MrDr David Thompson

David's research interests centre on access and inclusion, widening participation, lifelong learning and adult education, the history of education and higher education research more generally.

David has worked within the UK higher education sector since 1998 in a variety of roles. David has undertaken research on widening participation for his PhD, as well as other projects such as designing and piloting Personal Development Plans, researching retention and progression of students from low participation neighbourhoods and research into students placement experiences and work-based learning and researching the taxonomy of cooperation in lifelong learning. He has also successfully applied for funding and managed research projects; including investigating barriers to leisure facilities for children with ASD/ADHD and their parents and carers and enabling employability for disabled students. He has also developed international strategy and relations.

His primary fields of research are in widening participation, adult learning, social inclusion, the history of education, education studies and lifelong learning. In all of these themes, the articulation between higher education practice, policy and theory is of particular interest. His experiences as a mature student through Access, a first degree in history and PhD in Education inform his practice and research areas