We are a friendly, interdisciplinary research centre, committed to collaborative working.
Our research develops critical analyses of social change and social in/justice in education and other policy arenas, sectors and contexts to inform national and international policy debate, social activism, and personal, professional and organisational learning.
In addition to conducting theoretical and empirical research, we run innovative policy-relevant teaching programmes. We are also interested in promoting and supporting research by, and in partnership with, our students and with policymakers and practitioners from public and third sector organisations and community groups.
Scholarship in CPPR draws on a range of social science and humanities perspectives and methodologies. The Centre has expertise in sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, history and applied philosophy and in participatory, creative and arts-based methodologies.
We are interested in approaches to social and policy analysis that are both critical and problem-solving. Our interest in and interpretation of policy is rooted in a conception of policy as felt, made and remade in everyday life; that is, as co-constitutive of subjectivities and identities. Our research illuminates social and policy processes and effects in a range of global and local contexts, including formal and informal education, health and social care and cultural sector settings.
Our cross-cutting research interests include:
- Children, youth & society
- Decoloniality & epistemic justice
- Emotions & embodiment
- Ethics & public policy
- Gender & sexuality
- Governance, accountability & quality
- Imagined social futures
- Inequality & social class
- Migration & borders
- Race & racism
- Rethinking work
CPPR’s work also reflects the School of Education, Community & Society’s overarching research themes of:
- Curriculum, pedagogy & assessment
- Diversity, inclusion & social justice
- Globalisation & identity
- Professionalism & workplace practice.
Members of CPPR also convene the Higher Education Research Group (HERG@KCL), the King's International Education Research Network and the King's Child/Youth Studies Network.
Projects

'But why is that better?'
''But why is that better?' An investigation of what applied philosophy and ethics can bring to quality improvement work in healthcare'.

Child Marriage in Humanitarian Settings: Integrating the Response to Child Marriage in East Africa
This project will enhance collaboration between civil society and humanitarian actors to end child marriage and support already married girls in East Africa.

Grounded in their lives: Comprehensive stakeholders engagement to change child marriage policy and programming for girls in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region
This project aimed to ensure child marriage policy and programming in the MENA Region is comprehensively and explicitly grounded in girls' lived experience.

London: A home for young people?
A project that brought together young people and decision makers to discuss solutions to challenges young Londoners face as a result of regeneration projects.

Mixed-Heritage Young People's Educational Experiences in London: An Exploratory Study
This project explores the educational journeys of mixed-heritage students (ages 18-25) within London’s diverse higher education institutions.

Multi-Agency Child Safeguarding (MACS) Evaluation
This project will provide evidence about what makes Local Safeguarding Children Partnerships (LSCPs) effective.

Opportunity, equality and agency in England's new VET landscape: a longitudinal study of post-16 transitions (Young Lives, Young Futures)
How England's vocational education and training (VET) system could better support the school to work transitions of young people who don’t go to university.

Postgraduate student experience: identity, belonging and attainment
A qualitative study of how postgraduate student identity impacts their teaching & learning experiences, their sense of belonging and their academic attainment.

Protecting children at a distance: investigating and strengthening child safeguarding and protection responses consequent upon COVID-19 lock-down/social distancing measures
This multi-disciplinary study investigates the impacts of COVID-19 social distancing/lockdown measures on child safeguarding and protection practice in England.

Rethinking Impact, Evaluation and Accountability in Youth Work
The project investigates how impact tools and processes are experienced and enacted by young people and practitioners in youth work settings.

Sustaining teacher quality and retention post-pandemic
This project examines the impact of the substantial changes and sustained disruption caused by Covid-19 to the development of secondary school teachers.

The History of Educational Planning in Developing Countries Through the Lens of the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP)
This study traces the history of educational planning in developing countries through the lens of the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP).

Understanding colourism among young people in the UK
This research explores how colourism, skin shade prejudice, is understood, negotiated and/or perpetuated by young people in the UK.

We're trying to do things differently: the challenges of relationships and recognition in higher education
Students and staff from King's Social Sciences BA turn the research lens back on their own world and explore the challenges of trying to do things differently.
Publications
Activities

CPPR Seminar Series
Our seminar series allows our academics and guest speakers to share their work and research.

Writing Group for Academic Publishing
This group, chaired by Professor Pat Mahony, meets monthly (on the first Wednesday of each month, 12.30-1.30pm) to support ECS staff and PhD students in getting their work published. Each month, one member circulates their draft of an article or book chapter and the rest of the group provide feedback in a constructive and supportive way. We aim to help the author to improve their paper in preparation for submission as well as support broader learning on the process of academic publishing. If you would like to join, please contact Dr Clare Coultas: clare.coultas@kcl.ac.uk.

CPPR Doctoral Student Seminar Group
CPPR runs a voluntary doctoral seminar for our doctoral and PGR students, a monthly two-hour meeting where doctoral students have the opportunity to present their research and get feedback. We see this is a form of supervision and it is also a good way for students to network and get to know each other. Students can use this space to receive feedback on their research, from the initial conceptualisation to a mock viva, but also to briefly discuss a particular methodological or theoretical aspect they are grappling with. We usually have two students present per session for about 20-30 minutes, followed by half an hour comments and discussion. The meetings are hybrid (held face-to-face but also accessible via Teams). To take part, email Maren Elfert at: maren.elfert@kcl.ac.uk.

CPPR Creative Writing Group
This is a monthly, informal workshop/sharing/discussion space open to doctoral students and staff with an interest in creative writing (of all kinds) both in and beyond our work in the university. Group members take it in turns to facilitate sessions on subjects we are interested in and where we also share work or work-in-progress. Previous sessions have included explorations of: poetry and performance poetry, haiku, instinctive/freeflow writing, the practice and ethics of auto-ethnographic storytelling, writing processes and planning, comic books and graphic art. Meetings last around an hour. If you are interested, email Freya Aquarone (freya.aquarone@kcl.ac.uk) or Tania de St Croix (tania.de_st_croix@kcl.ac.uk).

Theory and Methods Workshops
This group provides an opportunity for CPPR doctoral students and staff to come together in an informal and supportive atmosphere to grapple with methodological and theoretical issues of common interest. Each meeting is usually based on a methodological or theoretical topic or the ideas of one thinker. A relevant text is circulated in advance, with the participants taking turns to choose the reading and introduce the topic or thinker and possible themes for discussion. As far as possible we aim to choose texts and themes that have widespread relevance and significance. For further information, please contact: Alan Cribb: alan.cribb@kcl.ac.uk, John Owens: john.owens@kcl.ac.uk, or Sharon Gewirtz: sharon.gewirtz@kcl.ac.uk

King's Social Journal
This student-led blog run by the BA Social Sciences students is a space to analyse pressing issues faced by society today, especially with regard to: Gender & Sexuality; Race & Ethnicity; Environment & Society; and Education, Childhood & Youth.
News
Dr Francesca Meloni wins SLSA Book Prize 2025
Dr Francesa Meloni, Senior Lecturer in Social Justice at the School of Education, Communication and Society, has won the Hart-SLSA Book Prize for Early Career...

Dr Billy Holzberg wins British Sociological Association's prize for best sole-authored sociology book
The Philip Abrams Memorial Prize is awarded for the best sole-authored book in the subject of sociology.

King's academic shortlisted for award for best sole-authored book in sociology
Dr Billy Holzberg is nominated for his latest book which explores race, deservingness and the emotional politics of migration control.

New studentship offered to explore the role of 'placemaking' in asylum seekers' mental health
Applications are open until 18 February for a funded ESRC Studentship to examine the role of placemaking for asylum seekers’ mental health living in camps in...

A fairer assessment system for England's primary and secondary schools
A new report authored by Dr Nuala Burgess, a King’s Research Associate for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Schools, Learning and Assessment, makes the...

Events

“You laugh at it as a joke, but it’s not funny:” Young People’s Experiences of Colourist Banter
This paper explores how young people in the UK use jokes and banter to perpetuate colourism, particularly targeting those with dark and very dark skin.
Please note: this event has passed.

Book Launch: Civil Society's Education by Christopher Winch
Join us for the launch of ‘Civil Society’s Education’ by Christopher Winch including a panel discussion of the book's key themes.
Please note: this event has passed.

Exploring abolitionist disruptions to Scotland's progressive penal state
In this seminar Martha will draw on the findings of her research to cast Scotland’s penal reputation in a new light and explore the implications of this in...
Please note: this event has passed.

Ambiguities in Black: Black feminism and the transracialism discourse
Alanah Mortlock asks, what does the discourse that emerged in the wake of the Rachel Dolezal transracialism scandal do to ways of talking and thinking about...
Please note: this event has passed.

Book launch: Affective bordering by Billy Holzberg
This new book examines how affect and emotions work to secure and contest contemporary border regimes.
Please note: this event has passed.
Studentship Opportunity

King's Africa Studentship 2025-2026
A multispecies ethnography of the Nature’s Valley Region of South Africa: Creating an interdisciplinary approach to community-centred education, conservation and environmental sustainability.
Projects

'But why is that better?'
''But why is that better?' An investigation of what applied philosophy and ethics can bring to quality improvement work in healthcare'.

Child Marriage in Humanitarian Settings: Integrating the Response to Child Marriage in East Africa
This project will enhance collaboration between civil society and humanitarian actors to end child marriage and support already married girls in East Africa.

Grounded in their lives: Comprehensive stakeholders engagement to change child marriage policy and programming for girls in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region
This project aimed to ensure child marriage policy and programming in the MENA Region is comprehensively and explicitly grounded in girls' lived experience.

London: A home for young people?
A project that brought together young people and decision makers to discuss solutions to challenges young Londoners face as a result of regeneration projects.

Mixed-Heritage Young People's Educational Experiences in London: An Exploratory Study
This project explores the educational journeys of mixed-heritage students (ages 18-25) within London’s diverse higher education institutions.

Multi-Agency Child Safeguarding (MACS) Evaluation
This project will provide evidence about what makes Local Safeguarding Children Partnerships (LSCPs) effective.

Opportunity, equality and agency in England's new VET landscape: a longitudinal study of post-16 transitions (Young Lives, Young Futures)
How England's vocational education and training (VET) system could better support the school to work transitions of young people who don’t go to university.

Postgraduate student experience: identity, belonging and attainment
A qualitative study of how postgraduate student identity impacts their teaching & learning experiences, their sense of belonging and their academic attainment.

Protecting children at a distance: investigating and strengthening child safeguarding and protection responses consequent upon COVID-19 lock-down/social distancing measures
This multi-disciplinary study investigates the impacts of COVID-19 social distancing/lockdown measures on child safeguarding and protection practice in England.

Rethinking Impact, Evaluation and Accountability in Youth Work
The project investigates how impact tools and processes are experienced and enacted by young people and practitioners in youth work settings.

Sustaining teacher quality and retention post-pandemic
This project examines the impact of the substantial changes and sustained disruption caused by Covid-19 to the development of secondary school teachers.

The History of Educational Planning in Developing Countries Through the Lens of the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP)
This study traces the history of educational planning in developing countries through the lens of the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP).

Understanding colourism among young people in the UK
This research explores how colourism, skin shade prejudice, is understood, negotiated and/or perpetuated by young people in the UK.

We're trying to do things differently: the challenges of relationships and recognition in higher education
Students and staff from King's Social Sciences BA turn the research lens back on their own world and explore the challenges of trying to do things differently.
Publications
Activities

CPPR Seminar Series
Our seminar series allows our academics and guest speakers to share their work and research.

Writing Group for Academic Publishing
This group, chaired by Professor Pat Mahony, meets monthly (on the first Wednesday of each month, 12.30-1.30pm) to support ECS staff and PhD students in getting their work published. Each month, one member circulates their draft of an article or book chapter and the rest of the group provide feedback in a constructive and supportive way. We aim to help the author to improve their paper in preparation for submission as well as support broader learning on the process of academic publishing. If you would like to join, please contact Dr Clare Coultas: clare.coultas@kcl.ac.uk.

CPPR Doctoral Student Seminar Group
CPPR runs a voluntary doctoral seminar for our doctoral and PGR students, a monthly two-hour meeting where doctoral students have the opportunity to present their research and get feedback. We see this is a form of supervision and it is also a good way for students to network and get to know each other. Students can use this space to receive feedback on their research, from the initial conceptualisation to a mock viva, but also to briefly discuss a particular methodological or theoretical aspect they are grappling with. We usually have two students present per session for about 20-30 minutes, followed by half an hour comments and discussion. The meetings are hybrid (held face-to-face but also accessible via Teams). To take part, email Maren Elfert at: maren.elfert@kcl.ac.uk.

CPPR Creative Writing Group
This is a monthly, informal workshop/sharing/discussion space open to doctoral students and staff with an interest in creative writing (of all kinds) both in and beyond our work in the university. Group members take it in turns to facilitate sessions on subjects we are interested in and where we also share work or work-in-progress. Previous sessions have included explorations of: poetry and performance poetry, haiku, instinctive/freeflow writing, the practice and ethics of auto-ethnographic storytelling, writing processes and planning, comic books and graphic art. Meetings last around an hour. If you are interested, email Freya Aquarone (freya.aquarone@kcl.ac.uk) or Tania de St Croix (tania.de_st_croix@kcl.ac.uk).

Theory and Methods Workshops
This group provides an opportunity for CPPR doctoral students and staff to come together in an informal and supportive atmosphere to grapple with methodological and theoretical issues of common interest. Each meeting is usually based on a methodological or theoretical topic or the ideas of one thinker. A relevant text is circulated in advance, with the participants taking turns to choose the reading and introduce the topic or thinker and possible themes for discussion. As far as possible we aim to choose texts and themes that have widespread relevance and significance. For further information, please contact: Alan Cribb: alan.cribb@kcl.ac.uk, John Owens: john.owens@kcl.ac.uk, or Sharon Gewirtz: sharon.gewirtz@kcl.ac.uk

King's Social Journal
This student-led blog run by the BA Social Sciences students is a space to analyse pressing issues faced by society today, especially with regard to: Gender & Sexuality; Race & Ethnicity; Environment & Society; and Education, Childhood & Youth.
News
Dr Francesca Meloni wins SLSA Book Prize 2025
Dr Francesa Meloni, Senior Lecturer in Social Justice at the School of Education, Communication and Society, has won the Hart-SLSA Book Prize for Early Career...

Dr Billy Holzberg wins British Sociological Association's prize for best sole-authored sociology book
The Philip Abrams Memorial Prize is awarded for the best sole-authored book in the subject of sociology.

King's academic shortlisted for award for best sole-authored book in sociology
Dr Billy Holzberg is nominated for his latest book which explores race, deservingness and the emotional politics of migration control.

New studentship offered to explore the role of 'placemaking' in asylum seekers' mental health
Applications are open until 18 February for a funded ESRC Studentship to examine the role of placemaking for asylum seekers’ mental health living in camps in...

A fairer assessment system for England's primary and secondary schools
A new report authored by Dr Nuala Burgess, a King’s Research Associate for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Schools, Learning and Assessment, makes the...

Events

“You laugh at it as a joke, but it’s not funny:” Young People’s Experiences of Colourist Banter
This paper explores how young people in the UK use jokes and banter to perpetuate colourism, particularly targeting those with dark and very dark skin.
Please note: this event has passed.

Book Launch: Civil Society's Education by Christopher Winch
Join us for the launch of ‘Civil Society’s Education’ by Christopher Winch including a panel discussion of the book's key themes.
Please note: this event has passed.

Exploring abolitionist disruptions to Scotland's progressive penal state
In this seminar Martha will draw on the findings of her research to cast Scotland’s penal reputation in a new light and explore the implications of this in...
Please note: this event has passed.

Ambiguities in Black: Black feminism and the transracialism discourse
Alanah Mortlock asks, what does the discourse that emerged in the wake of the Rachel Dolezal transracialism scandal do to ways of talking and thinking about...
Please note: this event has passed.

Book launch: Affective bordering by Billy Holzberg
This new book examines how affect and emotions work to secure and contest contemporary border regimes.
Please note: this event has passed.
Studentship Opportunity

King's Africa Studentship 2025-2026
A multispecies ethnography of the Nature’s Valley Region of South Africa: Creating an interdisciplinary approach to community-centred education, conservation and environmental sustainability.
Contact us
If you require further information about CPPR, please do drop us an email.