I am a Lecturer in Higher Education, and my main research interests relate to three interlinked questions: how higher education as a sector (and idea) works, how organisations in the sector mediate policy, and how students experience and negotiate their time at university. I am particularly interested in exploring how these questions compare on a domestic, as well as international, basis. I have recently completed a project on social science doctoral training, and my current work investigates how being a student varies between different kinds of university in the same region - you can see details of the project here. 

I am interested in research proposals which relate to: students' experiences of higher education; issues around the creation, implementation, and effects of (higher) education policy globally, nationally, and/or locally; educational inequalities; international comparisons of policy or student experiences.

Following a period working for government agencies in the UK and then New Zealand, I took a sabbatical period in Japan, teaching English for a few years. I then returned to university to take a Master's in Educational Research Methods and then an ESRC-funded PhD. After completing my doctorate I worked as a research assistant on a widening participation project as well as coordinating staff development partnership schemes between four universities. Before moving to Lancaster I was a Senior Lecturer in Education Studies at Liverpool Hope University. 

I recently completed an eighteen-month project, with four colleagues, investigating the impact of the ESRC's Doctoral Training Centres across the UK. 

My current project, funded by the Society for Research into Higher Education, is titled 'The 3-D University’, which explores how universities' organisational culture, social composition, and geography, influence students' experiences. 

I am an avid Twitterer @ddubdrahcir and maintain a personal blog called Stuff About Unis on all things HE.

For details of conference presentations and other activities, please see my Academia.edu profile. 

BA (Hons) Psychology and Management - Leeds Trinity University

MSc Educational Research Methodology - University of Oxford

PhD Sociology of Higher Education - University of Bristol

PGCert Learning and Teaching in Higher Education - Liverpool Hope University