Dr Emel Thomas

Dr Emel Thomas is a Senior Lecturer in Education, Children and Young People at the University of Northampton. She obtained her doctorate in education at the University of Cambridge in 2013. Emel has written and presented papers for various conferences on education, migration and equality. She received her MSc in Comparative and International Education from the University of Oxford. Prior to this, she taught in a variety of schools in England and has conducted research for charities that support disengaged young people. Her main teaching interests include equality and diversity, race, identity, migration, intercultural teaching and learning, comparative theories, education in small states and higher educational development. Currently, Dr Emel Thomas leads the Centre for Education and Research (CER) Special Interest Group (SIG) 'Families and Communities'. 

• Equality and diversity
• Race
• Identity
• Migration
• Intercultural teaching and learning
• Comparative theories
• Education in small states
• Higher educational development

Dr Emel Thomas teaches on a number of educational modules at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Specifically she is module leader for EDU2015 Research Methods in Education; PDT3001 Issues of Equality in Education; PDT4002 Research Methods and Dissertation; and EDUM074 International Perspectives on Education. She supervises many research students at Masters and PhD level. 

Current PhD Supervision:

Yinka Amure

Identity and culture: exploring Black women dyslexic encounters in education.

Qiuling Bi

Critical thinking instruction through project-based learning in Chinese EFL classes - A case study in HE. 

Michelle Bye-Gannon

Exploring the role of gender and identity in the experiences of male secondary school students.

Chimeuma Darlington Beke

Student mobility for higher education: the case of Nigeria. 

Divya Dubey

An investigation into the professional development needs of teachers (upper primary and secondary level) to meet the diverse learning needs in Indian classrooms.  

Marie Fox

Digital recordings of lessons as a reflexive tool: improving experienced teachers' classroom practice using Interpersonal Process Recall. 

Hilary Gbedemah

Examining the Application of International Human Rights’ Standards in Ghana for Non-Discriminatory Practices in Girls Secondary Education: The Impact of Discriminatory Disciplinary Measures.

Ezekiel Delgado Martin

The socio-emotional wellbeing of children in 6th and 7th grade, their families and their teachers during the 2020-2021 pandemic school year. An ethnographic study in a Spanish school. 

Rajani Padmanabhan

A case study investigation of a mainstream school that supports inclusion in Bangalore, South India.  

Bhuvana Ramakrishnan

An investigation into parental perspective of inclusive education for primary pupils with SEND in Dubai private schools.  

Xianrong Wang

Exploring the perceptions of teachers about the implementation of the SPELL framework for children with autism. 

PhD Completions:

Emmanuel Maphosa

The Zimbabwean student: examining the experiences of migrant students in English secondary schools.

Yahya Moalin

UK Somali diaspora perspectives on Peace Education as a means of conflict resolution on the National Reconciliation process in Somalia: An exploratory case study.

Nicola Preston

Stories of restorative justice and school exclusion: an autoethnography of relational understanding.  

My Tran

An exploratory inquiry into the adoption of performance based accountability policies for public universities in Vietnam. 

Dr Emel Thomas is an ethics reviewer for the UON Faculty of Health Education and Society Research Ethics Commitee. She is also a longstanding member of the Business and Enterprise Research Degree Committee.