Member Profiles
Stella Micheong Cheong
Steering Committee
Stella is a research professor in the Institute of Bareun Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) at Yonsei University, Republic of Korea. Stella is currently leading the 2035 digital inclusion initiative focused on Digital Citizen, Digital Capital and Sovereign AI. She was awarded the PhD degree in citizenship and human rights education from IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society and obtained the Fellowship of Higher Education Academy (FHEA) in the UK in 2022. She also runs the 'conversations for citizenship' podcast on citizenship and human rights education (see https://conversations-4-citizenship.simplecast.com/). Her teaching and research involve examining complex relations between international development, conflict and peace studies, citizenship education, teacher education, migration studies, EdTech and participatory qualitative research. Based on her reworked thesis, she is working on a manuscript, entitled 'Data Storytelling: Employing Collective Autobiographical Narrative Inquiry to Explore Peacebuilding Education in Divided Society in the Routledge Book Series on Qualitative and Visual Methodologies in Educational Research. As a researcher and educational technologist, she has been worked at the Korea Education Research Information Service (2003-2008) and the Korea Banking Institute (2009-2015). Her scholarship attends to the technology-enhanced pedagogy and educational technology policy that contributes to ensuring social change and tackling social inequality within the national curriculum in schools and higher education institutions, as well as enterprises. By participating in a number of research projects, including the ODA projects, the development of the Cyber Home Learning System (CHLS), the development of digital textbook, using Augmented Reality (AR) technology, a Gamification, AI-driven adaptive learning where she was in charge of designing instructional models, assessments tools and programme evaluation related content to improve education quality and curriculum reforms in low- and middle-income countries. Before starting her PhD journey, as a consultant, she has worked with: the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Education Commission Asia, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Stanford University and U.S Satelite Labs. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1810-4735. Follow her on X @stellarcheong Contact: s.cheong@yonsei.ac.kr Latest publication: Cheong, S. M.-C., Palacios, R, & Beye, K. (2024). Becoming Bridge Citizens: Educating for social justice in conflict-affected settings. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice. 0(0); 1-20. http://DOI: 10.1177/17461979231222904
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Michelle Strauss
Steering Committee
I am a PhD researcher at Birmingham City University. My interests lie in the area of environmental law and I am currently researching ways to enable better participation of marginalized groups in environmental decision making.
Maria Vamvalis
Steering Committee
I am a PhD candidate in Curriculum and Pedagogy at OISE, researching transformative citizenship education and the most impactful pedagogies for the climate emergency. In addition, I work as an educator, facilitator and consultant. I have supported research projects on information literacy, epistemic justice and reflexivity, and democratic citizenship. I commit to understanding and enacting my responsibilities to the existing and evolving treaties and wampum-inspired relationships in the place where I live.
Piers von Berg
Steering Committee
Piers is a Senior Lecturer in the College of Law, Criminal and Social Justice at Birmingham City University. His research centers on citizenship and human rights education at university and youth justice. More broadly, he is interested in theories and innovative methodologies for teaching and learning at higher education, and the effective participation rights of children and young people. He provides consultancy work internationally on human rights and citizenship education and is a Fellow of the Demos Centre at the American College of Greece. He is also a member of the steering committee of the International Association of Human Rights Education. Before studying for his EdD at the Institute of Education at University College London, he practiced at the Bar of England and Wales from 2010-2018 in criminal, family and administrative law. He edited the first comprehensive guide to challenging abuses of power using judicial review in the criminal justice system, specialising on children and young people. He worked on technical assistance projects in the Caucasus and Central Asia from 2000-2006 leading or supporting projects funded by USAID and DfID on democratic governance and citizenship education. Links: Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9083-441X Birmingham City University profile: https://www.bcu.ac.uk/law/about-us/meet-our-staff/piers-von-berg Latest publication: How research into citizenship education at university might enable transformative human rights education | Human Rights Education Review (humanrer.org) Demos Centre: The American College of Greece | The Demos Center (acg.edu) International Association of Human Rights Education: International Association for Human Rights Education (global-iahre.org)
Ricardo Römhild
Member
Ricardo has gained experience as an educator for English (as a foreign language), Geography, and German (as a second/foreign language), teaching at secondary and tertiary levels in Germany and in the USA, including as a Fulbright Teaching Assistant at Lycoming College, Williamsport, PA. He joined the English Language Education team at the University of Münster, Germany, in October 2018 and completed his PhD project (title: Documentaries for a Change – Cultivating Global Citizenship Education through Eco-Documentaries in the English Language Classroom). His research interests include cultural learning & global citizenship education, language education for sustainable development, hopeful approaches to language pedagogy, teaching and learning with media & (documentary) film as well as Global Englishes Language Teaching. Some of my most recent publications: Books Römhild, R. (2024). Global Citizenship Education im Fremdsprachenunterricht. Tübingen: Narr Verlag. (Link to website) Römhild, R. (2023). Global Citizenship, Ecomedia, and English Language Education. London/Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44674-0 Römhild, R., Marxl, A., Matz, F. & Siepmann, P. (Eds.) (2023). Rethinking Cultural Learning – Cosmopolitan Perspectives on Language Education. Trier: WVT. https://www.wvttrier.de/p/rethinking-cultural-learning-cosmopolitan-perspectives-on-language-education Articles Matz, F., & Römhild, R. (2024). Critical Language Education for Peace: On the Significance of Communicative Agency for Education for Human Rights, Peace, and Sustainable Development. International Journal of Human Rights Education, 8(1), 1-26. https://repository.usfca.edu/ijhre/vol8/iss1/6/ Römhild, R. (2024): The Sound of Curricular Silence – A Critical Review of Germany's Foreign Language Curriculum. Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review, 39, 101-116. Open Access Römhild, R. & Weik von Mossner, A. (2024): The Case for Hope in Language Education: Exploring Solarpunk for the English Language Classroom. World Futures, 1-19. http://doi.org/10.1080/02604027.2024.2417042 Römhild, R. (2023). Learning languages of hope and advocacy – human rights perspectives in language education for sustainable development. Human Rights Education Review 6(1), 9-29. http://doi.org/10.7577/hrer.5192
Bruno Botelho Costa
Member
Dr. Bruno Botelho Costa is a philosopher and a Philosophy teacher and professor at the Federal Institute of Science, Education and Technology (IFRJ), in Engenheiro Paulo de Frontin, Brazil. Areas of specialization involve Philosophy of Education, Philosophy in secondary education, Latin American and liberation philosophy, critical pedagogy and decolonial studies. His doctoral thesis, defended at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) and turned into book Paulo Freire e os movimentos de cultura popular: a construção de uma filosofia da educação, published in 2021, researches Paulo Freire’s involvement with popular education movements and its impact on his philosophy and pedagogy. His articles and book chapters, in Portuguese and English, expand on the history of education and philosophy of education in Brazil and Latin America, strengthening discussions around the global south and marginalized epistemologies. Bruno has also coordinated the Nucleus of African-Brazilian and Indigenous Studies at his local campus in IFRJ and collaborates in academic and grassroots intellectual associations such as AfyL Brasil. Contact: bruno.botelho@ifrj.edu.br CV Address: http://lattes.cnpq.br/6850596748871150
Rowena Azada-Palacios
Member
Dr Rowena Azada-Palacios is a philosopher of education who shuttles between Manila and London. She is an assistant professor of philosophy at Ateneo de Manila University, and she also lectures at New York University - London, London Metropolitan University, and University College London. Rowena’s research focuses on the intersections of education and critical political thought, and her scholarship draws on Continental and anti-colonial political philosophy to address educational questions about justice, identities, and multiculturalism. Her book Postcolonial Education and National Identity will be released by Bloomsbury Academic in late 2024, and her sole-authored and co-authored works have appeared in journals such as Educational Philosophy and Theory, the Journal of Philosophy of Education, the London Review of Education, and Education, Citizenship, and Social Justice. Rowena is the founding chair of the Philippine Society of Education and Philosophy, a founding member of Women Doing Philosophy, and a former board member of the Philosophical Association of the Philippines. She is on the editorial board of the journal Ethics and Education (Taylor and Francis) and the IMPACT series of the Journal of Philosophy of Education (Oxford University Press); she is also an associate editor of the Brill Research Perspectives in Philosophy of Education series. She has been invited to give keynote and plenary/public lectures for the International Network of Philosophers of Education, the Philippine National Philosophical Research Society, the Philosophical Association of the Philippines, and at various UK and Philippine universities. Rowena received her PhD in Philosophy of Education from the UCL Institute of Education (under the supervision of Professor Paul Standish), an MA in Citizenship Education (with distinction) from the Institute of Education, University of London, and MA and AB (cum laude) degrees in philosophy from Ateneo de Manila University. Links to Rowena’s research and more details about her teaching and academic service work can be found on her professional website.
Eva Harðardóttir
Member
Eva is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Education and Diversity within the School of Education at the University of Iceland. Her research interest and concerns revolve around (critical) global citizenship education (GCE), inclusion and diversity. She is interested in making meaningful connections between global policy and local pedagogical practices. Her doctoral thesis, titled Becoming at home in a globalized world - inclusion and citizenship in relation to cultural diversity within the context of Icelandic education, investigated educational inclusion of immigrants and refugees in Iceland through critical theories of GCE and the philosophical work of Hannah Arendt concerning plurality and the purpose of education. Eva has taught at all educational levels and holds regular continuous professional development workshops for teachers, focusing on educational inclusion, democracy and human rights with a specific eye on global education policies. Her experience extends to the field of education within the context of development working as en education specialist for UNICEF in Malawi for several years. Eva is currently the president of the United Nations Association of Iceland and sits as vice chair of the school committee in her local municipality.
Sue Gollifer
Member
Sue is the current chair of the Department of International Studies in Education (https://disehandbook.wordpress.com/home/) at the University of Iceland’s School of Education. She has a doctorate in human rights education (HRE) based on her research on upper secondary school teachers’ engagement with human rights. Sue teaches courses related to social justice education, including a course that she designed called Human Rights: Advancing social and ecological wellbeing. In her academic role, Sue draws on her experience of working in the field of international development with Non-Government and Governmental Organisations in diverse country contexts. She has published training materials, including a gender-mainstreaming manual for higher education. Other publications address HRE in schools, internationalisation in higher education, and currently her research is related to children’s HRE and transformative pedagogies within higher education. Sue collaborates with GTEN to bring together scholars and practitioners who are members of InSPHIRE, a member-run HRE network.