Sue Jackson, BA, MA, PhD

Pro-Vice-Master, Learning and Teaching
Professor of Lifelong Learning and Gender
Director, Birkbeck Institute for Lifelong Learning

Contact details

email: s.jackson@bbk.ac.uk
tel: 020 7631 6625

About Sue Jackson

Employment history

• Sue joined Birkbeck in October 2001, where she is Professor of Lifelong Learning and Gender and Director of Birkbeck Institute for Lifelong Learning.
• Sue directs the School’s Education Programme. She is responsible for the postgraduate certificate, diploma and MSc in Education, power and social change; the postgraduate certificate in education: higher education; and supervises education and lifelong learning doctoral students.
• Previous positions include:
• senior lecturer in women’s studies, University of Surrey Roehampton
• lecturer in education studies, University of East London
• associate lecturer, Open University

Professional affiliations/memberships

• Co-director, Birkbeck Institute for Lifelong Learning
• Member International Advisory board International Academic Forum, Japan
• Expert advisor, adult continuing education and lifelong learning, British Council's 'Development Partnerships in Higher Education programme'
• UK representative, UNESCO based World Committee for Lifelong Learning
• Executive and Council Member, Universities Association for Lifelong Learning (UALL)
• Editorial Boards, Teaching in Higher Education; Women's Studies International Forum
• Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE)
• British Educational Research Association (BERA)
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Member Teaching Fund Advisory Group, Higher Education Funding Council for England (2011 to date)
• Member Teaching, Quality and Student Experience Strategic Committee, Higher Education Funding Council for England (2011 to date)

Funding received (2006-date)

• Nuffield Foundation (2012-13) ‘A critical assessment of new ways of involving student mothers in higher education’ (with Callender, C and Jamieson, A) (£69,867)
• Higher Education Academy Workshop and Seminar Series (2012) ‘Strategies for retention – transition and integration‘ (with King, T) (£500)
• UnionLearn (2011-12) ‘Examining the benefits of participation in different kinds of learning activities provided within the framework of UnionLearn’ (with Jamieson, A and Callender, C) (£61,367)
• ESRC/TSB Knowledge Transfer Partnership (2008-10) ‘Developing leadership skills, global citizenship and intercultural communicative competence among young people’, with Raleigh International and Zhu Hua (£82,618)
• ESRC RES-148-25-0022 (2007-8) Intersecting identities: Women’s spaces of sociality in post-colonial London (Identities and Social Action Programme), project continuation  (£14,348)

Research interests

• Sue's research interests include lifelong learning and learner identities, especially regarding the intersections of gender, social class and age, and she supervises research students in these areas.
• Sue’s research interests include her work on three ESRC-funded research projects:
• (2007) ESRC RES-148-25-0022 Intersecting identities: Women's spaces of sociality in post-colonial London (Identities and Social Action Programme) (with Dr Rosie Cox, Dr Dina Kiwan and Dr Yasmeen Narayan)
• (2005) ESRC RES-000-22-1441 Learning citizenship: lifelong learning, community and the Women's Institutes.
• (2004) ESRC seminar series RES-451-26-0141,  (jointly with Professor Jacky Brine, Dr Christina Hughes and Dr Loraine Blaxter) Gender and Lifelong Learning.

Areas of research supervision

• Gender and education; feminist theory and research; lifelong learning; gender, class and citizenship
• If you are considering applying for MPhil/PhD research in any of these areas, you are advised to contact Professor Jackson about your research plan before making an application.

Books

• Lifelong Learning and Social Justice: communities, work and identities in a globalised world (2011) (edited book) Leicester, NIACE
• Gendered choices: Learning, Work, Identities in Lifelong Learning (2011) (co-edited book, with Malcolm, I. and Thomas, K.), Dordrecht: Springer Academic Press
• Innovations in lifelong learning: critical perspectives on diversity, participation and vocational learning (2010) (edited book), London: Routledge
• (2007) Challenges and negotiations for women in higher education (co-edited book, jointly with Professor Gayle Letherby and Pam Coterill) (Springer Academic Press, 2007)
• (2007) Reconceptualising lifelong learning (co-authored book, jointly with Dr Penny Burke) (RoutledgeFalmer, 2007)
• Differently academic: developing lifelong learning for women in higher education (Kluwer Academic Press, 2004).

Chapters in books (2006-date)

• "Beyond the home: informal learning and community practice for older women" (with Jan Etienne) in Jackson (ed) (2010) Innovations in lifelong learning: critical perspectives on diversity, participation and vocational learning, London: Routledge
• "Lifelong learning in later years: choices and constraints for older women" (with Jan Etienne) in Jackson et al (2011) Gendered choices: Learning, Work, Identities in Lifelong Learning, Dordrecht: Springer Academic Press
• Living London: Women negotiating identities in a post-colonial city" (2009 forthcoming) in Wetherell, M. (ed) Identity in the 21st Century: New Trends in Changing Times Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan (with Cox, R., Khatwa, M. and Kiwan, D.)
• "Women and Work/Life Balance: A Higher Education Perspective" (with Loumansky A and Goodman S) in Cotterill P, Jackson S and Letherby G (eds) (2007) Challenges and negotiations for women in higher education. Dordrecht: Springer Press

Journal articles (2006-date)

• “‘Lost ladies’: Lifelong learning and community participation for older women”, Studies in the Education of Adults, Spring 2012
• (2010) 'Learning through social spaces: migrant women and lifelong learning in post-colonial London' in Journal of Vocational Education and Training - Special issue: Lifelong Education in the Age of Transnational Migration.
• (2009) ‘Living London: Women negotiating identities in a post-colonial city’ in M. Wetherell (ed.) Liveable Lives: Negotiating Identities in New Times Hampshire. Palgrave Macmillan (with R. Cox, M. Khatwa and D. Kiwan).
• (2009) 'Higher education, mature students and employment goals: policies and practices in the UK', Journal of Vocational Education and Training 61(4): pp.399-411 (with A. Jamieson).
• (2008) 'Diversity, Identity and Belonging: Women's Spaces of Sociality' The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, Volume 8(3): pp.147-154
• (2007) 'Freire re-viewed' Educational Theory, 57:1
• (December 2006) 'Foundation degrees and the knowledge economy', Journal of Vocational Education and Training: Special issue on Gender matters. Perspectives on women, work and training (with Professor Jacky Brine, University of West of England and Professor Sue Webb, Sheffield) 58(4): pp.563-576
• (October 2006) 'Gender, class and "race" in lifelong learning: policy and practice in the UK and EU' introduction to special issue of the British Educational Research Journal, 32(5): pp.643-648 (with Professor Jacky Brine, University of West of England, and Dr Loraine Blaxter and Dr Christina Hughes, University of Warwick
• (Spring 2006) 'Jam, Jerusalem and Calendar Girls: lifelong learning and the WI', Studies in the Education of Adults 38:1: pp.74-90
• Editor special edition – “Lifelong learning and social justice” International Journal of Lifelong Education, (summer 2011)
• Associate Editor, The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, Volume 8 (2008)
• Joint editor special edition (with Brine, J., Blaxter, L. and Hughes, C.) (2006) – “Gender, Class and 'Race' in Lifelong Learning: Policy and Practice in the UK and EU” British Educational Research Journal, 5: 32 (including intro: pp 643-648)

Knowledge Transfer Partnership

• Sue is also 'lead academic' on the College's first Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), 'Developing leadership skills, global citizenship and intercultural communicative competence among young people'.  This KTP grant (for £122,818) is funded by the ESRC/TSB in partnership with Raleigh International.  Other current research interests widening participation through foundation degrees; pedagogies of and for lifelong learning; and older women, lifelong learning and citizenship.