七彩直播

Professor Richard Hall

Job: Professor of Education and Technology

Faculty: Health and Life Sciences

School/department: School of Applied Social Sciences

Research group(s): Centre for Urban Research on Austerity, Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility

Address: 七彩直播, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH, United Kingdom

T: +44 (0)116 207 8254

E: rhall1@dmu.ac.uk

W:

 

Personal profile

Richard Hall is Professor of Education and Technology, based in the Division of Education in the School of Applied Social Sciences. Richard contributes to teaching on evidence-based education and educational leadership, as well as supervising Masters and PhD students. His research focuses on higher education policy and pedagogy, co-operative and alternative forms of higher education, academic labour and alienation, and neoliberalism and education.

Richard is an HEA National Teaching Fellow, awarded in 2009, and a fellow of the HEA.

Richard is Director of the Institute for Research in Criminology, Community, Education and Social Justice. He is also a member of the Centre for Urban Research on Austerity and a Research Associate in the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility at 七彩直播.

Richard is the editor for Palgrave Macmillan’s series, and also for 七彩直播’s re-launched education and pedagogic research Journal, .

Richard has been involved in , including the in Lincoln, and . He is a trustee of the , a member of the Management Committee of the Leicester Primary Pupil Referral Unit, and an independent visitor for a looked-after child.

Richard holds PRINCE2 and Managing Successful Programmes Practitioner status. He has worked extensively on .

Research group affiliations

  • Institute for Research in Criminology, Education and Social Justice
  • Centre for Urban Research on Austerity
  • Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility

Publications and outputs


  • dc.title: The Impact of the Current Student Loans Regime on Muslim Student Engagement and Retention in English Higher Education. dc.contributor.author: Loonat, Sumeya; Hall, Richard; Maryam, Yusraa dc.description.abstract: There is much interest in the potential for an alternative funding system for higher education students in England to support the spiritual and worldly needs of British Muslim students. At present those who wish to study in English universities and HE providers are still tied to a financial system that is contentious for many because it is predicated upon paying back interest, known as riba. From Arabic, riba points towards financial arrangements that are a form of usury, and are seen to be exploitative. This is haram, or forbidden, for practicing Muslims. The relationship between access to (and progression through) academic study and engagement with finance is contentious where it reveals the tensions between Islam as a deeply-spiritual, faith-based way of life (in Arabic, deen), and the reality that this way of life is lived, materially, in a worldly existence (in Arabic, dunya). The extent to which these tensions both play out for Muslim students and impact their lived experiences of HE has received limited attention. Although recent UK Governments have promised an alternative system, and have even engaged in consultation on the issue, there is a need for richer educational research on the impact of this system on Muslims who are trying to adhere to Islamic teachings This report engages with this gap, and discusses one Academic Innovation Project (AIP), funded at 七彩直播 (七彩直播) in the 2023/24 academic session. This project developed, cross-institutionally, the outcomes of a third-year, 七彩直播 Education Studies dissertation undertaken in 2022/23, by Yusraa Maryam (with Richard Hall as her supervisor). This dissertation undertook a small scale, qualitative investigation of the experiences of Muslim students who saw interest-bearing loans as a barrier to their higher learning. In the AIP, Yusraa and Richard, working with Sumeya Loonat, extended and enhanced this pilot. Sumeya, a 七彩直播 PhD student and a British Muslim female, acted as a research mentor to Yusraa, and this enabled the team to ground this student-led research around retention. At its heart lay a desire to explore the factors that shape retention for Muslim students who see student loans as a barrier to their retention and ability to stay the course. Thus, we focus on the outcomes of in-depth interviews with 12 British Muslim undergraduate and postgraduate taught students, which were designed to evaluate the impacts of interest-bearing loans on Muslim students retention in one University in English HE. The analysis of these interviews highlighted how the struggle between the spiritual deen and the worldly dunya shaped much of what was reported by these students, with money challenging and conditioning faith. In this, the complex ways in which individuals engage with student finance were related to their spiritual intentions, and this then shaped their educational experiences and choices. Whilst the role of family was important in engaging with their studies, this struggle had an affective, emotional impact. In managing these outcomes, the students demonstrate very deep layers of inner faith, commitment, drive and hope for the future. These are also moulded in family and in community. At the same time, our participants made a plea for the recognition of the significance of this issue for students like them by University senior leaders. At the core of this work, we note that these students are engaged in a struggle for recognition, and in this they deserve to be heard.

  • dc.title: Foreword: Unfolding creative co-operation beyond corporate higher education dc.contributor.author: Hall, Richard dc.description: Invited foreword to an edited collection on co-operative higher education.

  • dc.title: Podcast Series: The UN Sustainable Development Goals and Educational Research Implications for Policy and Practice. dc.contributor.author: Hall, Richard dc.description.abstract: In 2015, United Nations Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is framed around 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN describes these goals as 鈥渁n urgent call for action by all countries,鈥 emphasizing the importance of global partnerships. This podcast series explores the intersections of Higher Education (HE) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Curated by Richard Hall and Kate Mawson, this series delves into how HE can respond to the urgent call for action set out in The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Adopted by United Nations Member States in 2015, the agenda envisions global peace and prosperity for people and the planet, centered on 17 transformative goals. While SDG 4, Quality Education, stands as a direct link to HE, the implications stretch far beyond this single goal. Higher education institutions hold a unique and powerful role in advancing understanding, reducing inequalities, and fostering innovation across all SDGs鈥攚hether addressing gender equality (SDG 5), climate action (SDG 13), or partnerships for the goals (SDG 17). This podcast series emerges from a collaborative initiative co-facilitated by the British Educational Research Association (BERA) Higher Education and Social Theory Special Interest Groups. At its core, the project aims to explore how HE policy and practice can engage with and impact the SDGs. It invites academics, practitioners, and policymakers to examine the intersections of HE with personal, social, ecological, and resource needs, including poverty eradication, sustainable cities, clean energy, and justice. dc.description: A podcast series hosted by the British Educational Research Association (BERA), in association with the UN Impact Hub.

  • dc.title: The UN SDGs and educational research: Intoduction: The importance of the relationship between the SDGs and higher education. dc.contributor.author: Hall, Richard; Mawson, Kate dc.description.abstract: In 2015, United Nations Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is framed around 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN describes these goals as 鈥渁n urgent call for action by all countries,鈥 emphasizing the importance of global partnerships. Each of the 17 SDGs has implications for higher education. This first podcast introduces our theories on the relationship between the sustainable development goals and research in and on higher education. The podcast is led by Dr Kate Mawson (Nottingham Trent University), and Professor Richard Hall (七彩直播). dc.description: Podcast hosted by BERA, in partnership with the UN Impact Hub.

  • dc.title: Scoping a Muslim friendly Universities audit: 七彩直播 Interim Report dc.contributor.author: Hall, Richard; Ansley, Lucy; Loonat, Sumeya; Nemouchi, Lamia dc.description.abstract: The 七彩直播 (七彩直播), Muslim-Friendly Universities audit focuses upon the student experience of British Muslim, first-year undergraduate students. It situates this experience against those students鈥 conceptions of their faith, and also in relation to ethnicity, gender and disability. The primary intention is to understand how these students experience their Muslimness in HE. A secondary intention is that this research will materially impact the ways in which universities can recognise intersectional and faith-based complexities in the undergraduate student experience. We intend to understand these experiences, in order to define a co-created action plan to ensure that HE is as inclusive for British Muslim students as their non-Muslim/religious peers. Our starting point for this is through partnerships with students, facilitated with support, advice and guidance from the Aziz Foundation. dc.description: This project is a partnership between 七彩直播 and The Aziz Foundation, as part of the latter's Muslim-Friendly Universities Programme.

  • dc.title: Disciplinary guide: Decolonial Studies dc.contributor.author: Loonat, Sumeya; Hall, Richard dc.description.abstract: n/a dc.description: Research with international students is an interdisciplinary field and there are a wide range of research disciplines which can add to our thinking about this subject. This series brings together global experts to present different research disciplines and their application to this research topic with the aim of encouraging more interdisciplinary thinking. This guide focuses upon the experiences of international students and applying a decolonial lens.

  • dc.title: Decolonising 七彩直播 Progress Report: March 2024 dc.contributor.author: Ansley, Lucy; Hall, Richard dc.description: This report serves as an update on the work of the Decolonising 七彩直播 project. Building on the Decolonising 七彩直播: Interim Report (Hall et al., 2022), it details the project鈥檚 change in emphasis, from work streams to themed commitments. The decision to restructure the project's work came about as part of its transition to business as usual inside the University. As the funded element of the project closed, it was important to map the institution鈥檚 Race Equality Charter (REC) action plan across our decolonising work, whilst also considering the new institutional strategy 鈥淭he Empowering University鈥. Here we present the focus of our work over the last 22 months, organized under four commitments. 鈥 Equity in Education and Research 鈥 Progression, Talent and Representation 鈥 Governance and Accountability 鈥 Raising Awareness, Changing Culture and Behaviour

  • dc.title: Generative AI and re-weaving a pedagogical horizon of social possibility dc.contributor.author: Hall, Richard dc.description.abstract: This article situates the potential for intellectual work to be renewed through an enriched engagement with the relationship between indigenous protocols and artificial intelligence (AI). It situates this through a dialectical storytelling of the contradictions that emerge from the relationships between humans and capitalist technologies, played out within higher education. It argues that these have ramifications for our conceptions of AI, and its ways of knowing, doing and being within wider ecosystems. In thinking about how technology reinforces social production inside capitalist institutions like universities, the article seeks to refocus our storytelling around mass intellectuality and generative possibilities for transcending alienating social relations. In so doing, the focus shifts to the potential for weaving new protocols, from existing material and historical experiences of technology, which unfold structurally, culturally and practically within communities. At the heart of this lies the question, what does it mean to live? In a world described against polycrisis, is it possible to tell new social science fictions, as departures towards a new mode of higher learning and intellectual work that seeks to negate, abolish and transcend the world as-is? dc.description: open access article

  • dc.title: Beyond the Limits of Solidarity in the Post-Pandemic University dc.contributor.author: Hall, Richard dc.description.abstract: This article challenges a liberal analysis of HE inside an integrated system of economic production, and instead critiques: first, how UK policymakers sought to re-engineer English HE during and after the pandemic, through governance, regulation and funding changes predicated upon accelerating a discourse of value-for-money; second, the institutional labour reorganisation look followed, and which placed complete class fractions of academic labour in a permanent state of being at-risk; and third, how in continually demonstrating that it cannot fulfil the desires of those who labour within it for a meaningful work-life, the University must be transcended. In addressing the entanglement of precarity and privilege, it argues that, if the University is unable to contribute to ways of knowing, being and doing that address socio-economic, socio-environmental or intersectional ruptures, then it must go. dc.description: open access article

  • dc.title: Marxism and Education, Series Editor鈥檚 Foreword: In, Against and Beyond Capital in Higher Education dc.contributor.author: Hall, Richard dc.description.abstract: n/a

Key research outputs

Research interests/expertise

  • The idea of the University and radical alternatives to it
  • Higher education governance, regulation and funding
  • Academic labour and alienation
  • Pedagogy and critical social theory
  • Higher education and mental health
  • Neoliberalism and Primary Education

Areas of teaching

  • The sociology of education
  • Politics of education
  • Critical pedagogy
  • Contemporary and historical issues in education
  • Evidence-based education
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education
  • Education Practice
  • Assessment and Feedback in Higher Education
  • Philosophy of History

Qualifications

  • B.A. Hons
  • M.A.
  • Ph.D.

七彩直播 taught

  • Ph.D. supervision
  • M.A. Education Practice, including project supervision
  • B.A. Education Studies: EDUC1110: Historical and Contmporary Issues in Education; EDUC1145: Evidenced-based teaching and learning; EDUC2229: Researching Education; EDUC2248: Politics of Education; EDUC3346: Dissertation.

Honours and awards

  • Director of the Institute for Research in Criminology, Education and Social Justice, March 2021
  • Co-director of the Institute for Education Futures, 2016-18, 七彩直播.
  • Professor of Education and Technology, 2013.
  • The Digital Literacy Framework Project won the , an international contest sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation, the Digital Media and Learning Hub, and MIT Media Lab.
  • Higher Education Academy, National Teaching Fellowship, 2009.
  • Readership in Education and Technology, June 2010, 七彩直播.

Membership of external committees

  • Trustee, Open Library of Humanities (since 2015).
  • Board member, Leicester Vaughan College (2017-19).
  • Teaching Scholar at the Cooperative Institute for Transnational Studies (since 2015).
  • The Association for Learning Technology, OER17 Conference Committee (2016-17).
  • Critical Theory Research Network (since 2016).
  • Beyond the Neoliberal University: Critical Pedagogy and Activism, Organising Committee (a symposium hosted by Coventry University UCU in 2015).
  • European Conference on e-Learning (since 2005).
  • European Conference on Social Media (since 2013).
  • The Association for Learning Technology Conference, Programme Committee (since 2013).

Professional licences and certificates

  • Fellow of The Higher Education Academy
  • PRINCE2, Practitioner
  • Managing Successful Programmes, Practitioner

Projects

A full list of projects is available at:

Forthcoming events

Hall, R. (2021). Decolonising and institutional co-optation. Decolonising Critical Thought Workshop, Critical Theory in Hard Times Network, Manchester.

Ansley, L., Connolly, P., Crofts, M., Hall, C., Hall, R. and Patel, K. (2021). Decolonising 七彩直播: Towards the Anti-Racist University. AdvanceHE Equality Diversity and Inclusion Conference 2020: Courageous conversations and adventurous approaches: creative thinking in tackling inequality, Edinburgh.

Hall, R. and Themelis, S. (2021). Critical Reflections on the Language of Neoliberalism in Education. Education Research Seminar, 七彩直播.

Hall, R., Loonat, S., Marfu, C., and Prescod, M. (2021). Building engagement with decolonising inside the pandemic University. Festival of Teaching, 七彩直播.

Hall, R. (2021). Invited panel member. The Digital Divide: Why we need to support young people now. 七彩直播 and Leicestershire Cares.

Conference attendance

A full list of papers is available at:

All presentations are available at:

Recent presentations include the following.

Hall, R., Marfu, C. and Sofowora, T. (2021). Decolonising and responsible futures, online workshop. Students Organising for Sustainability.

Hall, R. (2020). Covid-19 and the idea of the University. Documentary Media Centre newsroom on The Future of Higher Education.

Patel, K. and Hall, R. (2020). Decolonising 七彩直播: Becoming an Anti-Racist University. Decolonising Bradford, University of Bradford.

Hall, R. (2020). For humanism and against the methodological University. British Educational Research Association annual conference, University of Liverpool.

Recent research outputs

Hall, R. (2021, forthcoming). The Hopeless University: Intellectual Work at the End of the End of History. Leicester: Mayfly Books.

Hall, R. (2021). Immiseration. In Critical Reflections on the Language of Neoliberalism in Education: Dangerous Words and Discourses of Possibility, ed. Themelis, S, pp. 47-53. London: Routledge.

Hall, R. (2021). Managerialism. In Critical Reflections on the Language of Neoliberalism in Education: Dangerous Words and Discourses of Possibility, ed. Themelis, S, pp. 93-99. London: Routledge.

Hall, R. (2021). Alternative Education. In Critical Reflections on the Language of Neoliberalism in Education: Dangerous Words and Discourses of Possibility, ed. Themelis, S, pp. 168-73. London: Routledge.

Hall, R. (2020). Another world is possible: The possibilities for a transformative post-capitalist education. In The Routledge Handbook of Transformative Global Studies, eds Hosseini Faradonbeh S.A., Goodman, J., Motta, S., and Gills, B.K., pp. 84-96. London: Routledge.

Hall, R. (2020). Platform Discontent Against the University. In The Digital Age and its Discontents: Critical Reflections in Education, ed. M. Stocchetti, pp. 123-40. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. and

Hall, R. (2020). The Hopeless University: Intellectual Work at the end of The End of History. Postdigital Science and Education, 2(3), 830-48. DOI: 10.1007/s42438-020-00158-9.

Hall., R. (2019). On authoritarian neoliberalism and poetic epistemology. Social Epistemology: A Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Policy, 33(4), 298-308.

Key articles information

Hall, R. (2021, forthcoming). The Hopeless University: Intellectual Work at the End of the End of History. Leicester: Mayfly Books.

Hall., R. (2019). On authoritarian neoliberalism and poetic epistemology. Social Epistemology: A Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Policy, 33(4), 298-308.

Hall, R. (2018). The Alienated Academic: the struggle for autonomy inside the University. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Hall., R. (2018). On the alienation of academic labour and the possibilities for mass intellectuality. tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique, 16(1), 97-113.

Hall, R., and Winn, J. (eds). (2017). Mass Intellectuality and Democratic Leadership in Higher Education. London: Bloomsbury Academic.  and 

Hall, R., and Smyth, K. (2016). Dismantling the Curriculum in Higher Education. Open Library of the Humanities. 2(1), p.e11. DOI:

Hall, R., and Bowles, K. (2016). Re-engineering higher education: the subsumption of academic labour and the exploitation of anxiety. Workplace: A Journal of Academic Labour, 28, 30-47.

Hall, R. (2015). The University and the Secular Crisis. Open Library of the Humanities, 1(1). DOI:

Consultancy work

I am a reviewer for the Independent Social Research Foundation (since 2018)

As an NTF mentor, I have supported successful internal and external applications.

I am a Trustee of the Open Library of Humanities (since 2015).

I am a Teaching Scholar at the Cooperative Institute for Transnational Studies (since 2015)

I am a member of the Centre for Transformational Learning and Culture (since 2016)

I have examined seven external M.Phil./Ph.D. candidates, 12 internal Ph.D. candidates, and a Masters by Research at 七彩直播.

Between 2008-13, I was External Assessor on the Post-Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching at Glasgow Caledonian University.

I was a consultant on the University of Surrey’s VLE Review (2010).

I reviewed the use of technology in post-graduate teaching and learning curricula at Buckingham New University (2010).

I advised the British Council with Moscow Bauman State Technical University on the development of a Masters in Design Innovation (2006, 2011 and 2012).

I advised Te Wānanga o Aotearoa University in New Zealand in developing technology solutions for distance learners (2008).

I was consulted as part of the UK JISC Mobile and Wireless Technologies Review (2010).

Current research students

Nikki Welyczko, Ph.D. on nurse education, professional practice and resilience (1st supervisor).

Angela Sibley-White, Ph.D. on the lived experience of primary school communities under neoliberal governance and policy (1st supervisor).

Kim Sadique, Ph.D. on Learning from and Preventing Genocide and Crimes of the State: The Role of Religion and Education (1st supervisor).

Ally Ackbarally, Ph.D. on human factors and non-technical skills for Senior First Assistants in clinical settings (1st supervisor)

Sumeya Loonat, Ph.D. on the intersectionality of race and language in the construction and context of minority students within UK Higher Education (1st supervisor).

Camille London-Miyo, Ph.D. on Black Lives Matter Education - Black Educators Navigating the Dynamics of Racism in Leicester Schools (2nd supervisor)

Abena Addo, Ph.D. on heuristic research to inform holistic pedagogical practices in health professional education and research (2nd supervisor).

Jonathan Gration, Ph.D. on Digital anastylosis; exploring the future of public engagement with digital historic interiors (2nd supervisor).

Jennifer Wilkinson, Ph.D. on the historical context for functional skills' development in English Further Education (Advisor)

Externally funded research grants information

Courseware for History Implementation Consortium project, HEFCE TLTP3, 1999 – 2002, PI

e-Learning Capital Investment funding, HEFCE, 2005-2006, PI

e-Learning Benchmarking project, Higher Education Academy, 2006 – 07, PI.

e-Learning Pathfinder Project on Web 2.0 cultures, Higher Education Academy, 2007 – 08, PI

Connecting Transitions and Independent Learning, Higher Education Academy, e-Learning Research Observatory, 2008 – 09, PI

Mobilising Remote Student Engagement, JISC, eLearing Curriculum Delivery Project, 2008-2010, PI, Kingston University

Deliberative User Approach in a Living Lab project, JISC Greening IT Project, 2010 – 11, CI

Sickle Cell Open: Online Topics and Educational Resources project, JISC Open Educational Resources programme, 2010 – 2011, CI

New Dimensions of Security in Europe project, European Commission, Lifelong Learning Programme, 2009 – 10, Project evaluator

Open to Change project, JISC, Greening ICT programme: technical development, 2010-11, CI

HE Leadership Foundation-funded, Changing the Learning Landscape project, 2013-14, PI.

Using a value-added metric and an inclusive curriculum framework to address the black and minority ethnic attainment gap, HEFCE Catalyst Fund, 2017-19, CI 

Internally funded research project information

Building capacity to impact on policy and practice project, Revolving Investment Fund for Research Round 2, 2010-2011, CI

EARS II Pedagogical Project, HEIF5, 2012-13, CI

Knowledge Exchange Digital Literacy Framework Project, HEIF5, 2012-14, PI, Leicester City Council.

Towards Equitable Engagement: the Impact of UDL on Student Perceptions of Learning, Teaching Innovation Project Fund, 2016-17, PI

Leading Change for Sustainability: developing a Social Learning approach within a 七彩直播 course, 2016-17, Teaching Innovation Project Fund, CI

Transformative learning for the public good – an integrative approach to sustainable community development, 2016-17, HEIF, CI

Mapping Learning City Infrastructures Under Austerity Governance, CURA, 2017-18 

Professional esteem indicators

I am the editor for Palgrave Macmillan’s Marxism and Education series.

I am a Trustee of the .

I am a member of the Review Boards for: Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies; Research in Learning Technology (formerly ALT-J); TripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique; Teaching in Higher Education; Postdigital Science and Education.

I am a reviewer for: Teaching in Higher Education (since 2016); the Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies (since 2014); the Higher Education Research and Development journal (since 2016); the Journal of Learning, Media, and Technology (since 2010); the Interactive Learning Environments journal (since 2010); Computers and Education (since 2010); the Open Library of Humanities journal (since 2015); Philosophies (since 2020); and the Electronic Journal of e-Learning (since 2005).

I am Editor for the 七彩直播 education and pedagogic research journal, Gateway Papers.

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