Associate Professor Dr. Suanne Gibson NTF FRSA is an Associate Professor of Inclusive Education at the University of Plymouth and co-UK lead with CITED.

Suanne is an international leader of inclusive education, directing regional, national and international research projects on the policy and practice of inclusive education for Disability/Special Educational Needs and other minority/protected groups. She leads strategic partnerships with the third sector, education policy leaders and practitioners for sustained cross-sector change with evidenced impact. In 2022 she received the FoAHB Research Award for Outstanding Impact in Public Policy, Law and Services.

Academic Career

Associate Professor of Inclusive Education, University of Plymouth,  2008 -present

Interim Director, Plymouth Institute of Education (PIoE), University of Plymouth, 2020-2021

Associate Head Teaching Learning and International PIoE, University of Plymouth, 2018-2020

Programme Leader BA Education Studies, University of Plymouth, 2010-2018

Subject Leader BA Education Studies, University of Plymouth, 2003-2010

Lecturer, BA Education Studies, University of Plymouth, 2001-2003

Doctoral Scholarship, Oxford Brookes University, 1998-2001

Research Assistant, University College London Institute of Education, 1999-2001

British Education Research Association International

Consortium for Inclusive Teacher Education Development Society of

Research in Higher Education Royal Society of the Arts Fellow International

Federation of National Teaching Fellows

CANTF (Committee of the Association of NTFs)

Member of Disability Rights UK with DfE and DWP- SEND Apprenticeships working party

Founding member of Danimation

UK Member of CITED https://www.monash.edu/cited

External examiner on 1 EdD, 2 PhDs

Internal examiner on 3 PhDs and 1 EdD

Internal examiner for 6 upgrades

Director of Studies on 2 PhD teams

Second superviser on 1 EdD and 2 PhDs

I currently teach on the BA Education programme, the MA in Education and at Doctoral level at University of Plymouth. I have developed and lead post-16 progression programmes in secondary education and contribute to PG programmes and doctoral student teaching at Taylor's University, Malaysia.

My specialisms are - Disability, SEN and Inclusion, Disability Rights, critical pedagogy, widening participation and social justice in education, student experience, partnership and leadership.

I use student-centred methodologies in my teaching and work with socio-cultural theory to understand learners' education spaces and build opportunities for their progression.