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Professor Máiréad Dunne

Máiréad Dunne, Professor of the Sociology of Education and former Director of the Centre for International Education . The award was made in recognition of Professor Dunne’s important contribution to the social sciences through research and practice that attends to some of the major challenges facing lives, livelihoods, communities and societies across the world. All Academy Fellows are selected through independent peer review which attest to research excellence, impact and wider contributions to social sciences for public benefit. 

’s research has been focused on bringing sociological theories and methodologies to understandings of the reciprocal links between society and education in a range of local, national and international contexts. Her research explores the work of education in the production of identities (gender and sexuality, social class, race, ethnicity, nation and religion) and the intersecting hierarchies of difference these implicate in multiple contexts of poverty, inequality and conflict. It also engages in historical and contemporary discourses of education, modernity, coloniality and international development and the ways these infiltrate and stagnate in the mundane assumptions and social relations of everyday life. 

Máiréad said: “I am personally delighted and honoured with this award as a recognition of social science research as a collective endeavour. It acts as an acknowledgement of those who have worked alongside me and through this, they have in their different ways contributed to the research. I am also looking forward to joining a group of researchers and scholars who are interested and engaged in making social science critical to understanding and addressing our highly divided and inequitable global society.” 

Professor Simon Thompson, Head of the School of Education and Social Work said: “I extend my warmest congratulations to Máiréad upon her election as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. Máiréad’s research, to which she has shown incredible commitment, is producing knowledge in the critical area of intersection between society and education and how both are manifested in identity. Our faculty, students and our many international partnerships have benefited enormously from her dedication to such impactful scholarship. Máiréad has a great deal to offer to the Fellowship community, as they work together to promote the crucial role that the social sciences play in helping to understand and improve the world around us.”  

Professor Rosie Cox, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences said: “This is a most well-deserved award, recognising Máiréad’s standing in her field and the significance of her research. It is this high quality research contribution together with its implications for teaching that strengthen the wider reputation of Social Sciences within and beyond Sussex. As a member of the Academy, I am especially delighted to welcome Máiréad to our ranks and look forward to working with her in ways that contribute to the research of The Academy of Social Sciences and its fellows that is crucial to helping us understand the complexities of the social world and drive positive change.”