Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Dr. Esther Priyadharshini is an Associate Professor at the School of Education & Lifelong Learning. She is Co-Director for Research in the school and co-leader of the Cultural Studies in Education research group. Esther completed her Ph.D from Lancaster University and previously graduated from Bharatidasan and Madras Universities, India. She worked in the market research sector India, conducting social and commercial research in business and charitable/voluntary settings. Esther curently teaches and supervises across several programmes in education - BA, MRes, PhD and EdD.
Key Research Interests
Dr. Esther Priyadharshini’s research is on educational futures, youth/childhood, schooling and gender. Her work is located in the intersection of futures studies, youth studies and education. She is interested in how processes of education and learning can be made to respond to the challenges of the Anthropocene, and to support youth/children/students in the making of more desirable futures. To do this, she draws on feminisms, postcolonialism, new materialisms, and post humanist perspectives. She is interested in experimental and innovative approaches to research methodology (non-representational, speculative approaches and participatory persepectives). Her research aims to deploy ideas from social theory to processes of learning, and to critique and re-think educational organisation and identities.
Her recent (2021) book, "Pedagogies for the Post Anthropocene" was awarded the Runner Up Prize for the CIES 2022 Book Award, Globalisation & Education SIG.
Recent Publications
Priyadharshini E., (2021) Pedagogies for the post-Anthropocene: Lessons from Apocalypse, Revolution & Utopia, Springer Press. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-5788-7
Jere, C., Robinson-Pant, A., Priyadharshini, E., Millora, C., & Evren, B. (2021). Cooperation, collaboration and compromise: Learning through difference and diversity. Educational Action Research.
Priyadharshini, E. (2020). 'Re-imaginging futures, education and learning relations' in Humanist Futures: Perspectives from UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks on the futures of education. Paris, UNESCO.
Priyadharshini, E., (2019) 'Anticipating the apocalypse: Monstrous educational futures'. Futures 113 (2019), 102453. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2019.102453
(2018) Analysis as assemblage: making sense of polysemous texts, Critical Studies in Media Communication, 35:5, 420-439, DOI: 10.1080/15295036.2018.1492143
Areas of Expertise
Posthumanism, Postcolonial and feminist theory, Futures Studies; post-qualitative research, speculative methods, participatory approaches and ethnography.
Teaching Interests
Most of Dr. Priyadharshini’s teaching is at the postgraduate level, contributing to the Ed.D course, Ph.D seminars and advanced research training events. She is the EDU lead for the MRes in Social Sciences. She also leads the BA year 3 module ''Constructions of Childhood' and supervises dissertations/theses across BA, MA and doctoral programmes.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
-
Teacher agency with technology: creating an ecological model through a place-based study of teaching and learning in Norfolk
Gordon, J., Bartholomew, K., Blair, R., Chin, J., Craske, J., Dyer, H., Greenwood, D., Hammond, S., Maddox, B., Medler, D., Parr, G., Priyadharshini, E. & Russell, K.
Economic and Social Research Council
1/12/22 → 30/11/25
Project: Research
-
Time, space, belonging and mental health: Participatory explorations of Black and minority ethnic doctoral student experiences.
Ramakrishnan, K., Priyadharshini, E. & Ghaffar, F.
31/08/21 → 31/10/22
Project: Research
-
Advanced Training Initiative
Lebeau, Y., Chhotray, V., Finlayson, A., Lorenzoni, I., Priyadharshini, E. & Watts, S.
Economic and Social Research Council
1/10/14 → 30/09/17
Project: Research
-
Masculinities in young all-male cheerleading teams
Priyadharshini, E. & Lamb, P.
The Bedford Physical Education Old Students Association
1/06/13 → 30/04/14
Project: Research
-
Post-qualitative approach to researching temporalities: Making post-anthropocentric futures
Priyadharshini, E. & Rennolds, N., Jan 2023.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
-
Cooperation, collaboration and compromise: Learning through difference and diversity
Jere, C., Priyadharshini, E., Robinson-Pant, A., Millora, C. & Evren, B., 23 Sep 2021, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Educational Action Research.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile15 Downloads (Pure) -
Pedagogies for the post-Anthropocene: Lessons from Apocalypse, Revolution and Utopia
Priyadharshini, E., 26 Nov 2021, Singapore: Springer. 143 p. (Cultural Studies and Transdisciplinarity in Education)Research output: Book/Report › Book
-
Re-imagining futures, education and learning relations
Priyadharshini, E., 2020, Humanistic futures of learning: Perspectives from UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks. Paris: UNESCO, p. 185-188 4 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Open AccessFile1 Downloads (Pure) -
Anticipating the apocalypse: Monstrous educational futures
Priyadharshini, E., Oct 2019, In: Futures. 113, 8 p., 102453.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile6 Citations (Scopus)4 Downloads (Pure)
Prizes
-
Runner Up, CIES 2022 Book Award, Globalisation & Education SIG
Priyadharshini, Esther (Recipient), 12 Apr 2022
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
-
Futures (Journal)
Esther Priyadharshini (Editorial board member)
2022 → …Activity: Editorial work › Publication editorial role
-
External Examiner with the Edinburgh Futures Insitute (EFI), University of Edinburgh
Esther Priyadharshini (Examiner)
2022 → …Activity: Examination
-
Digital Culture and Education (Journal)
Esther Priyadharshini (Editorial board member)
2017 → …Activity: Editorial work › Publication editorial role
-
Cambridge Journal of Education (Journal)
Esther Priyadharshini (Editorial board member)
2008 → …Activity: Editorial work › Publication editorial role
-
Examined doctoral theses from Sussex, Liverpool John Moores, Queen's Belfast, MMU and Manchester Universities
Esther Priyadharshini (Examiner)
2005 → …Activity: Examination