Richard Budd

EVENT DETAILS WHEN: June 23rd 2026 11:00-15:45 WHERE: in person at SRHE offices (8 Regents Wharf, All Saints St, London, N1 9RL) From Social Justice to Risk Management? Re-conceptualising Widening Participation Across Policy, University Culture and Personal Identities - Rhiannon Jones - PhD researcher at University of Cambridge and an Access and Outreach Officer at Jesus College Cambridge Starting Earlier, Working Systemically: NTU’s Early Years, Collective Impact, and Community Responsive Approaches to Social Mobility - Kimberley B Simms - Head of Widening Access and Community Engagement at Nottingham Trent University Re-shaping the meritocracy: access policy in England from Blair to Starmer - Chris Millward - Professor of Practice in Education Policy at University of Birmingham and Interim Director of Fair Access and Participation at OfS How do young people make decisions about their future? - Neil Harrison - Professor of Education and Social Justice at University of Exeter

Where are we with widening participation and student experience?

✍ SIGN UP: srhe.ac.uk/civicrm/?civ...
🗓️ WHEN: June 23rd 2026 11:00-15:45
🗺️ WHERE: in person at the SRHE offices in London (maps.app.goo.gl/9mR4pEyYo1yE...)

@mannymadriaga.bsky.social @ddubdrahcir.bsky.social @soniailie.bsky.social

Is the "doom spiral" about curriculum or poverty? There’s a super new book out from Lancaster Professor of Higher Education Paul Ashwin (and nine colleagues) about what higher education does to the people who go through it.

Thoughtful and critical of our book by @jimdickinson.bsky.social on @wonkhe.bsky.social. Addressing issues related to poverty and material need is incredibly important to a meaningful education
wonkhe.com/wonk-corner/...

Realising the educational potential of mass higher education - HEPI This blog was kindly authored by Paul Ashwin, Lancaster University. It is based on a new Open Access book Realising the Educational Potential of Mass Higher Education which was written by an internati...

I have written @hepi-news.bsky.social blog that attempts to outline the central argument of our new book "Realising the Educational Potential of Mass Higher Education": www.hepi.ac.uk/2026/02/13/r...

Interested in studying a fully online, part-time PhD in higher education? I will be hosting an applicant webinar for our HEREE programme from 17:00-18:00 (UK time) on Thursday 26th February: www.lancaster.ac.uk/social-scien...

I am delighted that our new open access book “Realising the Educational Potential of Mass Higher Education” has been published by @bloomsburyaced.bsky.social. www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph?do...

Interested in studying a fully online, part-time PhD in higher education? I will be hosting an applicant webinar for our HEREE programme from 13:00-14:00 (UK time) on Monday 26th January: www.lancaster.ac.uk/social-scien...

Today I am giving a keynote on Assessment for Social Justice in Theory and Practice for scholars in Chile committed to more inclusive higher education.

eduinclusiva.cl?p=14220

Photo of Paul Ashwin receiving his Society for Research into Higher Education Fellowship

Photo of group of new Society for Research into Higher Education Fellows

I was delighted to receive my Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) fellowship at the recent @srhe.bsky.social Annual Conference, particularly as part of such an impressive group of new fellows.

High-stakes tests are common in England’s schools – and they’re linked to a fear of failure In England, where high-stakes testing is common, students’ fear of failure is higher.

👇 a piece that @mvanhoutte.bsky.social and I wrote for @theconversation.com. It's based on our analysis of PISA data from England & Flanders, published in @berj-2025.bsky.social. Below we've connected our work to the Curriculum & Assessment Review led by @beckyfrancis.bsky.social.
shorturl.at/7pHms

Interested in studying a fully online, part-time PhD in higher education? I will be hosting an applicant webinar for our HEREE programme from 9:00am to 10:00am (UK time) on Tuesday 16 December 2025 www.lancaster.ac.uk/social-scien...

WEEKEND READING: Three reasons why the TEF will collapse under the weight of OfS  and DfE expectations - HEPI This blog was kindly authored by Paul Ashwin, Professor of Higher Education, Lancaster University. The Office for Students (OfS) and the Department of Education (DfE) have big plans to make the TEF mu...

A @hepi-news.bsky.social blog on why the TEF will collapse under the weight of OfS & @departmentforedu.bsky.social plans. The points I raise are well known to those who understand the measurement of HE educational quality. Why are OfS/DfE so deteremined to press ahead? www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/11/30/w...

Cover of the third edition of reflective teaching

I am delighted that the third edition of Reflective Teaching in Higher Education has now been published. It's a privilege to work with such a brilliant international team of co-authors. www.bloomsbury.com/uk/reflectiv...

Programme Please note that the programme is provisional and may be subject to minor changes before the conference. Below is an overview of the programme for the day; a copy of the provisional programme inclu…

Session abstracts are now available online - do take a look to find out more about the range of topics we'll be discussing on Dec 16th :-) There is still time to register if you would like to join us in Lancaster - closes 5th Dec. See website at: socmedhe25.wordpress.com/2025/07/16/p...

Calling online PGRs!
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Are you studying for a doctorate at a UK university via a programme that is wholly or mostly online? If so, please take part in an anonymous, 10 min survey about the impacts of online doctoral study on wellbeing and share the link lancasteruni.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_....

#SocMedHE25 Video made with Biteable. The World's Simplest Video Maker

We're very happy to share the conference programme - you can view the range of exciting topics we'll be discussing here: socmedhe25.wordpress.com/2025/07/16/p...
If you would like to join us on Dec 16th in Lancaster, registration is open - *closes 5th Dec*: socmedhe25.wordpress.com/2025/10/03/r...

Free online seminar – all welcome.
Corridor Cultures: Transforming school cultures of gender and sexuality in partnership with students, teachers, and school leaders.
Dr Victoria Rawlings, University of Sydney.
Wednesday 26th November, 4.30-6pm (UK time).

Screenshot of paper in Disability and Society. Title: Diagnosis and distinction: understanding autistic identity construction in university students and graduates through the tactics of intersubjectivity Author: Jonathan Vincent

Delighted to have this paper out in Disability & Society on autistic students' & graduates' experiences of negotiating diagnoses / identities whilst at university.
Important insights for other autistic ppl at uni + staff and peers. It's #openaccess via link: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Gender-related campus violence is a problem for staff too Research on sexual violence in universities tends to focus on students, but a study across two countries – England and Australia – shows that staf...

Here's a piece by Emily Gray and me in University World News about our recent article on university staff experiences of gender-related violence in Australia and England: www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?sto...

There's a link in the piece to the full article, which is available open access.

As we discussed, there has been a lot of progress on promoting #inclusion in many ways but nowhere near enough. Even those with the best of intentions face countermanding pressures ranging from sectoral hierarchies and poor governance to insufficient resourcing and knowledge sharing.
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Rita Hordósy, Manny Madriaga, Sonia Ilie and Richard Budd in formal attire.

Was part of a panel with @rhordosy.bsky.social , @mannymadriaga.bsky.social and @soniailie.bsky.social as @srhe.bsky.social network convenors talking about wider widening participation dynamics for Cambridge Faculty of Education's new THRiVE research group.
www.educ.cam.ac.uk/research/gro...
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To reform universities, first tackle global rankings Universities are in thrall to a rankings system that prioritizes narrow aspects of academic life. Three changes would give institutions the freedom to explore fresh ways of working.

"Such reliance on rankings means that universities are shaped not by the needs of society or by innovations driven from inside the international higher-education community, but by unappointed third-party ranking agencies."

New article by @lizziegadd.bsky.social.

👇

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Photo of the four members of the panel

Really enjoyed contributing to the @wonkhe.bsky.social Festival of HE panel on knowledge & skills with Gemma Marsh, Tony Moss and @debbiemcvitty.bsky.social. Heartened by the panel's shared pragmatic commitment to making education meaningfully accessible to a diverse a range of students.

Job Opportunity at Lancaster University: Lecturer in Technology Enhanced Learning Lecturer in Technology Enhanced Learning in the School of Social Sciences, Lancaster University (Temporary one-year post).The School of Social Sciences seeks to appoint a full-time Lecturer in Technol...

We're looking for a Lecturer in Technology Enhanced Learning to contribute to our PhD in E-Research and TEL for 12 months. Please share: hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

Gender-related violence in Australian and UK universities We analyse interview data from two projects undertaken in Australia and England to explore gender-related violence (GRV) and its impact on university staff. This focus is novel and important as mos...

Great to see my article with Emily M. Gray is now published open access.

Similar optics here on the culling of what could amount to nearly 500 jobs being easier than any difficultues in pausing or cancelling significant infrastructure or overseas campus projects.

Thanks, Ria! Hope you're well.

Your spider plant's babies are all grown up now and having children of their own, btw!

Quoted on the danger of putting too much weight on TEF judgements by using them to allocate resources because it will completely undermine the TEF's already limited validity as a measure of educational quality in this @timeshighered.bsky.social piece www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/tef-so...

Nobody is more surprised than me that I'll be a keynote speaker for the Emerging Researchers' Group at the European Educational Research Association Conference in Tampere in August 2026.

(Conference submissions open from the 1st of December, by the way.)

eera-ecer.de/conferences/...

Interested in studying a fully online, part-time PhD in higher education? I will be hosting an applicant webinar for our HEREE programme from 17.00-18.00 (UK time) on Wed 26th November on Zoom. Register here: www.lancaster.ac.uk/social-scien...