Dr Barbara Read
- Reader in Gender and Social Inequalities (Educational Leadership & Policy)
email:
Barbara.Read@glasgow.ac.uk
St Andrew's Building, 11 Eldon Street, Glasgow, G3 6nh
Biography
Please note that due to lack of capacity I am unfortunately not able to take on any more PhD/EdD students for the next two years (Academic years 22/23 and 23/24).
Career
I am a sociologist of education, with an interdisciplinary background in history, social anthropology, and women's studies. Currently Reader in Gender and Social Inequalities at the School of Education, University of Glasgow, I was previously Senior Lecturer at the Department of Education, Roehampton University (2007-12) and Research Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Education, London Metropolitan University (2001-2007).
Qualifications include a PhD in Sociology from the University of Bristol and an MA in Women's Studies from the University of Kent at Canterbury, and BA (Hons) in Ancient History and Social Anthropology from University College London.
Current Roles:
I am currently PI for an ESRC-funded project entitled Gendered Journeys: The Trajectories of STEM students through Higher Education and Into Employment, in India and Rwanda. This project is due to end in December 2023.
Research interests
Please note that due to lack of capacity I am unfortunately not able to take on any more PhD/EdD students for the next two years (Academic years 22/23 and 23/24).
My main research interests are: gender and educational cultures in HE; gender and student experience in HE; academic culture and work, particularly inequalities of experience and the issue of casualisation; peer group/friendship cultures and the social world of the university; gender, subject choice, disciplinary cultures and academic knowledge - particularly in relation to gender and STEM subjects at HE and leading to HE entry - in international contexts.
I have particular expertise in:
- gender and educational 'cultures'
- gender and knowledge - particularly gender and STEM
- the construction and 'performance' of gendered identities (in particular students, young people, teachers and academics)
- identities and intersectionality
- the student experience
- academics and the world of academic work
- gender, friendship and 'popularity'
- gender, class and 'race' in relation to academic achievement
- widening participation, inequalities and academic cultures
- students’ experiences and perceptions of HE
- the ‘social world’ of the university
- social inequalities and social justice
- gender, language and communication
- classroom observation, visual and textual analysis
- critical and poststructuralist theory, especially Foucault and Butler
Grants
British Council Grant: Enhancing Teacher Education in STEM through a Linguistic Lens: a Cross-Curricular and Transnational Effort Challenging Gender Stereotypes (Co-I) (Award: £15,000). Jan-July 2022.
Economic and Social Research Council Grant: Gendered Journeys: The Trajectories of STEM Students and Graduates through Higher Education and Into Employment, in India and Rwanda (PI) (Award: £986,320). 2020-23.
Economic and Social Research Council Grant: Examining Gender and Higher Education: STEM and Beyond. A UK-African Countries Network (PI) (Award: £82, 109). 2017-2018.
University of Glasgow Competitive Award: Directorship of 2-Year research programme, Social Precarity, for the Adam Smith Research Foundation (Award: £50,000). 2014-2016.
British Academy Grant: Playing the ‘Fall Guy’: classed, gendered and ‘raced’ friendship dynamics in the context of academic achievement (PI) (Award: £7,492.78). 2009.
University of Roehampton Competitive Award: Research grant to support the Playing the 'Fall Guy' project (Award: £4,000). 2009.
British Educational Research Association: Meeting of Minds Fellowship (mentor: Prof. Diane Reay). (Award: £585). 2008.
London Metropolitan University Competitive Award: to support creation of a seminar series on ‘Examining Assessment in Higher Education’ (2003), with Becky Francis. (Special Issue of Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education Journal commissioned as a result of this series). (Award: £1,440). 2002-2003.
London Metropolitan University Competitive Award: to fund an administrator for Becky Francis and Barbara Read (2001-2002) (Lead applicant) (Award: £3,518). 2002.
Economic and Social Research Council Grant: University Lecturers’ Constructions of Undergraduate Writing (R000239187) Co-applicant. (PI – Becky Francis). 2002-2004.
Supervision
PhD students supervising:
Tahsina Akbar (University Scholarship, 2019- present): Gendered Interpretations of Curriculum Texts in Bangladesh in the Context of UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals for Women’s ‘Empowerment'.
Louise Couceiro (ESRC Scholarship, MRes 2018-2019, PhD 2019 - present). A New Wave of Non Fiction Feminist Children’s Literature: Children’s Responses and Perceptions.
Nicola Dickson (2016-present) Art as a Tool of Empowerment for Vulnerable Groups.
Mei Hu (CSC Scholarship, 2021-present) How do potential differences of institutional habitus of the UK universities and those of international students’ home countries influence their sense of social identity and then affect their learning experiences and identities?
Oisin Kealy (University Scholarship, 2018-present). Human Rights Films Festivals.
Michael Malt (ESRC Scholarship, 2022-present). Living Through Assessment: Towards a working-class lived experience understanding of assessment in Higher Education.
Angeliki Peponi (University Scholarship, 2017-present) Internationally Educated Teachers in Scotland’s Schools: Included for Inclusion?
Daniel Perry (University of Glasgow Scholarship, 2022-present) Orientating Higher Education Curriculum Development: Navigating influences of curriculum makers decisions with postcolonial and queer perspectives.
Emily Thomson (2018-present) Gender and Care: Modern Apprenticeships in Scotland.
Alexander Vániev (University of Glasgow Scholarship, 2022-present) Exploring the development of doctoral students’ pedagogical competencies during and beyond their doctoral studies: a comparative actor-network look at core (f)actors in three Scottish universities.
EdD Students supervising:
Penny Anderson (2018-present): A Time to Care? Temporality and its Relationship to Care Values as Viewed Through the Lived Experiences of Women in the Scottish School-Aged Childcare Workforce.
Jillian Barker (2022-present): What are the experiences and perceptions of practitioners on the recruitment and inclusion of men into Out of School Care Services?
Jamie DeYoung (2020-present): Supporting Undergraduate Female Engineering Students at an Evangelical Higher Education Institution in the United States.
- Akbar, Tahsina
Conceptions of gender and career aspirations: A study of young students utilising a gender-sensitive curriculum in Bangladesh - Couceiro, Louise
Exploring Children’s Responses to and Engagement with Feminist Biographical Illustrated Books - Hu, Mei
How do potential differences of instiutional habitis of the UK - Malt, Michael
Living Through Assessment: Towards a working-class lived experience understanding of assessment in HE - Perry, Dan
Orientating Higher Education Curriculum Development: - Vaniev, Alexander
Exploring the development of doctoral students’ pedagogical competencies during and beyond their doctoral studies: a comparative actor-network look at core (f)actors in three Scottish universities
PhD Students completed:
Nuramira Anuar, 'Transnational Journeys: Changing Identities, Perceptions and Experiences of Malaysian Doctoral Students Studying in the UK'. Awarded July 2019. University of Glasgow.
Louise Sheridan, ‘Youth Participation in Scotland: Key Features and Influences on Practice and Participation. Awarded July 2018. University of Glasgow.
Ali Sameer, 'The Visible and Invisible Discourses: The Securitization of Pakistan and its Impact on the Social Construction of Girls'/Women's Education. Awarded August 2020. University of Glasgow.
Yue Song, 'Children of Migrant Workers in Urban High Schools: an Analysis of the Dual Role of Education'. Awarded July 2018. University of Glasgow.
Yuwei Xu (University Scholarship), 'The Performance of Gender: A cross-cultural analysis of gender and teaching in early childhood settings'. Awarded July 2018. University of Glasgow.
Keyu Zhai (CSC Scholarship), 'Social Mobility and Undergraduates in China'. Awarded April 2020. University of Glasgow.
EdD Students completed:
Julie Alderton, ‘Pedagogical Discourses and Subjectivities in Primary Mathematics Initial Teacher Education’. Awarded 2013. University of Roehampton.
Rosalie Doherty, 'The Broken Triangle: Women's Gender Based Oppression, Community Development and the Promotion of Women's Health and Wellbeing in Ireland'. Awarded July 2019. University of Glasgow.
Teaching
My teaching role is currently reduced as a result of my work on the Gendered Journeys project, however I contribute to a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, including:
Fundamentals of Education, MEduc with Primary Teaching Qualification
Equity, Social Justice and Change, MSc in Education, Public Policy and Equity
Museums as a Source for Learning, MSc in Museum Education
Additional information
I am currently the Prinicipal Investigator of Gendered Journeys project, a 3 year project funded by an ESRC GCRF grant, as well as Ethics Officer for the School of Education.
I am on the Editorial Board of Gender and Education and International Studies in Sociology of Education. I was also UK and Ireland Editor of Women's Studies International Forum journal from 2008-2010. I review articles for a wide range of journals, as well as grant proposals for the ESRC.
I am currently co-lead, with Dr Charlotte Morris of the University of Portsmouth, of the Gender and Precarity in Academia network, part of the European Universities: Critical Futures project (PI Prof Susan Wright) funded by the Danish Research Council.
From 2017-18 I was the lead facilitator of the Examining Gender in Higher Education (EGHE) Network : a partnership between academics at the University of Glasgow, University of Rwanda, Kenyatta University (Kenya), Gambia College, Makerere University (Uganda), and NGO partners the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE). This network was established and funded for 18-months via an ESRC GCRF Networks Grant. The Network had an interest in all aspects of academic culture, practices and experience for students and staff in HE in our network countries, and an interest in subject/disciplinary issues including gender and the study of STEM subjects. We produced two policy briefings as part of our outputs for the network which can be downloaded from the project webpage (see above).