Dr Elizabeth J. Done is MAED Programme Lead. Her research focus is exclusionary practices in education, theorising exclusionary practices, and research collaborations between the Plymouth Institute of Education (University of Plymouth), UCL and the University of Exeter (G.S.E) where she is an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow. She is associated with a UCL eugenics legacies project, exploring links to current exclusionary educational practices.

Elizabeth specializes in inclusion/exclusion, critical theory and teachers’ professional development, supervising doctoral students researching inclusion-related topics and leading modules related to inclusive education. Key interests include poststructuralist and posthumanist theory, exclusionary practices, and educators' negotiation of conflicting governmental imperatives.

2019 – date. Graduate School of Education, University of Exeter. Research Fellow. Co-investigator in jointly led (University of Plymouth) multi-strand research project on exclusionary pressures and practices; research design; supporting design of data collection instruments; related publications; project development.

2013 –  Plymouth University, SEN Coordination Programme (to 2019), providing programme-wide support to raise the quality of the programme and outcomes for young people with additional needs. MAEd Programme lecturing, dissertation supervision and assessment. Doctoral supervision (PhD / EdD) - inclusion-related research. Member of REF review and ethics review groups. 

2012-15 Visiting fellow. Graduate School of Education, Bristol University, Bristol, U.K. EU research bid co-production (multi-country).

2009 – 2011 Ahfad University for Women (Sudan). Professor in School of Psychology teaching MSc students. Contribution to Staff Development Unit (workshops and materials). Proposal writing (e.g. design of doctoral qualitative research methods programme for the Gender Unit).  

1983: London School of Economics. B.Sc. Hons. Sociology 2:1 (Including Sociological Theory, Research Methodology with Statistics, Philosophy, Politics, Economics, Sociology of Deviance, Gender Studies)

Conferences / Public engagement:

European Conference of Education Research, August 2023. Co-presentation: Professional development for SENCos: The future of an accredited national award. 24th August, Glasgow.

European Conference of Education Research, September 2022 (online). Co-presentation: The role of educational psychologists in exclusionary practices and tensions between performance management, inclusion and safeguarding: a framework for dialogue.

European Conference of Education Research, September 2021 (online). Co-presentations: 1) Educational Psychologists’ Perspectives on Strategic and Illegal Exclusion in Schools in England. 2) Planning for COVID-19 and Future Crises.

European Conference of Education Research, August 2020 (online). Co-presentation: Exploring senior school leaders’, parents’ and carers’ perspectives on illegal school exclusions or 'off rolling' in England.

BERA, September 2021 (online); BERA Small Award presentation. Exclusion and the Strategic Leadership Role of Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) in England

International Congress of Early Childhood Outdoor Practices 2021 (Turkish National Agency and EU Erasmus) Presentation: Outdoor activities in ECE and the centrality of context, confidence and creativity. 25 March 2021, Sakarya (online).

Public symposium on Theorising school exclusion / alternative provision. University of Winchester, August 2022.

Public symposium on school exclusion; with the Black Country Living Museum, Feb. 2022.

Public symposium on off rolling / illegal school exclusion, Exeter University September 2020. Lead presenter of collaborative research project.

UNICEF / Turkish Ministry of Education International Conference of Inclusive Early Childhood Education for Children with Disabilities. Keynote speaker, 4th March 2020, Ankara, Turkey.

European Society of Medicine General Assembly. Presentation: Care of the professional self in a pandemic context, August, 2022 (online).

Southwest SENCo Conference, University of Plymouth, 16th March 2023. Keynote (online): Exclusionary practices and the SENCo role.

Higher Education Academy Associate Membership

British Education Research Association

• Reviewer for, e.g. European Journal of Inclusive Education, British Educational Research Journal, Journal of Education Policy; Oxford Review of Education, Gender & Education; Critical Education Studies, Studies in Higher Education;
• Reviewer for EERA's ECER annual conference abstracts 2020 to date.
• Expert commentator on inclusion-related EU projects.
• Reviewer of bids for the ESRC
• Member of ECER Inclusion Stream working group on inclusive practices

• Research methods (predominantly qualitative, including development of innovative methodologies, post-structuralist analysis and posthumanist writing practices).
• Student writing.
• The politics of inclusion / exclusion.
• Theory-based analysis of inclusion policy and its implications for teachers in varied settings.
• Post-structuralist and feminist post-structuralist theory.
• Pedagogic theory in the context of competing discourses around education.