Research projects
CIE is committed to high-quality research that can be used to inform policy and practice at a range of levels and in a wide variety of contexts.
We have a strong history of research excellence in leading large and long-term projects for international agencies, as well as for conducting consultancies with and for national governments, NGOs and other bodies.
Current
- Network of International Women Brighton and Hove Project: Developing a Participatory Evaluation Framework 2026
Lead researchers: (PI) and Dr Synne Dyvik (Co-PI).
Partnership: ßÏßÏÊÓƵ, Network of International Women Brighton and Hove () and Brighton and Hove Council
Theme: Education, Conflict and Displacement
Sponsor: Roddick Foundation
The ßÏßÏÊÓƵ is working in partnership with the Network of International Women Brighton and Hove () and Brighton and Hove Council to develop a participatory evaluation framework for the NIWBH. The mission of the NIWBH is to reduce social isolation & increase opportunities for community cohesion for vulnerable women, with particular emphasis on working with those who have fled war, persecution and personal violence and have additional language barriers to overcome, alongside uncertain immigration status. Established in 2017 the objectives of the Network are to facilitate access to information, statutory, third sector and specialist services; increase confidence, participation in public events and access to civic life; improve personal health and wellbeing; increase friendships within and across many cultures; strengthen trust and security, which encourages disclosures to be shared.
- The role of digital technology in social networks and wellbeing of unaccompanied young refugees: 2025-2027
Lead researchers: (University of ßÏßÏÊÓƵ), Dr Linda Tip (University of Brighton), Prof. Ilse Derluyn (Ghent University) and Elaine Ortiz (Hummingbird Project, Brighton).
Total grant: £440,000
Theme: Education, Conflict and Displacement
Sponsor: UK Research and Innovation
Starting in March 2025, this project investigates the digital worlds of Unaccompanied Refugee Children and Young People (URCYP) and how their engagement with digital tools relates to their sense of belonging, integration and wellbeing. This is a multidisciplinary, participatory mixed methods project that adopts a longitudinal approach so that social networks and wellbeing of URCYP can be tracked over time.
The research takes place throughout the UK and addresses the following questions:
- How do UCYP in the UK engage with and experience digital technology, and how does this change over time and across context and place?
- How does UCYP’s engagement with the digital world link to their social networks (online, offline, in the UK and elsewhere), their sense of belonging, social risks and their wellbeing.
- How can services and stakeholders better support and protect wellbeing of UCYP while they navigate the intersection of child protection and immigration control in an increasingly digital world?
- Mahidol-CIE Collaboration: Jan 2025-Jan 2026
Sponsor: Mahidol ßÏßÏÊÓƵ Seed Fund
Partnership: Mahidol University, Thailand and Centre for International Education, ßÏßÏÊÓƵ
Led by Professors Barbara Crossouard and Jo Westbrook from CIE and Dr Panchit Longpradit and Dr Arisara Leksansern, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities at Mahidol. Working around three themes that centre on SDGs 4, 5, 8, 11 and 13:
- Teacher Professional Development, Inclusion and Digital Technologies with a focus on AI (Professor Julia Sutherland and Dr Keith Perera)
- Education, Gender and Livelihoods (Professor Barbara Crossouard and Dr Gunjan Wadhwa)
- Education and Climate Change (Dr Perpetua Kirby and Professor Jo Westbrook).
The ßÏßÏÊÓƵ and Mahidol teams have produced comparative policy papers on each country’s progression against the SDG targets in these areas, with the support of CIE PGR, Marcela Gola-Boutros and Silin Li and Yanyi He from the Mahidol team.
Read Gola-Boutros’ UK-focussed working paper here: UK Progress on Sustainable Development Goals 4, 5, 8, 11 and 13: policy and literature review
Suggested citation: Gola-Boutros, M. (2025) UK Progress on Sustainable Development Goals 4, 5, 8, 11 and 13: policy and literature review. Working Paper. Centre for International Education, ßÏßÏÊÓƵ, UK. [Available at /research/centres/centre-for-international-education/documents/sdgs-literature-review-uk.pdf]
Read Li and He’s Thailand-focussed working paper here: Thailand Progress on Sustainable Development Goals 4, 5, 8, 11 and 13: Policy and literature review
Suggested citation: He, Y., & Li, S. (2025). Thailand Progress on Sustainable Development Goals 4, 5, 8, 11 and 13: Policy and literature review. Working Paper. Programme of Educational Management, Department of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities. [Available at /research/centres/centre-for-international-education/documents/thailand--sdgs-policy-and-literature-review-jan-2026.pdf]
- Designing and piloting an equitable whole school approach to quality TPD: exploring conditions and support needed to succeed at scale in Rwandan Lower Secondary Schools: Sept 2023-May 2026
Lead Researchers: (PI) with Dr John Simpson (Co-I) (British Council, Rwanda) and Dr Jolly Rubagiza (Co-I) from the University of Rwanda
Sponsor: IRDC Canada / FIT-Ed
Partnership: Lead Organisation – British Council, Rwanda
Funding amount: £280,000
Theme: Just Learning
- Action on Children’s Harmful Work in African Agriculture: Jan 2020-Jan 2027
Lead Researcher (PI):
Co-Investigators: Professor Máiréad Dunne &
Sponsor: (DFID)
Funding amount:
Theme: Identities: Citizenship, Gender & Youth
A selection of completed projects
- Scoping Longitudinal Qualitative Studies with ‘Seldom Heard’ Families: May 2023-May 2024
Lead Researchers: (PI) with (Co-I) and (Co-I).
Sponsor: (ESRC)Funding amount: £150,000
Theme: Education, Conflict and DisplacementFinal Report:
Thomson, Rachel; Lacey, Alison Jane; Nasrawy, May; Boddy, Janet; Morrice, Linda; Brannen, Julia (2024). Scoping Longitudinal Qualitative Studies with Seldom-Heard Families. Sussex. Report.
- Political Economy of Education in Conflict Contexts – The PEER Network: Jan 2020-Jan 2024
Lead Researcher (PI): Co-PI:
Co-Investigators: &
Sponsors: Funding amount: £2,000,000
Theme: Education, Conflict and Displacement - Evaluation of the City of Sanctuary ‘Schools of Sanctuary’ programme: December 2022-November 2023
(ßÏßÏÊÓƵ) and Professor Alex Kendall (London South Bank University)
Co-Investigators: Marcela Gola Boutros (ßÏßÏÊÓƵ) and (University of Wolverhampton)
Sponsor: City of Sanctuary ()Funding amount: £20,000
Theme: Education, Conflict and DisplacementProject Final Report:
Wilding, J. Morrice, L., Demirbas, E. Collyer, M., (2024) Sussex. DOI 10.13140/RG.2.2.18009.12645
Abstract
A collaborative knowledge exchange project between academics at the ßÏßÏÊÓƵ, Sanctuary on Sea (Brighton and Hove’s City of Sanctuary group) and Brighton and Hove City Council, exploring what it means to be a City of Sanctuary, how the city is currently welcoming and supporting precarious migrants, and some inspiring examples from elsewhere, in relation to four ‘streams’: health, housing, education and access to legal advice.
- Youth, Gender and Education: Changing landscapes of work in rural sub-Saharan Africa (WE-SAY): March 2020-May 2023
Lead researcher:
Co-researchers: Professor Máiréad Dunne (ßÏßÏÊÓƵ), Professor Relebohile Moletsane (University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa) and Dr Moses Dauda (Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola, Nigeria)
Sponsor: Funding amount: £296,000
Theme: Identities: Citizenship, Gender & Youth - Wellbeing and the Digital Worlds of Unaccompanied Refugee Children and Young People: Oct 2022-April 2023
Lead Researcher (PI):
Co-Researchers: Dr Linda Tip (University of Brighton) and Dr Jessica Oddy (Postgraduate Research Assistant) with peer researchers Mr Naqeeb Saide and Mr Mohammed Alzarei (Hummingbird Project).
Sponsor: eNurture (UKRI-ESRC)Funding amount: £29,946
Theme: Education, Conflict and Displacement, made by Hummingbird Young Leaders, explains the results of this project which investigated how unaccompanied children and young people use digital technology, and how it affects their wellbeing.
The project was a collaboration between the ßÏßÏÊÓƵ, University of Brighton and the Hummingbird Project.
- Climate Emergency in Somalia: Challenging the crisis of visibility and political responsibility for famine: Oct 2022-March 2023
Lead Researcher (PI): (ßÏßÏÊÓƵ)
Co-PI: (ßÏßÏÊÓƵ)
Co-Investigators: (Queens University, Canada) & (Peace and Development Research Centre, Somalia)
Sponsor: Funding amount: £5,000
Theme: Education, Conflict and Displacement - Gender on the Higher Education Agenda Internationally: Co-constructing foundations for equitable futures: Jan 2021-Dec 2022
Lead Researcher (PI):
Co-Investigators: Professor Olapeju Aiyelaagbe, University of Ibadan, Nigeria / Dr Anna CohenMiller, University of Nazabayev, Kazakhstan / Professor Kholoud Kahime, Cadi Ayyad University, Morocco / Dr Nupur Samuel, OP Jindal University, India
Sponsor:
Funding amount: £44,712
Sub-theme: Gender and Education (within the ‘Identities: Identities, Citizenship and Youth’ research theme) - Process Evaluation of the Ongoing Government Adoption of the Second Chance Education Programme in Ethiopia: Feb 2020-June 2022
Lead Researcher (PI): Co-Investigators: and Sponsor: d / Dubai Cares
Funding amount: £43,058
Themes: Teachers, Curriculum & Pedagogies & Governance, Planning and Finance - Strengthening Rapid Education Responses in Acute Emergencies: Jan-Dec 2021
Lead Researcher (PI):
Co-PI:
Co-Investigators: &
Sponsor: (UNICEF)
Funding amount: $300,000
Theme: Education, Conflict and Displacement -
Lead Researcher (PI):
Co-researchers: & Dr Patrick Kane
Sponsor:
Funding Amount: £442, 670
Theme: Education, Conflict and DisplacementVisit project website .
- Comparative Study of Teacher Education in India, South Africa and England: March 2018-May 2021
Lead Researchers (PIs): &
Sponsor: Ministry of Human and Resources Development, India SPARC Project and UKIERI
Funding amount: $30,000-50,000 USD
Theme: Teachers, Curriculum & Pedagogies - Assessment of Education Strategies and Interventions Adopted in Jordan as a Response to the Syrian Crisis: July 2018-March 2021
Lead Researcher (PI):
Co-researchers: , , &
Sponsor:
Funding Amount: £146,300
Theme: Education, Conflict and DisplacementSummary: Key Patterns in the Jordanian Education System
Final report: Learning and Social Cohesion in Jordan
- Technical Support for the Inclusive Education Project in Uganda (consultancy): April 2016-Dec 2020
Researchers: and
Sponsor:
Funding amount: £47,542This inclusive education project has been working on the development of more inclusive classrooms at primary level through a collaboration between the University of Kyambogo, Uganda, Disabled Peoples Organisations and Sightsavers, and in conjunction with the close involvement of the Ministry of Education, Uganda, and the Sussex.
As consultants, and work with Kyambogo, the National Union of Disabled People and the National Society for Disabled Children to develop a Certificate Course in Inclusive Education, comprising ten interactive modules for pairs of tutors to take from all 54 Primary Teacher Colleges. Jo taught some of the modules together with Kyambogo staff on two of the three residential training weeks at the specialist SEND PTC of Lira in the North of Uganda in 2017 and 2018. The impact of the Certificate on tutors has been considerable, with many using the word ‘conversion’ to indicate the profound challenge to their prior beliefs about disability and changes made to how they teach and observe their trainees. Several have independently forged links went outside their PTC to work with learners with disabilities in local refugee camps and at a Deaf School.
A second plank of the project was the orientation towards inclusion for all Coordinating Centre tutors who deliver CPD to teachers in the field, Inspectors and District Education Offices, carried out by staff from Kyambogo and Sightsavers.
Some 100 tutors have now graduated with the Certificate who in turn have taught their PTC colleagues through an Abridged Version of the Certificate, also developed by Sussex. The final five months of ßÏßÏÊÓƵ involvement focuses on working with Kyambogo to revise the ten modules ready to be slotted into the new B.Ed degree course curriculum with its longer school practicum, incorporating the interactive pedagogic elements used in the face to face teaching.
In working in such a collaborative manner with a variety of relevant in-country stakeholders, this project contributes to CIE’s ways of working with Southern actors, and directly works towards greater social justice at a practice level for tutors, trainees and most importantly learners with disability in mainstream classrooms.
- Challenges and Opportunities for Rural Youth Employment in sub-Saharan Africa – A mixed methods study: April 2017-March 2020
Lead Researcher: (IDS)
Co-Researchers: Dr Barbara Crossouard & Professor Máiréad Dunne
Sponsor: IFAD - Safe and Quality Education for Girls and Boys in Displacement Situations in Ethiopia and Somalia: March 2018-Feb 2020
Lead Researcher (PI):
Co-researchers: &
Sponsor: EUEC BRiCE Program
Funding amount: €5,890,000 (total grant) / £225,198 (ßÏßÏÊÓƵ Portion) - Research into the Curriculum and Pedagogy of the Second Chance Programme in Liberia: Dec 2018-July 2019
- Education for Out-of-school Children with Disabilities in Jordan (consultancy): 2018-19
- Improving Education for Refugee Background Students: Feb-Sept 2018
Lead Researcher (PI): Dr Linda Morrice
Sponsor:
Funding Amount: £7,973
- Understanding Complementary Basic Education in Ghana: Sept 2017-Dec 2018
Lead Researcher (PI):
Co-Researcher: Sponsor: DFID
Funding Amount: £131,000 - Effectiveness and Efficiency of Secondary Education in sub-Saharan Africa: Aug 2017-June 2018
Lead Researcher (PI): Co-Researchers: & Sponsor: The Mastercard Foundation, Toronto, Canada
Funding Amount: £192,000 - Optimising Refugee Resettlement in the UK: July 2014-Feb 2018
Research team: Dr Linda Morrice, Professor Michael Collyer, Professor Rupert Brown and
Sponsor: ESRCPROJECT PAPERS
Roundtable Meeting Report on Optimising Refugee Resettlement: March 2019
Integration of Resettled Refugees in the UK: FINAL REPORT
English Language for Resettled Refugees: POLICY BRIEFSee also the Migration Studies project web page.
- Higher Education, Internationalisation and Mobility: Jan 2015-Dec 2017
See details on the web pages for this research study.
- Research Consortium on Education and Peacebuilding: 2013-2016
Lead Researcher: Professor Mario Novelli
Co-Researchers: , Professor Yusuf Sayed &
Sponsor: UNICEF
. - Engaging Teachers in Peacebuilding in Post-conflict Contexts: Sept 2014-Sept 2016
Lead Researcher: Professor Yusuf Sayed
Sponsor: ESRC-DFIDSee details on the web pages for this research study.
- Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE): 2005-2015
Lead Researcher: Professor Keith Lewin
Sponsor: DFIDOver 120 million children of primary and lower secondary school age are not in school. Many more are attending irregularly, seriously over-age, and learning little. Most of these children are in Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia, many are those suffering disadvantage (household poverty, gendered discrimination, disability, compromised health, uncertain civil status and membership of socially excluded groups. Access to basic education lies at the heart of development. Lack of educational access, and securely acquired knowledge and skill, is both a part of the definition of poverty, and a means for its diminution. Sustained access to meaningful learning that has utility is critical to long term improvements in productivity, the reduction of inter-generational poverty, demographic transition, preventive health care, the empowerment of women and reductions in inequality.
was a programme of research involving over 140 researchers in six leading institutions in Bangladesh, Ghana, India, South Africa and the UK between 2005 and 2012. It was funded by DFID initially for £2.5 million which was enhanced over time.. The research was Directed by Keith M Lewin of the Centre for International Education, Sussex. Its purpose was to increase knowledge and understanding of why less than half of all children complete primary and lower secondary schooling in low income countries and identify what actions of policy and practice would make a difference. The research has generated insights from large scale empirical work at community and school level involving over 18,000 households and over 100 schools, and from analysis of cross national data sets on participation. These are complemented by smaller scale case studies and qualitative enquiries using a wide range of social science methods. Over 16,000 children have been tracked for four years. The research is designed to be directly relevant to policy dialogue directed towards accelerating progress towards universalising access to basic education in line wiglobal commitments to universalise access to education.
The main CREATE Partners are: The Institute of Education and Development, BRAC University, Bangladesh: the National University of Educational Planning and Administration, India: the Education Policy Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; the Universities of Winneba and Cape Coast, Ghana; the Institute of Education, UCL.
Please click for more details on CREATE which links to the master website.The CREATE synthesis was launched in 2011 at University College, London, the UKFIET Conference in New College, Oxford; UNICEF HQ in New York in September 2011, and Canberra, Australia in February 2012 at AUSAID. It was also presented in Delhi, Dhakar, Accra and Johannesburg to invited audiences.
Synthetic Book based on CREATE
Lewin K M (2011) . Brighton: ßÏßÏÊÓƵInternational Institute for Educational Planning Monograph on Making Rights Realities
Lewin K M (2015) . Fundamentals of Educational Planning Serial Number 97. International Institute for Educational Planning, UNESCO, Paris.Agenda Papers on Researching Access
Lewin K M (2007) . Pathways to Access No 1, CREATE, Sussex.Retrospective
Lewin K M (2023) in Faul M V and Savage L (Eds) (2023) Systems thinking for education and development: Unblocking learning for All. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK.
CREATE has produced an extensive portfolio of research products, supported a series of national and international policy dialogue events, contributed to sector reviews, and shaped bilateral and multilateral strategies to improve educational access. The research has generated a twelve-point development agenda that identifies actions to make the right to education a reality. The research products include 75 Research Monographs, eight Country Reviews, four special issues of refereed journals, 25 policy briefs, and six books and 22 PhDs. Many publications are at .
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- Multi-Site Teacher Education Research Project (MUSTER): 1997-2010
Lead Researcher: Professor Keith Lewin
Sponsor: DFIDThe Multi-Site Teacher Education Research Project (MUSTER) (1996-2004) funded by DFID explored initial teacher education in Malawi, South Africa, Lesotho, Ghana, and Trinidad and Tobago and was the largest DFID education research grant of its generation. MUSTER generated new understandings of teacher education before, during and after the point of initial qualification. It analysed supply and demand for new teachers in the context of universalising primary schooling and identified policy priorities and resource constraints. It produced six books and over 30 discussion papers, and a special issue of the International Journal on Education and Development. It was responsible for national reviews of teacher education in four of the five participating countries. Research monographs are available from authors listed in the reports.
Listed below are the main research products:
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Journal Articles:
Review
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