Storied Doctorates

María Xypaki is an award-winning higher education professional. She is currently the Curriculum and Public Engagement Consultant at University College London and a Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK). Her roles involve enhancing student experience and academic practice by leading on the development of cross-institutional projects and services. She has extensively advised on the development of higher education curricula to embed sustainability and inclusivity considerations. Maria’s most recent research interests revolve around Community Engaged Learning and knowledge co-creation with a focus on underrepresented communities. Maria has led on various national and international educational projects and initiatives. She is about to embark on her Research EdD journey at the Institute of Education (IoE), UCL. Publications include: Xypaki, M. (2015). An innovative model of student-led sustainability in higher education. In Integrating Sustainability Thinking in Science and Engineering Curricula (pp. 473-495). Springerlink International Publishing. Switzerland. Xypaki, M. (2016). A practical example of integrating sustainable development into higher education: Green Dragons, City University London Students’ Union. Local Economy, 30(3), 316-329. Maria has extensively presented her work in international and national conferences.Eleni Sinakou is a doctoral researcher in the FWO project ‘Valorizing Integrated and Action-oriented Education for Sustainable Development’ at the Edubron Research Unit in the department of Education and Training Sciences at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Her research interests lie in the fields of Environmental Education/Education for Sustainable Development. Her doctoral thesis focuses on the teaching practices in Environmental Education/Education for Sustainable Development of teachers in elementary as well as secondary school. In particular, the thesis aims to determine which teaching practice could develop students’ action competence in the framework of Environmental Education/Education for Sustainable Development. Eleni Sinakou is also a fellow of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, Greece. Articles by Eleni Sinakou have been published in Journal of Cleaner Production, in Environment, Development and Sustainability Journal and in Sustainability. María Angélica Mejía-Cáceres is doctor in Science and Health Education of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was a visiting research student in The Sustainability Education Research Institution (SERI) at University of Saskatchewan, Canada. She has a Masters in Education with Emphasis teaching science at the University del Valle, a specialization in Social Management of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, and a Bachelor in Basic Education with Emphasis in Natural Sciences and Environmental Education at University del Valle in Cali, Colombia. Her last publication in journals is about Social actors' representation and ideologies from a critical discourse analysis, and about analysis of the National Policy of Environmental Education of Colombia. Author of the book "Science, Culture and Environmental Education: a proposal for educators" (2018) in co-authorship with Alfonso Zambrano. And the compiler of the book "Weaving Relations Between Science Education and Environmental Education in Scenarios of Teacher Training: A Critical and Cultural Approach, in co-compilership with Edwin Garcia and Laisa Freire, currently in the process of editing by the editorial program.Ailim Schwambach developed her PhD research (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul) and did her sandwich PhD at UCL, England. Currently she works as High School teacher at Instituto Ivoti, in Brazil and also works as a mentor of Environmental Education projects for teachers. Ailim is the Education and Outreach Coordinator of APECS- Brazil (Association of Polar Early Career Scientists). She was the Brazilian Delegate at COP 21 from UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) - Conference of Parties in France, Paris. Ailim has an interest in environmental education and gender discussions. She has created a project to make young people read more and improve their skills and abilities on Science in Brazil. Author of the book: Education for sustainability: epistemological bases, theories and examples in the area of Business Administration (2017).Elsa Lee is an educationalist with an interdisciplinary focus and an interest in environmental and sustainability education, climate change education and place-based learning. She spent ten years teaching science at secondary schools in the UK and Mexico before returning to university for further study. Since completing her doctorate in 2013 she has worked on a number of research council funded research projects seeking to understand human relationships with/in the natural world andtheir behaviour towards the environment and how this intersects with education. Elsa has used ethnographic research techniques widely, including walking interviews and arts-based research methods.  Elsa’s teaching at undergraduate and masters level brings together these different foci to support students’ explorations of sustainability-related work in Education. Elsa is a founding member and convenor of the Environmental and Sustainability Education Research Network for the European Conference on Educational Research and a trustee and deputy director of the charity: National Association of Environmental Education.  Recent publications include: Lee, E., Vare, P. and Finlayson, A. (2020) The Ebb and Flow of ESD in the UK. In GREEN SCHOOLS GLOBALLY: Stories of impact on education for sustainable. (2020). SPRINGER NATURE.; Irvine, R. D. G., & Lee, E. (2018). Over and under: Children navigating terrain in the East Anglian fenlands. Children’s Geographies, 16(4), 380–392. Lee, E.,Walshe, N., Sapsed, R., & Holland, J. (2018). Artists as Emplaced Pedagogues: How Does Thinking About Children’s Nature Relations Influence Pedagogy? In R. Latiner Raby & E. J. Valeau (Eds), Handbook of Comparative Studies on Community Colleges and Global Counterparts (pp. 1–24). Springer International Publishing.

• Preface.- 1. Introduction: Traversing the terrain of a research (not quite) field: what gets in the way and what helps us on our way; Maria Xypaki, Maria Angelica Mejia-Caceres, Eleni Sinakou, Ailim Schwambach.- 2. Deep Valleys, Dense Swamps, and Unhealthily High Levels of Stress – Auto- Ethnographic Narratives from a Life-World of a PhD-Student; Margaretha Häggström.- 3. The process of doctoral studies as a research journey in a sea of diverse feelings and experiences; María Angélica Mejía-Cáceres .- 4. Finding My Own Voice Whilst Researching Students’ Voices: Experiences of a PhD investigating experiences of adolescents with education for sustainability; Ian Ayre.- 5. Searching for a center of gravity among different cultural, educational and epistemological contexts during my doctoral studies; Eleni Sinakou.- 6. Challenges and trips – on the ups and downs of my PhD experience; Christiana Glettler    .- 7. Reconsidering ESD Scholarship; Maria Xypaki.- 8. Discovering environmental literacy: PhD reflections about my own training process; Olaya Alvarez-Garcia.- 9. Slog through Thoughts and Find the Right Way with Candle Light: Ph.D.; Şule Alici.- 10. From the seed to the tree; Ailim Schwambach.- 11. Believing Your Research Can Change the World Helps; Peter Ogudoro.- 12. Conclusion: An Afterword for thinking forwards; Elsa Lee.