Dr Barbara Read
- Reader (Robert Owen Centre)
email: Barbara.Read@glasgow.ac.uk
Biography
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.
Research interests
Research Interests
My main research interests are: gender and educational cultures (in both compulsory and post-compulsory settings); gender and student experience in school and HE; academic culture and work, particularly inequalities of experience and the issue of casualisation; and children's and adults' peer group/friendship cultures at school and university. I am also currently working on issues of gender and academic knowledge - particularly in relation to gender and STEM subjects at HE and leading to HE entry - in international contexts.
I welcome PhD enquiries in relation to gender and education, and gender and the social world, and 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
Grants
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
EdD Doctorate Students completed:
Julie Alderton, ‘Pedagogical Discourses and Subjectivities in Primary Mathematics Initial Teacher Education’, submitted 2012, awarded 2013, University of Roehampton.
PhD students supervising:
Nuramira Anwar (2014-present): Do You Speak Your Gender? An Investigation of Malaysian Male and Female Writers’ Interactions in a Computer Mediated Communication Environment.
Nicola Dickson (2016- present) Art as a Tool of Empowerment for Vulnerable Groups.
Ali Sameer (2014- present) The Securitization of Pakistan and its impact on primary girl’s education.
Louise Sheridan (2014-present) Youth Participation in Scotland: Key Features and Influences on Practice and Participation.
Yuwei Xu (2013-present): The Performance of Gender: A cross-cultural analysis of gender and teaching in early childhood settings.
Keyu Zhai (2016-present) Social Mobility and Undergraduates in China.
EdD Doctorate Students supervising:
Rosalie Doherty (2013-present): ‘The Search for Gender in the Promotion of Women’s Health’, University of Glasgow.
Teaching
I teach on a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, including:
2016- present Equity, Social Justice and Change, MSc in Education, Public Policy and Equity (Course Leader)
2016- present Practitioner Enquiry, BEd Programme (Year 4)
2016- present Educational Enquiry 3, MEduc Programme (Year 3)
2013 –present Modern Educational Thought, MSc Programmes
Additional information
I am on the Editorial Board of International Studies in Sociology of Education, and served two terms on the editorial board of Gender and Education (2009-2014). 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 book proposals for Routledge and grant proposals for the ESRC. I am also currently a book series editor for the series Policy and Practice in the Classroom published by Palgrave Macmillan.
In 2012 Becky Francis, Christine Skelton and I won 1st Prize for books published in 2012 from the Society for Educational Studies (for The Identities and Practices of High Achieving Pupils).
I also regularly speak on gender issues nationally and internationally, including recent invitations from the British Embassy in Estonia and from the British Council to speak on UK issues relating to gender and girls' education at an event in Karachi, Pakistan.
