Current Research

I am currently undertaking a collaborative project under the auspices of the IOCE and UNICEF to enhance the role of evaluation asociations' participation in civil society world-wide. The web link for this initiative is will be launched in March 2012. Work for the British Council currently involves the review and evaluation of higher education partnerships.

I am also interested in the way School Farms are used as a learning process and have been awarded (March 2012), along with Mason Minnitt (honorary research fellow of the Department of Educational Research) a Knowledge Exchange Fellowship to further this work.

I am currently evaluating the use of the Indicator of Enhancement in Scottish Higher Education for the QAA Scotland.

Current evaluative research is funded by the British Council and is focused on the evaluation of impact. Within the research consultancy IDEAs, I have designed an impact assessment strategy for HE and Science interventions and have just completed an evaluation of the Going Global programme.

Profile

Career details

I have directed or co-directed some 40 separate evaluation and research projects over the last 20 years in areas of change, policy and strategic development and vocational education. In the HE environment I have worked (as both evaluator and developer) on six R&D projects which have tested various types of learning support in international consortia of HEIs [Higher Education Institutions].

I was Head of the Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University from 1997-2000. I currently hold visiting professorship in Evaluation at Freibourg University, Switzerland.

Additional Information

Research programme during the last 6 years

Director of the British Council Evaluation Development Project [Case studies of Hong Kong, Ghana and Poland] funded by the British Council £19,000 1997

Also for BC -

Evaluation of Designing, shopping Eating Project Hong Kong 1998.

Evaluation design and planning, Ghana, Poland and Hong Kong 1999.

Evaluation of Creative Industries Export Promotion, Singapore, Japan 2000.

Evaluation Capacity Building in HE, Ethiopia 2000.

Evaluation Children's Rights Mexico 2001.

Evaluation Governance Interventions Chile, 2001.

Evaluation Design for the Education Support Project UNWRA, Jordan 2001-on-going.

Evaluation capacity building English Peace Keeping Project 2001

Design of Impact Assessment Framework 2017

Evaluation of Going Global 2017/18

Director of the King's Fund Management Development Evaluation ProgrammeFunded by the King's Fund £29,000 1997

Co Director of the HEINE Project: Government intervention in Higher EducationFunded by TSER [EU] £120,000 1997

Co-Director of the Cumbrian Small Schools Research Support Project Cumbrian LEA £6000 1998

Director of the Equam Project [Quality and Environmental Management Project] under the Leonardo Initiative Funded by the EU £12000 1998

Director of the Learnett Project under the Socrates InitiativeFunded by the EU £12000 1998

Director of the Evaluation of Education Action Zone: Barrow2000-2005 £100,000

Director of the World Challenge Evaluation 2000-2002 Funded by World Challenge £25000

Director of the RECRE@SUP project on innovations in HE2001-2002 Funded by Socrates [EU] £12000

Director of the Evaluation of the EQUEL project 2002-2004 Funded by the EU

Co proposer and manager of the LTSN National Evaluation 2001-2002 Funded by HEFC £200,000

Co-director of the LTSN second phase evaluation 2004 Funded by HEFC £50000

Consultant to the Subject Centre Review Committee 2004 Funded by HEFC

Co-Director of the SHEFC Quality Enhancement Framework Evaluation 2003-2006 £300,000

Co-Director of the Skills for Life evaluation of the Learner's Experience, 2003-2006, £391,000

Co-Director of the ELAC project: evaluation capacity building 2004-2006, £40000

Director of the KTP project on partnership learning 2004-2007, £135000

Director of the evaluation of the national CETL programme in England, Wales and Northern Ireland 2007 -2008

£130,000

Director of the evaluation of the London Refugee Policy 2008 -2009

£50,000

Director of the Widening Participation Evaluation programme, HEFCE, 2008

£114.281.00

Director of the Evaluation of the Scottish Funding Council Quality Enhancement Strategy 2008-2014: £495,000

Research Overview

My research has focused on evaluative practice. This has been in a wide range of contexts but mainly in education. It has involved both undertaking evaluations of, in recent times, Higher Education policy and practice in the UK and internationally and also the research of evaluative practice itself in Higher Education settings. I have adopted, broadly speaking, a social practice approach to evaluation. This has two implications. The first is to understand evaluation as a social practice. The second is to understand the effects of policies and programmes on people as changes (or not) in their practices, either directly or embedded in policies and systems.

PhD Supervision Interests

I am no longer available to supervise new students.

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