New educational research centre to launch
Published: 18 October 2013
The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, Mike Russell MSP, will next week launch the Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change. Based in the School of Education, College of Social Sciences, the centre will focus on the development of more equitable education systems.
The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, Mike Russell MSP will next week launch a new centre based in the School of Education, College of Social Sciences.
The Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change will focus on the development of more equitable education systems. It will also study policy and practice, and foster interdisciplinary research. It takes its name from the nineteenth century entrepreneur, social reformer and founder of the New Lanark model industrial mill town.
The new centre’s main aim is to produce world leading, action-focused research, forging links between policy and practice both locally and internationally, ultimately producing new knowledge and developments in education practice.
The Head of the Centre is Professor Christopher Chapman who joined the University of Glasgow earlier this year as Chair of Educational Policy and Practice. Previously he was Professor of Education at the University of Manchester. The Centre will have a core staff of ten with other, affiliated academics.
Professor Chapman said: “The new Robert Owen Centre will play a pivotal role in the University’s social responsibility agenda both at home and abroad.
“The staff and research affiliates working with us have a range of disciplinary, methodological, thematic and contextual expertise. Pooling our resources will give a broad and a nuanced view. A commitment to positive educational and social change will drive our research and the way outcomes are translated into impact.
“This interdisciplinary and multi-faceted approach draws on the strengths found within the College of Social Sciences, such as Policy Scotland and the Adam Smith Foundation. It also reflects expertise more broadly across the University in our institutes including the Institute of Health and Wellbeing.”
The Robert Owen Centre is also supported by external advisers in the form of a think tank representing the education sector. This is aimed at ensuring that research is relevant to current needs and that researchers are engaged with a wide field of stakeholders and organisations.
First published: 18 October 2013
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