Eleni is a Sociologist of Education working in education equity and social justice. Her research focuses primarily on under-represented groups and stakeholder-engagement to remove barriers and empower young people, across formal and semi-formal education settings. She is involved with theoretically informed yet ‘outwards-looking’ research, with a strong international outlook, bringing together local experiences and cross-national insights. She draws analytical tools from critical social theory and post-structuralism. She was worked with a wide range of qualitative and mixed methods, with an emphasis of ethnography and participatory methods.
Eleni commenced her studies in Greece (BA in Education Studies) where she trained as a teacher of Early Years. She moved to London for postgraduate studies supported by a scholarship from the Greek State Scholarship Foundation. She holds an MA and a PhD in the Sociology of Education from the UCL Institute of Education.
Outside the university, she has worked as Policy Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Education in Greece. She also worked as Research Manager at a leadership development higher education think tank. She periodically undertakes evaluation and consultancy assignments for public sector bodies and charity sector organisations.
Before joining the Education Equity Initiative, she worked on large, international, EU-funded projects where she led work packages at country and at consortium level.
She is well-versed in writing for different audiences and formats. Her outputs include academic publications, policy briefings, toolkits and practitioner resources, often co-produced with teachers, young people charity leaders and other stakeholders.
Eleni is interested in teaching and learning methods. She has worked in schools both in Greece and in the UK and has taught PGCE and MA students. Most recently she co-designed and currently co-delivers jointly with Adam Matthews the online, asynchronous module 'Higher Education Policy Futures', which is part of the executive education/professional development micro-credentials, offered by the University of Birmingham Online.