Selfie of a female wearing glasses, smiling, in front of a wall.

Dr Iona Burnell Reilly

Senior Lecturer

Sociology of Education; Teacher Training

Department of Education , School of Childhood and Social Care

My academic interests are in the areas of Sociology, Positive Psychology and Education where I have been researching and lecturing for many years. I am currently Course Leader for the Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. I continue to supervise, examine, research, write and publish on topics related to the Sociology and Psychology of Education.

Qualifications

  • (EdD) Doctor of Education
  • MA Integrative Psychotherapy
  • MSc Positive Psychology and Coaching
  • MA Education: Culture, Language and Identity
  • BA (Hons) Linguistics

Areas Of Interest

My interests, and topics covered in my publications, are:

  • social class, social inequality and inequality in education;
  • widening participation in higher education;
  • equality and inclusion within HE;
  • the experiences of the working class in HE;
  • wellbeing and self-care in higher education
Selfie of a female wearing glasses, smiling, in front of a wall.

CURRENT RESEARCH

Research centres:

  • I am a member of the Centre for Wellbeing, Community and Inclusion at UEL. The centre brings together professionals and researchers in physical and mental health, developmental and social issues, disabilities, including learning disabilities, digital inclusion, human wellbeing, social epidemiology, professional psychology and neuroscience. The core mission of the research centre is to foster research collaborations among academics, practitioners and community groups. 
  • I am a Study Group Convenor for the British Sociological Association -  Sociology, Psychoanalysis and Psychosocial study group.  The study group seeks to interrogate and develop sociology’s engagement with psychoanalysis and to promote the specifically sociological investigation of psychosocial phenomena.


Doctoral supervision research interests:

  • social class, social inequality and inequality in education;
  • widening participation in higher education;
  • equality and inclusion within HE;
  • the experiences of social class in HE.

Most recent research:

I am research active and currently working on these projects:

  • Burnell Reilly. I., Baker, S. and Pierse, M. (currently in progress, publication planned for September 2025) Notions: the lives of Irish working-class academics. Emerald Publishing.
  • Burnell Reilly. I (currently in progress, publication planned for December 2025) Addressing the unfinished business: how working-class academics experienced writing their autoethnography. In Lemon, N. et al. (Eds) Shut Up and Write: Fostering Wellbeing through Collective Writing Practices. Routledge Publishing.  

Conference papers

  • Gender and Education Conference, June 2024. ‘The rise of academic apprenticeships in the UK: how professionals experience the transition from industry to academia’ and ‘The subjective and lived realities of academics in HE: Exploring the lives of academics from under-represented social groups’. Hosted at Charles Sturt University, NSW, Australia 17-20 June, 2024.
  • Keynote Lecture, University of Liverpool, Centre for Higher Education Studies. ‘Tales of the unexpected: the lives and experiences of working-class academics’. March 2024.
  • Working-Class Studies Association 2023 Symposium, University of Chicago (online). ‘The lives of working-class academics: getting ideas above your station’. June 2023.
  • IAAGT 2022, International Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy Conference, Ireland. 'Edges of Exile and Belonging: Applying gestalt techniques in teacher education with new lecturers who may be experiencing a lack of confidence and trainee nerves in their new role'. IAAGT Conference 2022 | (iaagtireland2022.com) May 2022.
  • Working-Class Studies: An Interdisciplinary Conference 2021, Dublin, Ireland. 'The Lives of Working-Class Academics: getting ideas above your station'. November 2021.
  • ECER 2021, European Educational Research Association Conference, Geneva: 'Managing progression opportunities for students on early-childhood and education studies degrees during the Coronavirus pandemic: how successful has widening graduate employment opportunities been?' September 2021.
  • BERA 2021 conference (British Education Research Association), online: 'Managing progression opportunities for students on early-childhood and education studies degrees during the Coronavirus pandemic: how successful has widening graduate employment opportunities been?' September 2021.
  • ECER 2020, European Educational Research Association Conference, Glasgow: 'Widening graduate employment opportunities for students on early childhood and education studies degrees: a case study at a school of education at one London university'. August 2020.
  • 2019 FACE conference (Forum for Access and Continuing Education) Sheffield Hallam University: 'The Place of Widening Participation' and 'Broadening the Horizons for Students on an Education Studies Degree'. July 2019.

PUBLICATIONS

  • Burnell Reilly, I. (2024) The rise of academic apprenticeships in the UK: how professionals experience the transition from industry to academia. In Lemon, N. and Hammond, K. (Eds) Navigating transitions in higher education: The place of wellbeing and self-care. Routledge Publishing.
  • Burnell Reilly, I. (2024) Tales of the unexpected: The lives and experiences of working-class academics. Higher Education Quarterly.
  • Burnell Reilly, I. (2022) One’s Place and the Right to Belong. In I. Burnell Reilly (Ed), The Lives of Working-Class Academics: Getting Ideas above your Station (pp.101-121). UK: Emerald Publishing. 
  • Burnell Reilly, I. (2022) The Lives of Working Class Academics: getting ideas above your station. Emerald Publishing ISBN: 978-1-80117-058-1 eISBN: 978-1-80117-057-4 (winner of the Ryan and Sackrey award) 
  • Burnell, I. and Roffey-Barentsen, J. (2021) 'To EdD or not to EdD: Why is the Doctor of Education programme becoming increasingly popular amongst educational professionals?'. British Educational Research Association Blog, November 2021.
  • Burnell, I., Roffey-Barentsen, J. and McMahon, A. (2021) 'Widening graduate employment opportunities for students on Education Studies degrees: a case study at a School of Education in one London university'. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning Journal Volume 23, Issue 1 - June 2021.
  • Hudson, A., Burnell, I. and Murray, D. (2021). 'The Place of Widening Participation', in Broadhead, S. et al. (eds) Delivering the Public Good of Higher Education - Widening Participation, Place and Lifelong Learning. London: Forum for Access and Continuing Education (FACE). ISBN: 978-0-9954922-4-0.
  • Burnell. I. and Roffey-Barentsen, J. (2020) Completing Your EdD: The Essential Guide to the Doctor of Education. Emerald Publishing. ISBN: 9781789735666.
  • Burnell, I. (2020) 'Further Education in the United Kingdom' The Sage Encyclopaedia of Higher Education. Sage Publications. ISBN: 9781473942912.
  • Burnell, I. (2019) 'Widening participation for non-traditional students: can using alternative assessment methods level the playing field in higher education?' Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning Journal Volume 21, Issue 3 - November 2019.
  • Burnell, I. (2017) 'Teaching and Learning in Further Education: the Ofsted factor', Journal of Further and Higher Education, 41(2), pp. 227-237.
  • Burnell, I. (2016) 'Widening the participation into higher education: experiences and perspectives of non-traditional mature learners in HE', in Hill, M., Hudson, A., McKendry, S., Raven, N., Saunders, D., Storan, J. and Ward, T. (eds.) Closing the Gap: Bridges for Access and Lifelong Learning, pp. 29-42. London: Forum for Access and Continuing Education (FACE). ISBN: 9780995492202.
  • Burnell, I. (2015) 'Widening the participation into higher education: examining  Bourdieusian theory in relation to HE in the UK', Journal of Adult and Continuing Education, 21(2), pp. 93-109.
  • Burnell, I. (2015) 'Widening participation in higher education: reshaping identities of non-traditional learners' Research in Teacher Education, 5 (No.2), 6–11.

EXTERNAL ROLES

  • Honorary Faculty Member, Centre for Higher Education Studies, University of Liverpool.

TEACHING

EdD Professional Doctorate in Education

Gain the opportunity and the skills with this EdD to conduct robust and innovative research that will improve the policy, practice and quality of education.

Apply for Professional Doctorate in Education

Programmes

  • Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Publications

The last four years of publications can be viewed below. 

Full publications list

Visit the research repository to view a full list of publications

Research repository

  • Hudson, A., Burnell, I. and Murray, D. (2020)

    The Place of Widening Participation in: Broadhead, S., Butcher, J., Davison, E., Fowle, W., Hill, M., Martin, L., McKendry, S., Norton, F., Raven, N., Sanderson, B. and Wynn Williams, S. (ed.) Delivering the Public Good of Higher Education – Widening Participation, Place and Lifelong Learning. FACE: Forum for Access and Continuing Education

    Book chapter