Our Staff

Core Staff
Visiting Professors
International Visiting Fellows
Centre Associates

Core Staff

At present, four members of staff make up the Continuum team, their details are below.

Director of Continuum: Professor John Storan

+44(0)208 223 2162 / j.storan@uel.ac.uk

John is Professor at UEL. He is the Founding and current Chair of the Forum for Access and Continuing Education (FACE). As Director of Action on Access he jointly leads the National Coordination Team for Widening Participation funded by HEFCE.

In 2001 he was made a Professorial Fellow at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). He has been an influential regional and national figure on Widening Participation in HE and was a member of the NABCE National Group, established by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in 1994, which paved the way for subsequent Widening Participation policy developments. He has been a member of a number of HEFCE groups and served for example as Vice Ch

air for the Access Advisory Partnership and was also a member of the National Steering Group for Aimhigher: Partnerships for Progression. He was a pioneer of the Assessment of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) in the UK and chaired the SEEC APEL network for a number of years.

In addition to his extensive UK experience John also has wide international experience as result of his keynotes and conference inputs and involvement in European research and development projects and was an active council member of the European Universities Continuing Education Network (EUCEN). In recent years he has been working extensively in Sweden, advising government departments, organisations and universites across Sweden on widening participation and access to HE. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the Swedish widening participation network, INCLUDE.

He has written extensively and is the author of a range of publications on APEL, Lifelong Learning, Widening Participation and Credit Accumulation and Transfer and a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal for Adult and Continuing Education. He has longstanding experience as an external examiner to doctoral level in universities throughout the UK. He also led the BBC Inquiry into broadcasting and HE, the findings and recommendations from which were published in the report 'BBC Education and Higher Education'.

Research Manager: Tony Hudson

+44(0)208 223 7772 / a.hudson@uel.ac.uk

Tony is a social scientist by training and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He initially joined UEL to work on the New Beginnings 2 programme and was subsequently appointed as Research Manager at Contiunuum. He is an experienced manager in the not for profit sector where he was General Secretary of a learned and professional society. As a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Westminster he has taught on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes specialising in research methods.

He has undertaken consultancy and research for a number of Lifelong Learning Networks (LLNs) in London and the South East. He was a member the steering group for an ESRC Network led by CHERI (OU) on cross-regional perspectives on the transformative impact of higher education on disadvantaged groups and communities. He also contributed to the Network's report to the ESRC on Higher Education’s effects on disadvantaged groups and communities. He has undertaken research for a number of funders on vocational progression, with a focus on the learner's voice and credit from the learner's perspective.

Recently completed work includes a report: Moving On: The Creative Way with Dr Pam Percy on progression from level 3 to level 4 in CCIs in the Thames Gateway on behalf of The Creative Way Lifelong Learning Network.

Senior Research Fellow: Karina Berzins

+44(0)208 223 2544 / k.e.berzins@uel.ac.uk

Karina has been with UEL for nearly nine years in various posts and has previously taught on a wide range of undegraduate programmes. She has also taught at London Metropolitan University to MA level. Alongside her work with Continuum, Karina is also a Visiting Fellow with the London East Research Institute and the Institute for Health and Human Development at UEL.

Previous work includes: an economic and social impact study of the Cultural Olympiad opening festivals for the Five Olympic Borough’s Unit, research for the Arts and Cultural strategies for Milton Keynes, Cambridgeshire, and Thames Gateway (London); input into the evaluation of the DCMS led Cultural Pathfinder programme; research for the Nighttime Economy Strategy for Newham council; input into the GLA 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Assessment; principal researcher for the regional casino bid for Havering Council; Creative Industries mapping for the London Boroughs of Harrow and Hillingdon, Creative Industries development work for West London Business. She was also principal researcher for the EQUAL funded Celebrating Enterprise project, which examined the role of community and arts festivals, and how they can provide space for local entrepreneurship.

Centre Research Administrator: Agnieszka Spytkowska

+44(0)208 223 2162/ a.spytkowska@uel.ac.uk

Visiting Professors

Professor Roy Du Pre

Short Biography to follow.

International Visiting Research Fellows

Continuum has hosted a number of International Visiting Research Fellows all of whom are leaders in their fields and have facilitated international links throughout the widening participation community of practice. Details of our current International Visiting Research Fellow are listed below:

Terry O'Brien

Principal, Georges River College (Australia) - www.grc.nsw.edu.au/oatley

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Professor Consuello Corradi

Professor of Sociology, Head of the Graduate School of Social Work and Member of the Dean’s Council at Lumsa University (Rome, Italy) - www.lumsa.it

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Eva-Lena Axelsson

Student Counsellor , Swedish Agency for Networks & Cooperation in Higher Education, Sweden; Study and Careers Advisor, University of Gothenburg. - www.konst.gu.se

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Dr. Robert Martin

Campus Director of the Secunda Campus of The Vaal University of Technology, South Africa - www.vaal.ac.za

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Joakim Palestro

Project Manager M.A. Department of Evaluation, Swedish National Agency for Higher Education - www.hsv.se

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Janelle Davis

Relationships Manager UWS/VET for the University of Western Sydney, NSW Australia

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Dr Sam Sellar

Dr Sam Sellar is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Education at The University of Queensland. He was formerly a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Australian National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education at the University of South Australia. Sam is currently working on Australian Research Council funded projects examining new accountabilities in schooling, national/international testing and comparative performance data, and the politics of aspiration. He has recently published in the Cambridge Journal of Education (2011; with Gale and Parker) and in Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. He is also co-author of the recent report on university outreach programs commissioned by the Australian Government: Interventions early in school as a means to improve higher education outcomes for disadvantaged (particularly low SES) students.

Centre Associates

Continuum have six Centre Associates, who are leaders in their fields. They facilitate links throughout the widening participation community of practice both nationally and internationally.

Erik Nilsson