Contact the team
Education team members
Professor Becky Francis
Director of Education
Email Becky | +44 (0)20 7451 6917
Professor Becky Francis is Director of Education at the RSA. She is also Visiting Professor at King’s College London, and Roehampton University. Her expertise and extensive publications center on social identities (gender, ‘race’ and social class) in educational contexts, social identity and educational achievement, and feminist theory. Her recently co-authored books include Feminism and 'The Schooling Scandal' (2009), and Reassessing Gender and Achievement (2005, with Christine Skelton); and Understanding Minority Ethnic Achievement: Race, Gender, Class and ‘Success’ (2007, with Louise Archer). She has also co-edited several readers on theory and practice in gender and education, including the Sage Handbook of Gender and Education (2006). Becky has been involved in the commissioning of social research via her work for the Economic and Social Research Council and British Educational Research Association, and contributes to the shaping of the field in social justice and education via her media work, and her role on a range of international journal editorial boards.
Emma Norris
Senior Researcher
Email Emma | +44 (0)20 7451 6919
Emma Norris joined the RSA as a Senior Researcher in January 2010. Since then she has worked on the Civic Commons project, examining citizenship and public participation, and Furthering Opportunity, promoting social justice in the further education sector. Previously Emma was a Research Fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) where she published widely on subjects including child poverty, devolution settlements and low-paid employment. Emma has also worked as a public sector consultant, a research assistant in the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights (based in India) and as the President of Oxford University Student Union. She has a degree in English Literature from Oxford University.
Louise Thomas
Senior Researcher
RSA Projects
Email Louise | +44 (0)20 7451 6874
Louise Thomas joined the RSA in March 2008 and has worked on numerous projects during this time, including: Opening Minds, a seminar series on the future of the National Curriculum commissioned by the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, and more recently the RSA’s Area Based Curriculum project in Peterborough. Previously she studied for a BA in Modern History at Oxford and an MSc in Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies. In 2006-7 Louise spent a year designing, conducting and publishing a study on statelessness among Ethiopian and Eritrean refugees in Cairo, including seven months of field work in Egypt. Louise continued to work part time for the NGO Africa and Middle East Refugee Assistance until November 2009 and maintains a keen interest in refugee and asylum issues in the UK. Louise lives in East London, but spends as much time as possible hiking in mountains.
Sara Candy
Executive Director
RSA Opening Minds
Email Sara | +44 (0)20 7451 6895
Sara Candy is the Executive Director of RSA Opening Minds. She joined the RSA in July 2010. Prior to this Sara was a researcher; over her career she has both commissioned and conducted a range of research and evaluation projects. This included eight years at the Wellcome Trust in the public engagement division where she was responsible for research and evaluation, and work as a qualitative researcher specialising in social policy research.
Janet Hawken
Coordinator
RSA Projects
Email Janet | +44 (0)20 7451 6852
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