Research centre

Leadership, Effective Education and Policy (LEEP)

Teacher and students in classroom

We bring together colleagues to research the areas of leadership, school improvement, educational effectiveness and policy.

Part of Education

About

We aim to influence policy, practice and research methodology across a range of educational contexts and sectors. This includes schools, further education and higher education.  

With the support of government agencies, charities and research councils, we have had leading roles in advising policy-makers across the world.
 
LEEP's main research interests are:  

  • educational effectiveness
  • management, leadership and improvement
  • employment policy, lifelong learning and the labour market
  • teacher training and teacher effectiveness
  • equity, equality and competition

  
Our research is informed by our focus on:  

  • advanced quantitative methods
  • qualitative approaches, including case-studies of educational organisations
  • policy
  • social network analysis
  • randomised control trials
  • conceptual testing

Members perform roles including journal editing, serving on editorial boards and taking leadership roles within the academic community.

People, projects and publications

People

Dr Achala Gupta SFHEA, PhD (Sociology), MPhil (EdRe), MPS, MA, BSc

Lecturer B

Research interests

  • Sociology of education
  • Shadow education
  • Educational inequality 

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Achala

Miss Chloe Eddy

Research interests

  • Autism
  • Special Educational Needs
  • Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Connect with Chloe

Professor Chris Brown

Head of School

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Chris

Professor Chris Downey

Professor of Education

Research interests

  • The relational capital of students and educators
  • Collaborative networks in the work of educational leaders 
  • Educators' use of and attitudes toward data in their professional practice
Connect with Chris

Professor Christian Bokhove

Professor

Research interests

  • Mathematics education in the classroom
  • Technology use in schools
  • Research methods

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Christian

Dr Dr Vivienne Rwang

Teaching Fellow

Research interests

  • Education effectiveness and improvement in challenging contextsEducational displacements (IDPs & Refugees)Educational accessibility and quality provision for displaced personsEducational marginalisation, inequality, and inclusion in displacement contextsIDP/Refugee Education Policy and Practice
Connect with Dr Vivienne

Mr Furkan Uzan

Research interests

  • Contemporary Trends in Doctoral Programmes
  • Post-PhD Career Paths
  • Graduate Employability
Connect with Furkan

Dr Gary Morris BSc PGCE MEd MBA DPhil CBE

Director Knowledge Exchange & Enterprise

Research interests

  • Collaborative learning between tertiary educational institutions and business partners
  • Innovation through collaboration
  • Leading and managing collaborative partnerships in tertiary education
Connect with Gary
My research interests include educational effectiveness and improvement, and the development and use of value-added progress measures in education.
Professor of Education