Andrew Ravenscroft

Professor Andrew Ravenscroft

Professor In Education

Professor

Professor of Education and Social and Community Work and Senior Research Advisor

Department of Social Work, Counselling & Social Care , School of Childhood and Social Care

I am a Psychologist, Professor of Education and Social and Community Work and Senior Research Advisor in the School of Childhood and Social Care at the University of East London. I am the cluster Professor covering Social and Community Work programmes. I perform impactful and collaborative interdisciplinary research in educational and community settings that typically theorises, co-designs and evaluates interventions and psychosocial or socio-technical innovations.

I am a Chartered Psychologist (C.Psychol), an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (AFBPsS) and a Fellow of the RSA, Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce (FRSA).

Within UEL I am a member of: the Centre for Wellbeing, Community and Inclusion; the Centre for Social Change and Justice; and, an Associate of the Institute for Connected Communities (ICC).

Qualifications

  • C.Psychol, AFBPSS, FRSA, PhD, MSc, BSc, HNC

Areas Of Interest

  • Critical and inclusive education as social and socio-technical Innovation
  • Socio-technical and psychosocial innovation and intervention in educational and community settings.
  • Impactful interdisciplinary mixed methods research and development (including AI/Computational modelling, design-based research, co-design, qualitative and quantitative methods, action research)
  • Mindfulness and innovative mental health intervention
  • Learning and psychosocial development of vulnerable and socially excluded children and young people
  • Dialogue and digital design and literacy
Andrew Ravenscroft

SUMMARY OF RESEARCH, IMPACT AND INNOVATION

As a Psychologist and Learning Technologist, broadly, I work on interdisciplinary approaches to Psychosocial and Socio-technical Innovation in educational and community settings. In this capacity I have been Principal or Co-Investigator on collaborative research and development projects that have attracted over £6.45 Million in funding and authored or co-authored over 160 publications.

Over the past decade a lot of my work has focused on the intersection of: inclusive education; mental health and wellbeing; and, the criminal exploitation of vulnerable children and young people and the impact of youth violence. This has included working directly with vulnerable young people in youth work and CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service) settings, in London and Europe, through the co-production of participatory internet radio (RadioActive101 project); a commissioned project with the London Borough of Newham to evaluate a family focused and multi-agency approach to the criminal exploitation of children; and, being the Academic Lead for Newham Youth Safety Action team (NYSAT), that aimed to support Civil Society Institutions in Newham to decrease youth violence, with an emphasis on young people’s voice and lived experience. Two current and related foci are: researching the impact of the intersection of ‘toxic’ conditions for children and young people; and, investigating and conceptualising mindfulness-based approaches as early interventions with young people (such as Boxing and Mindfulness, BAM).

Recently I have also been collaborating on various other innovative initiatives in mental health awareness and intervention. These include public workshops with the multi-award winning "Ridiculusmus" Theatre Company (e.g. The Eradication of Schizophrenia in Western Lapland) and volunteering with Breathing Space at the London Buddhist Centre, with teams supporting various mindfulness-based approaches to mental health wellbeing, such as Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) courses. I have been practicing and developing my Buddhist meditation practice for the past decade and I was an original member of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce) mindfulness network. This allows me to harmonise my lived experience and impactful research in this area.

This research, impact and innovation (above) is also realised through research-informed teaching and curriculum innovations in my School of Childhood and Social Care and Arts and Creative Industries at UEL.

Two other complementary themes that run throughout my work focus on how to cultivate and support ‘inclusive thinking dialogue’ through designing enabling technologies and using mixed methods approaches to the development and evaluation of social innovations and designed contexts. Such work has combined machine-learning, Big Data and computational dialogue modelling techniques to investigate whether arguments can be located and mined in and across massive document repositories such as Google Books (Digging by Debating project). An example of impactful mixed-methods research was the Westfield Opening Observation Exercise that I led, a ‘massive-scale’ consultancy project commissioned by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and working with the ODA, Engineers and Transport specialists to test the readiness of the transport system for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Before joining UEL, I was Professor of Technology Enhanced Learning and Deputy Director of the interdisciplinary Learning Technology Research Institute (LTRI) at London Metropolitan University. This had 17 members and contributed to Education for Research Assessment purposes, ranking in the top fifth for the UK (with half the outputs rating as 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent'). We attracted over £9 million in funds for collaborative research and development projects (e.g. Digital Dialogue Games, CETL in Reusable Learning Objects and MATURE: Continuous social learning in knowledge networks), with partners from the academic and commercial sectors in the UK and European Community.

Earlier in my career I founded and led the “Dialogue and Design for New Media” Research Group, when I was Research Lecturer in the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University. This work built on a previous portfolio of funded research that I undertook at the Computer Based Learning Unit at the University of Leeds, when I was working as a researcher whilst also doing my PhD that combined Artificial Intelligence, Psychology and Education approaches and methods.

Invited keynotes, symposia and visits

(Mostly funded by hosts)

  • Conference Chair, The Combatting Child Criminal Exploitation Conference 2022: Developing a Multi-Agency Approach, Government Events online.
  • Keynote speaker at the Annual Western (Universities) Widening Participation Cluster Conference, University West of England, Talk: Digital poverty and vulnerable young people: what can we do after lockdown and Covid-19? (Online) 30 June 2020.
  • Consortium Expert Panel on Open Dialogue and Performing arts (funded by the Wellcome Trust), entitled "Dialogue as the embodiment of love". Panel after the performance of "The Eradication of Schizophrenia in Western Lapland" performed by Ridiculusmus at Battersea Arts Centre, London, UK, 24 May 2019. Ravenscroft paper "Community Psychosis, Open Dialogue and Psychoeducation".
  • Participant at Special Meeting of Department of Education and JISC, including topics about near future Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) development and Education 4.0, JISC, London, 8 November 2018.
  • Invited participant at JISC "Future of Technology Enhanced Learning event - Co-creating the future", Edgbaston Stadium, Birmingham, UK, 28 November 2017 (Invitation Only).
  • Invited Contributor to Carnegie Trust UK sponsored event on digital skills and inclusion of vulnerable young people, as part of BBC's Digital Cities Week, BBC Scotland (Glasgow), 15 March 2017.
  • Invited Talk at British Council - Inward Mission for Japanese Universities: HE Institutions and the Olympic and Paralympic Games - University of East London, Talk: The Westfield Observation Exercise: Evaluating high capacity performance of the Stratford transportation hub in preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games, 30 January 2017.
  • A founding member of a prestigious working group - JISC's "senior technology-enhanced learning working group", inaugural meeting hosted by Lord Lucas (Digital Skills) at the House of Lords, London, 14 July 2016.
  • Keynote at the Finnish Embassy, London, UK - H2020 Call "CULT-COOP-06-2017", Participatory approaches and social innovation in culture, talk: "Public Pedagogy and RadioActive101", Finnish Embassy, London, 15 June 2016.
  • Invited speaker and visitor at Helsinki Metropolitan University and Gloria Arts Centre (Helsinki), Helsinki, Finland, 27 April - 1 May 2015. RadioActive101: Using participatory radio to promote the inclusion, non-formal learning and employability of disenfranchised groups.
  • 'Star Speaker' at the Digital Shoreditch Festival Identity Day, RadioActive: Identity, voice, internet radio and social media, Hackney House, Shoreditch, London, UK, 25 May 2012.
  • Invited speaker and discussant at the Open University Computers and Learning Research Group Conference (CALRG), 20 June 2012.
  • Keynote at Education and Communities School Research Day, 2011,Transformational learning: Psychology, Technology and Design, School of Education and Communities, March 2011. Expert panel member for Open Educational Quality Initiative - Research Workshop on Open Educational Practices 8-9 November 2010 at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France.
  • Expert participant at (invitation only) NSF/JSMF Workshop on Mapping the History and Philosophy of Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA, 17-18 June 2009.
  • Expert participant at (invitation only) Workshop on Learning Companions and Pedagogical Agents: Future Trends and Possibilities, Oxford Internet Institute, 28 May 2009.
  • Speaker at OU Computers and Learning Research Group (CALRG) 30th Anniversary, 18th May, Open University, UK. Talk: “Digital dialogues for thinking and learning: What are we designing?” Discussant on Panel: “The future of open content”, OpenLearn Conference (2007), UK Open University, 30-31 October 2007, other panel members: Prof Eric Duvall, Prof Robin Mason, John Dehlin and Prof Terry Anderson.
  • Symposium organiser for British Journal of Educational Psychology Current Trends Conference, Nottingham Trent University, UK, 7-8 June 2006. Symposium: Reclaiming thinking: dialectics and design for digital learning", Other speakers: Prof Neil Mercer, Prof Roger Hartley and Prof Rupert Wegerif.
  • Ravenscroft, Wegerif, Mercer & Hartley (2006). Reclaiming thinking: dialectics and design for digital learning". Symposium overview talk and paper at British Journal of Educational Psychology Current Trends Conference, Nottingham Trent University, UK, 7-8 June 2006.
  • Keynote at Third Biennial Oxford Brookes e-Learning Conference, e-Learning Here and Now 3: e is for embedding and enhancing. Talk: "Learning Technology Research and embedding e-learning", Oxford Brookes University, 9 July 2004.
  • Speaker at University of Oxford Colloquium on "Beyond Theory: Educational best practice and the design of ICT for teaching and learning". Talk: The influence of pedagogical theory on eLearning innovation: A historical perspective, held in the Oxford Union Debating Chamber, 11 April 2003.
  • Speaker at BECTa symposium on “Informal eLearning Research”, talk: “Approaches and issues in developing informal eLearning communities”, Royal Society of Arts, 21 February 2003, London, UK.
  • Ravenscroft, A. (2003). Cultivating collaboration in eLearning communities: Reconciling behaviourist and social constructionist approaches. Proceedings of EARLI 2003. Invited talk and paper for EARLI SIG Symposium on "Computer supported collaboration as a co-ordinated activity: theoretical and methodological perspectives", pp. 296. ISBN 88-7178-975-X
  • Opening speaker at European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU) Conference: Educational Research & Technology symposium. Talk: Pedagogies for e-learning: a review. Glamorgan, Wales, 4-6 April 2002.
  • Discussant at International workshop on Learning by Design hosted by UK ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) Centre for Research in Education, Development, Instruction and Training (CREDIT), University of Nottingham, 9-12 September 1999.
  • Keynote at Middle East Workshop on Applications of Computers to Science Education. Institute of Graduate Studies, University of Alexandria, 27-31 July 1996. Sponsored by the British Council (Alexandria) and the Institute of Graduate Studies, University of Alexandria. “Why use Computer Based Learning (CBL)?”
  • Keynote at Workshop on Innovative Techniques for Teaching and Learning. Welsh School of Architecture, University of Cardiff, 8 May 1997, (organised by the Welsh School of Architecture and CTI Centre for the Built Environment). Talk: “The Reality of Supporting Learning with new Knowledge Media”
  •  

FUNDING

Funding for research, impact and innovation and projects

Career total > £6.45 Million (£6,456,768)

Projects as Grant Holder and Principal Investigator, including PhD Awards, £1,705,993 total (Co-Investigator Grants below, £4,746,000)

  • March 2024

RadioActive 2: Designing a pilot participatory radio and multimedia platform. EduCom Seed Funding research grant, with School of Arts and Creative Industries, University of East London, and Newham Youth Empowerment Service, £7,500

  • March 2023

Toxic Childhood’s and Youth: Mapping problems and improving interventions? EduCom Impact Case Study Development Grant, with Institute of Connected Communities (ICC), University of East London, £6,000.

Mindfulness and mental health: A uniquely scalable early intervention for vulnerable young people. EduCom Seed Funding research grant, with School of Psychology, University of East London, £7,500.

  • Feb 2021

Using digital art and media to develop the critical consciousness and 21st century skills of vulnerable young people in Thailand. Partners, Mahidol University, Thailand. British Council Newton Fund, £99,990.

  • July 2019

Principal Investigator - Evaluating the impact of the 'Keeping Safe' pilot in Newham. Collaborating with London Borough of Newham and leading a multi-disciplinary UEL team from School of Education and Communities, the Institute for Health and Human Development (IHHD) and the School of Health, Sport and Bioscience, £19,860.

  • Jul 2015

Capital Grant for RadioActive101, awarded by UEL Research Support and Development Service (REDS), £15,000

  • Sep 2014

Addiction, At-Risk Youth & Digital Media: Development & Evaluation of an Internet Radio Intervention to Reduce Substance Misuse among Excluded and Hard-to-Reach Youth. UEL Vice Chancellors Funded PhD studentship, a collaboration Between Education, Psychology and Performing Arts. At UEL and Mental Health And Substance Misuse Services in London, Approx. £63,000

  • Jan 2013

RadioActive Europe: Promoting engagement, informal learning and employability of at risk and excluded people across Europe through internet radio and social media. Funded by EC Lifelong Learning Programme, 390,000 Euros.

Partners: Pontydysgu (Wales), University Koblenz-Landau (Germany), Media and Journalism Research Centre (Lisbon, Portugal), Observatory for Lifelong Learning Development (Bucharest, Romania), Knowledge Innovation Centre (Malta)

  • Jun 2012

Promoting inclusive critical thinking: InterLoc adaptation and integration, Co-investigator Warren Kidd. Small grant funded by UEL Learning Enhancement Opportunities (LEO) fund, £5,000

  • Mar 2012

Small Grant for Bid writing consultant, University of East London Research Development Fund (RDF), £5000, led to the successful RadioActive Europe bid (see above)

  • Apr 2012

“RadioActive: Engagement, informal learning and employability of disenfranchised young people through internet radio and social media. Partners: Pontydysgu (Graham Attwell), Inspire! (David Blagbrough), Yoh! (Ergel Hassan) and Dragon Hall (James Dellow). Funded by Nominet Trust, £119,630

  • Jan 2012

'"Digging by debating: linking massive datasets to specific arguments" (PI for UK team). Winner of the international 'digging into data challenge' 2011. Partners: University of Dundee (Prof. Chris Reed), University of London (Dr David Bourget), Indiana University (Prof. Katy Börner and Prof Colin Allen). Co-funded by JISC, ESRC, AHRB and NSF. Total funding £231,030 (UK and US teams)

  • Aug 2011

"Westfield Opening Observation Exercise". Research and Consultancy project commissioned by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and working with the ODA, London Transport Operators and Parsons Brinkerhoff, involving a collaboration between School of Education Communities and Centre for Geo-information Studies (Co-investigators Prof. John Preston, Dr Magda Kolokitha and Prof Allan Brimicombe). Funding £98,725

  • Mar 2011

"RadioActive: Augmented social media and internet radio for young people. A pilot project funded by the University of East London Research Development Fund (RDF), £4,850, and the EU Lifelong Learning G8WAY Transitions project. In collaboration with Pontydysgu (Graham Attwell), Inspire! (David Blagbrough) and Yoh! (Ergel Hassan)

  • Sep 2006

"Cross-institutional implementation and evaluation of digital dialogue games for inclusive and personalised learning". Adaptation and implementation of dialogue games and InterLoc tool using pervasive technologies for highly participative, interactive and engaging learning. Funded by the JISC Capital Programme: Cross-institutional use of e-learning to support lifelong learners. Project partners: UK Open University, University of Exeter, University of Teesside, Queen Mary - University of London (£199,737)

  • Jun 2005

"Development, piloting and evaluation of InterLoc: An Open Source tool supporting dialogue games in education". Funded by the JISC e-learning tools programme (round 2). Project partners: UK Open University, University of Southampton, Oxford University and Bolton University (£63,500). This involved the further development the dialogue game approach adopted during the AcademicTalk project (below)

  • Nov 2004         

"NESTA Futurelab Design Challenge (2005-2006)", Consultancy funded by NESTA Futurelab and GameLab London, Identifying Key features and insights into the team building processes for digital educational game design: a case study (£5,000)

  • Sep 2004

"Development of AcademicTalk: A generic tool and environment for synchronous discussion-based e-learning between peers". Development of a 'state of the art' synchronous CMC tool to support and scaffold collaborative argumentation. Funded by the JISC e-learning tools programme. Project partners: UK Open University, University of Southampton and Bolton University (£107,000)

  • Apr 2004

Case studies in innovative e-learning practice to support the e-learning and pedagogy programme. Working with the JISC 'e-learning and pedagogy programme' to formatively evaluate e-learning models and produce case studies of effective e-learning practice. Funded by the JISC Committee for Learning and Teaching (JCLT). Project partners: the Western Colleges Consortium, (£24,000)

  • Jan 2002

"STAR Science (Science Teachers Associated Resources). Formally entitled: PDCD Science: Developing a periphery driven curriculum development model for science". Developing interactive web-portals supporting highly communicative communities of interest and practice for school-based eLearning. Funded by the EC Socrates-Minerva programme. Project partners: Dublin Institute of Technology (Ireland) and the National Centre for Distance Education in Sofia (Bulgaria), (£124,000)

  • Mar 2001

"Examining models of successful collaborative dialogue: a qualitative approach". Funded by OU Institute of Educational Technology Research Committee. (£10,000)

  • Feb 2000

"Transposing Models of Communicative Interaction into Cognitive Tools for New Media: Towards High Quality Educational Dialogue". Research Fellowship funded by Open University Research Funding Development Committee (RFDC) 2000, In collaboration with Dr Mark Matheson (OU), (£25,000)

  • Dec 1998

"Evaluating and Investigating Learning Through Collaborative Argumentation", Research Fellowship funded by Open University Research Development Fund (RDF), (£25,000)

  • Dec 1998         

"Learning, Dialectics and Design for New Media", Competitive PhD Studentship funded by Open University Research Degrees Committee (RDC). In collaboration with Prof. Eileen Scanlon, (£35,000 approx.)

  • Oct 1994

"Development and Evaluation of the General-Purpose Integrated Learning Support (G-PILS) System" (phase 2), Work-package awarded by Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP) 2 - Pharma-CAL-ogy Consortium, (£30,000)

  • Nov 1993         

"The Integrated Learning Support System: Evaluation and Development" (phase 1), Funded by University of Leeds Academic Development Fund (Project 38), (£25,000)
 

Projects as Co-Investigator, including PhD studentships (£4,750,775)

  • July 2022

Sponsor and Co-I, New Deal for Young People Mentoring Research: Mapping Mentoring across London. UEL in partnership with Citizen Scientists. Funded by Greater London Authority (GLA)/London Research and Policy Partnership (LRaPP), £30,000.

  • Oct 2018

UCL and UEL ESRC DTP PhD Studentship, in Psychology, Layal Hussain, Growing up Bilingual: Understanding specific benefits across mainstream and complimentary education. Co-supervisors Dr Virginia Lam (Dos) and Dr Rachel George. In collaboration with Newham Partnership for Complimentary Education, £68,775 (fees and stipend

  • April 2008

"MATURE: Continuous social learning in knowledge networks", Project funded by the EC Framework 7. Part of a 13 partner consortium that is developing a theoretical base and investigating and developing tools supporting learning as 'knowledge maturing' within the workplace (£4.4 Million, 13 partners, scientific coordinator Universität Karlsruhe in Germany). Co-investigator and Design Methodology and Evaluation Work-Package (WP6) Co-Leader.

  • March 2002

"A Study of UK Online centres", Project funded by British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTa) investigating informal learning in the context of UK Online Centres. In collaboration with Prof. John Cook (London Metropolitan University) (£35,000).  

  • Jan 2002

"VISIONARY: Violence in Schools, intelligence on the net archiving resources for youngsters". Development of a web-portal and online communities of concern for violence prevention in schools. EC Socrates-Minerva project. Project partners: Universitat Koblenz-landau (Germany), Vordingborg Stratsseminarium (Denmark), Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal) and the University of Joensuu (Finland). Co-investigator with other LTRI members: Claire Bradley and Anna Hutchinson. (£184,000). 

  • Jul 2000

 "ICOGAD: Interactions et changements Cognitifs dans les groupes d'Apptrentissage a distance" (Interaction and cognitive change in distance-learning groups). Cognitique 2000, funded by Ministere de la Recherche, France. In collaboration with Dr. R Goodfellow, M.N Lamy, T Chanier & A Trognon (Group de Recherche sur les Communications, Université Nancy 2) (£33,000).

TEACHING

I am the Cluster Professor covering Social and Community Work Programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

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