Margaret J. Cox is Emerita Professor of IT in Education in both the School of Education, Communication and Society; and the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial sciences; a member of the Council of the National Conference of University Professors (NCUP); Honorary Professor at the University of Portsmouth Dental Academy and a member of Kortext Advisory Board.

She pioneered the use of computers in education from 1969 while at Surrey University and has been researching and developing IT in education to the present day, also pioneering the use of haptics in dentistry and other health care disciplines since 2006.

Research in Dental Education includes the hapTEL project (2007-2012), as the principal investigator, developing and investigating the use of haptic devices to teach health-care skills to undergraduates, and the FundamentalGR project (2018-2020) for postgraduates and healthcare professionals. The hapTEL project was awarded two Medical Futures awards in 2010, the BETT award for innovative uses of technology in education in 2011 and an ESRC impact award in 2011. The project was also awarded Research Project of the Year by King’s College London in 2012.

Cox has been a consultant to many governments and organisations since the late 1970s and recently was commissioned by Health Education England to produce Guidelines for Using Simulations, Haptics and Digital Dentistry in Education in 2023.Cox was awarded the OBE in 2001 for outstanding contributions to computers in education; Fellow of the Institute of Physics in 2003 for outstanding contributions to physics education and awarded Fellowship of King’s College London in 2011 for exceptional services and achievements in Education and Dental Education.

In June 2025 she received the Odontology Presidential award of the Royal Society of Medicine for her distinguished career dedicated to advancing Dental Simulation Education. She is past President of NCUP; joint Editor of the Section (1st and 2nd Editions) Researching IT in Education in the International Handbook: IT in Primary and Secondary Education and is an international expert on the role and impact of technology in education.

Her 270+ publications over 50 years include research evidence of IT in all sectors of education, pioneering new research theories and methods for all types of technologies resulting in new knowledge and knowledge representations across many sectors including healthcare and more recently AI. Forthcoming books include “Rethinking technology enhanced learning” (Edwin Elgar) and “The Multiplication Society”.

Research interests

• The development and impact of technology enhanced learning in education.
• The design, use and integration of haptics in health care education and professional clinical settings.
• Students' learning progression, performance of clinical skills and application.
• The impact of IT in education on new educational alignments, educational settings.
• Measurement and research methods to investigate IT in education.
• The effects of IT on knowledge representations and learning.
• Teacher education and pedagogical practices.
• Educational frameworks and theories of IT in education.

Further information

For further information please see Margaret's Research Staff Profile.