As Director of Lifelong Learning at Aston my immediate role is to develop the new Centre for Lifelong Learning by concentrating on a range of activities – community and employer engagement, e-learning, part time and flexible provision, professional development and sustainability. I was previously Director of the MSc Sustainable Development and Director of Lifelong learning at University of Exeter and before that Undergraduate Course Chair and Director of the BA Community Regeneration and Development in the School of Lifelong Learning and Development at Bradford University and have extensive experience of working in universities, colleges, community based learning and professional and executive education environments.
I have been a member of Sustainability South West for four years and am currently a member of the UK Sustainable Development Panel, the IUCN Commission on Communication and Education and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Higher Education Academy. I am also closely engaged with the Universities Association for Lifelong Learning (UALL) and the Forum for the Advancement for Continuing Education (FACE).
I am lead representative for Aston University in the United Nations University recognised Regional Centre for Expertise for Sustainability Education.
I am keenly interested in urban sustainable development and lifelong learning, new media affordances and sustainability communications. Recent Publications include: The Ecology of Learning (Earthscan, 2006), Understanding Sustainable Development (Earthscan, 2008) and Community, Empowerment and Sustainable Development (Green Books, 2008). As editor for The Converging World book series I am interested in educationally innovative work that embraces both social and environmental justice and community based action.
I enjoy music, cinema, photography and, when it is not pouring with rain, walking with my wife and dogs.
Research Interests
A major interest is in exploring the possibilities of new media for promoting both Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and sustainable development practices more widely and have a longstanding interest in the communication and empowerment possibilities of new media. My fascination with the power of the visual image in digital communication is closely related to this and I am currently working on a book length study of Wildscreen.
Another concern is with the development of a pragmatic philosophy of action, capabilities and conduct drawing on the philosophical work of Dewey, Rorty, Sen and Nussbaum that may underpin both ESD, inter-professional social learning and sustainability practices.
Earthscan
http://www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=3766
Green Books/Converging World
http://greenbooks.co.uk/store/community-empowerment-sustainable-development-p-285.html?osCsid=vio9o6iktnnujrkgjr024bk5g4
Wildscreen
http://www.wildscreen.org.uk/http://www.wildscreen.org.uk/http://www.wildscreen.org.uk/http://www.wildscreen.org.uk//
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