor Joan Swann and Professor Theresa Lillis |
| Torri Wang - PhD thesis title: A Study of Humour in British Academic Lectures and Chinese Students' Perceptions of This. Supervisors: Professor Joan Swann and Professor Guy Cook |
Technology Enhanced Learning
| Bethany Alden. PhD thesis title: Distance learners’ conceptions of reflection in higher education. Supervisors: Professor John Richardson and Dr Linda Price |
| Maria Aristeidou. PhD thesis title: Evolution of Collaboration Between Professionals and non-Professionals. Supervisors: Professor Eileen Scanlon and Professor Mike Sharples |
| Sally Baker. PhD thesis title: Students writing and transitions from A levels to university. Supervisors: Dr Mary Lea and Professor Theresa Lillis |
| David Buck. PhD thesis title: Higher Education Governance in England: A Study of Governing Body Members' Perceptions of their Roles and of the Effectiveness of their Governing Bodies. Supervisors: Professor John Richardson, Professor Chris Cornforth and Dr William Locke |
| Koula Charitonos. PhD thesis title: The Use of Scoial and Mobile Technologies for Enhancing the Museum Learning. Supervisors Dr Ann Jones, Dr Canan Blake and Professor Eileen Scanlon |
| Lynn Coleman. PhD thesis title: Contested Access: Explorations of student academic literacy practices in digital multimodal disciplinary contexts in South African vocational higher education. Supervisors: Dr Mary Lea and Dr Robin Goodfellow |
| Vickie Curtis. PhD thesis title: How are New developments in Communication Technologies Influencing Public Engagement Activities in Science. Supervisors: Professor Eileen Scanlon, Dr Ann Jones and Dr Rick Holliman |
| De Waard. PhD thesis title: Optimizing the impact of mobile accessibility on social learner interaction in a social media rich open, online course. Supervisors: Professor Mike Sharples and Professor Agnes Kukulska-Hulme |
| Jamie Dorey. PhD thesis title: Exploring digital scholarship within a climate of openness and transparency: Promoting the Large Hadron Collider and high-energy physics. Supervisors: Professor Eileen Scanlon and Dr Rick Holliman |
| Jo Iacovides. PhD thesis title: Digital Games: Motivation, Engagement and Informal Learning. Supervisors: Dr James Aczel, Professor Eileen Scanlon and Dr Patrick McAndrew |
| Katy Jordan. PhD thesis title: Reshaping the Higher Education network? Analysis of an academic social networking site. Supervisors: Professor Martin Weller and Dr Canan Blake |
| Kasia Kozinska. Phd thesis title: Supporting Lifelong Learning with Open educational Resources (OER) Among Diverse users: Motivations for and Approaches to Learning with Different OER. Supervisors: Dr Patrick McAndrew, Dr Ann Jones and Professor Eileen Scanlon |
| Chris Kubiak. PhD thesis title: Understanding support worker learning: practice, participation and identity. Supervisors: Professor Mary Thorpe and Dr Doug Clow |
| Pauline Ngimwa. PhD thesis title: A Collaborative Design Process for Educational Digital Resources in African Higher Education. Supervisors: Dr Anne Adams, Professor Eileen Scanlon and Professor Bob Moon |
| Eunice Olakanmi. PhD thesis title: Self and Co-Regulation in a Computer Supported Collaborative Learning environment Among Key Stage Three Students. Supervisors: Dr Canan Blake, Professor Eileen Scanlon and Dr Ann Jones |
| Adam Oliver. PhD thesis title: Design and Evaluation of Online Practical Science Experiences for Students in Countries with Limited Technical Infrastructure. Supervisors: Professor Mike Sharples, Professor Stefan Rueger and Dr Sarah-Jane Davies |
| Chris Pegler. PhD thesis title: Reuse and Repurposing of Online Digital Resources, Including Learning Objects within UK Higher education: 2003-2010. Supervisors: Dr Patrick McAndrew and Professor Martin Weller |
| Anne Pike. PhD thesis title: Prison-based Higher Level Distance Learning and its role in Resettlement. Supervisors: Dr Anne Adams and Professor John Richardson |
| Thiemo Romey. PhD thesis title: Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Distance Learning. Supervisors: Dr Anne Adams and Dr Tom Argles |
| Binhui Shao. PhD thesis title: University students' use of technologies in China. Supervisors: Professor John Richardson and Dr Chris Jones |