http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/32863 2026-06-21T18:10:48Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33377 Title: Two stories and a metaphor: A Qualitative Study of Mid-Life Women’s Re-Entry into STEM Education Authors: Salehjee, S; Watts, M Abstract: This paper explores and showcases the return of two middle-aged women to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning, education, training and professions. We use the lenses of transformative learning theory and intersectionality to explore STEM identity development among our participant women in midlife, despite being ‘leaked out’ of the so-called STEM pipeline. We employ a qualitative phenomenological research design, conducting narrative interviews and employing thematic analysis to identify key themes for discussion. The implications derived from this small-scale study (n = 2) suggest the need for further research that may potentially be of particular interest to scholars, STEM industries and policy-makers (i) to recognise and act upon stereotypical, inequitable and one-sided views of the ‘STEM pipeline’, primarily those associated with gender and age, (ii) to acknowledge, appreciate and showcase midlife women’s entrance into STEM, thereby benefiting their own personal and professional STEM identity development, and their contributions to the STEM community, indeed to society more widely, (iii) to fund and create informal and community-driven STEM opportunities for middle-aged women to re-engage them with STEM and (iv) to re-think on the limitations proposed by the STEM pipeline metaphor and to focus their attention to a motorway junction metaphor, in which women enter and leave the STEM carriageway at many different points along the way. Description: Data Availability Statement: All data presented in the manuscript were obtained with participants’ consent to publication. No further data and materials (e.g., audio recordings) will be available. 2026-06-02T00:00:00Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33369 Title: From Awareness to Agency: A Freirean Analysis of Critical Consciousness and Social Justice Among International Medical Students in the UK Authors: Anas, S; Jounis, J; Tsouroufli, M Abstract: Social justice is increasingly emphasised in medical education, yet students often struggle to translate awareness of inequity into meaningful action. Drawing on Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy, this study explores how international medical students conceptualise social justice, encounter inequity within clinical and educational environments, and perceive their capacity to act as agents of change. Given the growing internationalisation of UK medical schools, understanding how international learners develop critical consciousness and experience inequity is essential. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using three online focus group studies with 11 Year 2 international medical students at a UK medical school. Data was audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed using a Freirean framework. Analysis focused on students’ expression of critical consciousness, experiences of structural inequity, engagement with the hidden curriculum, sense of belonging and perception of agency and praxis. Results: Four interconnected themes were identified. (1) Emerging critical consciousness: students demonstrated early awareness of social injustice, recognising how poverty, racism, disability, immigration status and biased curricular representations shaped health outcomes. (2) Witnessing inequities in clinical practice: clinical placements in General Practice (GP) settings exposed students to structural constraints such as language barriers, limited resources, inaccessible services and challenges faced by asylum seekers, reinforcing their understanding of health inequity as systemic rather than individual. (3) The hidden curriculum, inequity and belonging: while students identified financial and representational inequities within medical education, they also described a strong sense of belonging fostered through stable Team-Based Learning (TBL) groups, supportive peers and approachable staff. For international students this relational inclusion provided psychological safety and enabled engagement with justice-focused reflection. (4) Awareness without agency: despite growing critical consciousness, students reported limited power to enact change, citing hierarchical norms, lack of authority and resource-constrained systems, reflecting a predominantly banking model of education. Conclusion: International medical students demonstrated emerging critical consciousness and strong relational and institutional belonging, yet faced systemic barriers that constrained their ability to translate awareness into action. Medical education must move beyond awareness-raising to intentionally create opportunities for praxis, address the hidden curriculum, and support faculty to foster action-oriented, socially just learning environments. Integrating belonging with structured opportunities for participation and change is essential to developing critically conscious, socially responsive future practitioners. Description: Data availability statement: The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author. 2026-06-10T00:00:00Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33178 Title: On-campus food poverty – what can and should universities do? Authors: Wainwright, E; McHugh, E Abstract: Faced with a cost-of-living crisis more students in England are attending university courses hungry. Reporting on new findings, Emma Wainwright and Ellen McHugh reveal the scale of this issue and how the current financial crisis in the higher education sector may only make things worse. 2026-04-16T00:00:00Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/33011 Title: Guest editorial: Bordering, othering and reconceptualizing the inter/national subject in higher education Authors: Tsouroufli, M; Ferri, G Abstract: This special issue is concerned with a timely and seemingly neutralized issue; internationalization of higher education institutions and the making and unmaking of the “international” subject in the UK and across different social-cultural, national and political contexts. Our international/transnational/migrant standpoint and research track record in critical perspectives to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and Intercultural Communication respectively, sparked interest in this topic and is discussed in detail later in this editorial. In what follows we briefly discuss the introduction and current challenges of internationalization in the UK, its implementation in other Anglophone and non-Anglophone contexts, in an attempt to unravel the highly politicized assertions underpinning dominant discourses of internationalization and conceptualizations of “international” in different geo-political contexts. We contend that processes and practices of internationalization and discourses of “international” are in fact inherently antithetical rather than synergistic with social justice goals and largely endemic and epidemic to the neo-liberalized ethos, colonial structures and white patriarchal, capitalist regimes of higher education institutions. Critical internationalization research that problematizes the popular framing of internationalization in terms of economic, intellectual and multi/intercultural benefits and the formation of international academic staff and students as disembodied subjects–reduced to indicators of cosmopolitanism, enhanced human capital and global competitiveness–has potential to advance theorizations of difference and equality, and to inform, enrich and transform social justice agendas in higher education institutions. ... 2025-04-30T00:00:00Z