(SCDE) Anti-Racism in Initial Teacher Education (ARITE) network and representing SCDE on the Scottish Government's Gender Equality Taskforce in Education and Learning. Myrtle Emmanuel is Associate Professor of Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour at the University of Greenwich. Her work focuses on race equity, decolonial pedagogy and organisational justice in higher education. She has led institutional and sector-facing initiatives addressing structural inequality, with particular emphasis on policy development, inclusive practice and lived experience research. Myrtle currently leads the Decolonial Antiracist Pedagogies Group and co-developed an AHRC-funded inclusive mental health toolkit to reduce mental health disparities in African Caribbean communities. As Race Equity Lead, Myrtle has played a central role in driving institutional transformation through the University’s Race Action Plan, contributing to its achievement of the Race Equality (Bronze) Chartership. Her leadership and scholarship have been recognised through several honours, including the Inclusivity Champion Award (2021), the Greenwich Excellence Staff Award (2023), and Highly Commended for Excellence in Education at the Black Talent Awards (2025). Her work continues to influence national debates, shaping both policy and practical approaches. Joanne Hughes is Head of Department and Director of the Centre for Shared Education at the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, Queen’s University, Belfast. She also holds a UNESCO Chair in Shared Education for Peace Building and Social Justice in Education. Her main research interests are in the role of education in divided societies, and inter-group relations in conflict and post-conflict societies. In recent years she has led several qualitative and quantitative research projects on the implementation of the shared education model in Northern Ireland, and worked with academics and educational stakeholders in regions across the world to explore the potential of the model for other transitioning and conflict affected societies. She has advised government officials and ministers nationally and internationally on the development of policies and interventions to promote good relations in schools. In 2019, her work along with that of colleagues was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize by the UK Royal Anniversary Trust. In 2022 she received an MBE for services to education and community in Northern Ireland. Mary James , FAcSS, is Fellow Commoner at Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge. In 2014 she retired from her positions as Professor and Associate Director of Research at the Faculty of Education.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS Andrew Brown is a Research Officer at the Rees Centre, University of Oxford. Andrew has a background as a teacher and senior leader in a special school, and as a teacher trainer, particularly focused around inclusive education. At the Rees Centre, Andrew has previously worked on the Alex Timpson Attachment and Trauma Programme in Schools and is currently working on various projects, including evaluations of Department for Education policy programmes concerning Virtual Schools. Andrew is also part of a team evaluating a pilot project about placing children with disabilities with adoptive families, funded by a group of regional adoption agencies. Andrew’s primary research interests are around the influence of young people’s adoptive identity on educational experience and outcomes. His doctoral research focused on the intersection of adoption, education and identity which included analysis of data from a range of sources including the Wales Adoption Cohort Study and Understanding Society. Di Cantali is a highly experienced teacher educator and has worked at the University of Dundee since 2014. She was Chair of the Scottish Universities Inclusion Group (SUIG) from 2018–2026 and recently co-edited a guest issue of the Scottish Educational Review journal with SUIG colleagues. Di’s research includes the Scottish Universities Insight Institute funded Agents of Change Toolkit project and the ESRC Impact Acceleration Award funded Schools as Change Agents project. Di also serves as an Advance HE national panellist for the Athena Swan gender equality charter mark award. Yunus Emre Demir is a PhD Lecturer at Anadolu University, Türkiye, working in the field of special education. He graduated from the Institute of Education at the University of Plymouth in the UK with a PhD degree in gifted students with twice-exceptionalities. He also has a master’s degree in special educational needs and disabilities from Anglia Ruskin University, UK. Yunus now specialises in ‘twice-exceptionality’ and conducts significant research in this area. He previously taught in primary education in Türkiye and in a joint project between the European Union and Turkish Ministry of Education, ‘Promoting Integration of Syrian Children into the Turkish Education System’. Heather Earnshaw is Associate Professor in Teacher Education. She has worked in physics/STEM education in a variety of roles at local and national level and has a particular interest in how we instil a real belief in ‘STEM for all’, believing that if science is worth studying, it should be genuinely and equally available to all. Heather contributes to leadership across the sector by co-chairing the Scottish Council of Deans of Education
BERA BITES 15 | EDUCATING FOR ALL
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