About
Chris is a Professor of Education at the Southampton Education School and works for the Faculty of Social Sciences on projects supporting equity of student outcomes from our undergraduate and postgraduate provision.
He is also engaged in University-wide committees and projects, especially those focusing on access and particpation, educational enhancement and academic quality and standards.
Chris recently served as Associate Dean Education for the Faculty of Social Sciences (2022-23), working with colleagues leading our education provision across the Faculty's five Schools (Southampton Business School, Southampton Education School, Southampton Law School, the School of Mathematical Sciences and the School of Economic, Social and Political Sciences).
You can update this in . Select 鈥楨dit profile鈥. Under the heading and then 鈥楥urriculum and research description鈥, select 鈥楢dd profile information鈥. In the dropdown menu, select - 鈥楢bout鈥.
Write about yourself in the third person. Aim for 100 to 150 words covering the main points about who you are and what you currently do. Clear, simple language is best. You can include specialist or technical terms.
You鈥檒l be able to add details about your research, publications, career and academic history to other sections of your staff profile.
Research
Research interests
- The relational capital of students and educators
- Collaborative networks in the work of educational leaders聽
- Educators' use of and attitudes toward data in their professional practice
- Higher education quality assurance and quality enhancement
- Access and participation in Higher Education
Current research
Chris' current research interests centre around the social context of education, developing our understanding of the relational capital of students, educators and educational leaders. He uses network theoretical perspectives to develop models of relational capital and social network analysis (SNA) to evaluate and visulaise the relational networks that form the fabric of so much of our educational endeavour.
Chris is especially interested in researching the role of the support networks of students around key transition points in their studies and also the collaborative networks of leaders within and across organisational boundaries. Chris is particularly fascinated by the roles of those who span the boundaries that exist between groups and communities, and enjoy supervising a group of doctoral students conducting research in these areas.
If you are interested in the work of the team please do get in touch with Chris.
Chris also has a background in educational effectiveness and improvement research, with a keen interest in the role that data and evidence plays in informing educational practice and decision-making. He likes to work with all sorts of educational metrics, all the while appreciating the personal and social impact that such measures can have. Chris tends to keep Hans Rosling's "Factfulness" close to hand.
You can update the information for this section in .
Research groups
Any research groups you belong to will automatically appear on your profile. Speak to your line manager if these are incorrect. Please do not raise a ticket in Ask HR.
Research interests
Add up to 5 research interests. The first 3 will appear in your staff profile next to your name. The full list will appear on your research page. Keep these brief and focus on the keywords people may use when searching for your work. Use a different line for each one.
In , select 鈥楨dit profile鈥. Under the heading 'Curriculum and research description', select 'Add profile information'. In the dropdown menu, select 'Research interests: use separate lines'.
Current research
Update this in . Select 鈥楨dit profile鈥 and then 鈥楥urriculum and research description - Current research鈥.
Describe your current research in 100 to 200 words. Write in the third person. Include broad key terms to help people discover your work, for example, 鈥渟ustainability鈥 or 鈥渇ashion textiles鈥.
Research projects
Research Council funded projects will automatically appear here. The active project name is taken from the finance system.
Publications
Public outputs that list you as an author will appear here, once they鈥檙e validated by the ePrints Team. If you鈥檙e missing any outputs that you鈥檝e added to Pure, they may be waiting for validation.
Supervision
Current PhD Students
Contact your Faculty Operating Service team to update PhD students you supervise and any you鈥檝e previously supervised. Making this information available will help potential PhD applicants to find you.
Teaching
Chris enjoys teaching research methods across all phases of the programmes in Southampton Education School.
He also teaches aspects of Education Leadership and Management to BSc and MSc students.
You can update your teaching description in . Select 鈥楨dit profile鈥. Under the heading and then 鈥楥urriculum and research description鈥 , select 鈥楢dd profile information鈥. In the dropdown menu, select 鈥 鈥楾eaching Interests鈥. Describe your teaching interests and your current responsibilities. Aim for 200 words maximum.
Courses and modules
Contact the Curriculum and Quality Assurance (CQA) team for your faculty to update this section.
External roles and responsibilities
You can update your external roles and responsibilities in . Select 鈥+ Add content鈥 and then 鈥楢ctivity鈥, your 鈥楶ersonal鈥 tab and then 鈥楢ctivities鈥. Choose which activities you want to show on your public profile.
You can hide activities from your public profile. Set the visibility as 'Backend' to only show this information within Pure, or 'Confidential' to make it visible only to you.
Biography
I think I benefitted hugely from being a late arrival to my family, as having two older sisters usually meant there was someone to read a book or play a game when my parents were either working, occupied or just needed a break.
I maintained through most of my time at school that I wasn't interested in going to University. There was no one in the family to spark my curiosity, but some quietly determined teachers sowed seeds of enquiry in my mind and a sponsored "university taster week" finally dealt with my remaining resistance. I studied Chemistry at the Univerity of London and graduated with a job in industry. After two years I did a spell of volunteer work in Austria before returning to the UK to undertake a postgraduate initial teacher education programme (PGCE) here at the 黑料社.
Despite that choice being more one of expediency than a sense of vocation, I fell for teaching in a big way. I spent the next twelve years teaching science in two secondary schools along the south coast of England, also gaining experience of middle and senior leadership as a Head of Department and an Assistant Headteacher. I got a tremendous kick out of seeing students grapple with and conquer complex concepts. I even set some of those challenging concpets to music after recognising that singing has a remarkable way of developing memory and aiding recall. While on the job as a teacher I was studying for masters degrees through distance education with the Open University and eventually worked part time as an Associate Lecturer for the OU on UG science modules while also assessing and writing A-level exam papers for a national exam board.
In 2006 I took up an opportunity to work as a Research Assistant on a two year Knowledge Transfer Partnership project between Southampton Education School and a Local Authority Education Service on the use of data for school improvement. This formed the context for my doctoral research and in 2008 I joined the staff of Education School as a Lecturer here at the 黑料社.
You can update your biography section in . Select your 鈥楶ersonal鈥 tab then 鈥楨dit profile鈥. Under the heading, and 鈥楥urriculum and research description鈥, select 鈥楢dd profile information鈥. In the dropdown menu, select - 鈥楤iography鈥. Aim for no more than 400 words.
This section will only appear if you enter the information into .
Prizes
You can update this section in . Select 鈥+Add content鈥 and then 鈥楶rize鈥. using the 鈥楶rizes鈥 section.
You can choose to hide prizes from your public profile. Set the visibility as 鈥楤ackend鈥 to only show this information within Pure, or 鈥楥onfidential鈥 to make it visible only to you.