Professor of Education

Professor Uvanney Maylor is Professor of Education. She is a member of the Institute for Research in Education at the University of Bedfordshire, and leads the 'Participation, citizenship, rights and equity issues' research group.

Prior to joining the University of Bedfordshire, she was a Reader in Education at the Institute for Policy Studies in Education at London Metropolitan University, and Director of Multiverse (a professional resource network for initial teacher education).

She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. From 2008-11 she was an elected member of the British Educational Research Association Executive Council. She was an academic panel member of the Education Unit of Assessment in the Research in Excellence Framework (REF) (2014) and has been invited to serve for a second time in REF 2021 (UK RI Research England). In 2019 she was invited to be a member of the UK Council for Graduate Education, Working Group on Black and Minority Ethnic participation in postgraduate research.

Research Interests

Uvanney is committed to educational equity, inclusion and social justice and is particularly interested in research that focuses on issues of 'race', ethnicity, racism and culture as they impact on educational practice and Black and minority ethnic student and staff experience, and identities.

Her work includes studies of schools, further and higher education, and initial teacher education. By bringing greater scrutiny to educational practice through research, her work seeks to positively impact on educational outcomes for minority ethnic groups and inform antiracist practice.

She has an extensive track record of successful research projects in the education and institutional experience of potentially marginalised and discriminated against groups (including staff and students in schools, further and higher education).

Recent Research Funding

• 2016 – 2021 AHRC Training Grant, Collaborative Doctoral Partnership with the TATE; GRANT TITLE: In what ways does art in the museum context provide a safe space to ask difficult questions around culture and race?
• 2015-2016 - Understanding the impact of financial support on student success, collaborative project with Sheffield Hallam University (lead institution) funded by the Office for Fair Access
• 2012-2013 Raising of the Participation Age Transition Worker trial, funded by Berkshire Local Authority

Current Work

Uvanney is currently working on a book with Cecile Wright and Thomas Pickup entitled: Young British African and Caribbean Men Achieving Educational Success: Disrupting Deficit Discourses about Black Male Achievement, to be published by Routledge.

Editorial Boards

She is a member of the editorial board for the British Journal of Educational Studies.

Selected Publications

• Maylor, U. (2019) UK education policy and ‘race’, in S. Chattoo, K. Atkin, G. Craig, & R. Flynn (eds.) Understanding ‘race’ and ethnicity, (second edn.) University of Bristol: Policy Press, pp. 227-246.
• Maylor, U. (2018) Black male student teachers: Tomorrow’s teachers? Journal for Multicultural Education, 12 (2):111-125
• Maylor, U. (2018) Leadership for race and social justice in higher education in J. Arday, & H.S. Mirza (eds.) Dismantling Race in Higher Education: Racism, Whiteness and Decolonising the Academy, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.349-364.
• Maylor, U. (2016) ‘I’d worry about how to teach it’: British values in English classrooms, Special Issue: Fundamental British Values, Journal of Education for Teaching: International Research and Pedagogy, 42 (3):314-328
• Maylor, U. (2016) Teacher Training and the Education of Black Children: Bringing Color into Difference, New York and London: Routledge
• Wright, C. Maylor, U. & Becker, S. (2016) Young black males: resilience and the use of capital to transform school ‘failure’, Critical Studies in Education, 57 (1):21-34
• Bhopal, K. & Maylor, U. (2014) (eds.) Educational Inequalities: Difference and Diversity in Schools and Higher Education, New York and London: Routledge.
• Maylor, U., Rose, A., Minty, S., Ross, A., Issa, T. & Kuyok, K. (2013) Exploring the impact of supplementary schools on Black and Minority Ethnic pupils mainstream attainment, British Educational Research Journal, 39 (1):107-125
• Maylor, U. & Williams, K. (2011) Challenges in theorising the 'Black middle class': Education, experience and authenticity', Gender and Education, 23 (3):345-356
• Maylor, U. (2010) Notions of diversity, British identities and citizenship belonging, Race, Ethnicity and Education. 13 (2):233-252.

Contact Details

E: uvanney.maylor@beds.ac.uk