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I began teaching in 2005-6 in further education, working on Entry to Employment, Key Skills and GCSE programmes for students aged 14-19. I then taught adult literacy and numeracy before moving into secondary education, where I worked to support literacy and to develop the school’s English as an Additional Language provision. Throughout this period, I studied for my MA and PhD part-time, choosing to work on Cuba initially to address my own ethical concerns about the ways in which ideological and behavioural conformity is promoted in the UK education system, including in my own practice. In higher education, I taught on undergraduate programmes at the University of Nottingham and on the MA Education programme at the University of Derby before moving to De Montfort in January 2020. More recently, I have been concentrating on participatory and co-created approaches to disability and neurodiversity in the UK and Cuba. I am coordinator for the 'Take my Hand' UK-Cuba disability network - see our work at https://networkcuba-uk.com/ 

Institute for Research in Criminology, Community, Education and Social Justice /research/centres-institutes/irccesj/index.aspx 

Cuba Research Forum https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/cuba/cuba-research-forum.aspx 

 Monographs.

Smith, R. (2024). Deepening Participation: Community Transformation through Local Higher Education in Cuba. Peter Lang. 

Smith, R. (2016). Education, Citizenship and Cuban Identity. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.

Chapters. 

Smith, R., Vernon, M., Wall, R., White, L. & Wright, E. (2023) ‘Rebalancing power relations in teacher-student co-creation’ in Pulsford, M. et al., eds. Understanding Education Studies: Critical Issues and New Directions. Routledge. 

Smith, R., García Rosabal, L. & Arias Verdecia, Y. (2022). ‘The University In, For and Among the Community: Experiences of university outreach in Bartolomé Masó, Cuba’ in Cowden, S., Asher, G., Housee, S. & Maisuria, A. eds. Critical Pedagogy and Emancipation: A Festschrift in Memory of Joyce Canaan. Peter Lang.

Smith, R., García Rosabal, L. and Ortiz Bosch, M. (2022). ‘Cuban-Marxist Education’ in Maisuria, A. (ed.) Encyclopaedia of Marxism and Education. Leiden: Brill. pp.162-185.  ISBN: 978-90-04-50560-5.

Smith, R. (2018). ‘The “Three Ps” (Perfecting, Professionalization, and Pragmatism) and their Limitations for Understanding Cuban Education in the 1970s’ in Emily Kirk et al. eds. Cuba's Forgotten Decade: How the 1970s Shaped the Revolution. Langham: Lexington.

Smith, R. (2017). ‘Cuba: The Impact of the Cuban Revolution’ in C M Posner et al. eds. Education in Mexico, Central America and the Latin Caribbean. London: Bloomsbury. 

Blum, D., Smith, R. and Dawley-Carr, J. (2017). ‘Being a “good Cuban”: Socialist citizenship in a globalized context’ in Choo, S. et al. eds. Educating for the 21st Century: Perspectives, Policies and Practices from Around the World. Singapore: Springer.

Articles.

Maisuria, A., & Smith, R. (2023). Motivation, markets and meaning: Perceptions of higher education students in England and Cuba. Critical Education, 14(1), 1-21.

Arias Verdecia, Y., García Rosabal, L., & Smith, R. (2022). The impact of COVID-19 on the education of Cuban university students, Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 20 (2), pp.484-508, ISSN 1740-2743,

Wright, E., Smith, R., Vernon, M., Wall, R., & White, L. (2021). Inclusive, multi-partner co-creation for the teaching of special educational needs and disabilities in higher education. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 18(7), 25-40. 

Smith, R. (2019). ‘“Now we don’t see the university as something distant. It’s here in our hands”: Situated pedagogy in Cuban municipal universities’ inJournal for Critical Education Policy Studies, Volume 17, Number 1, March-April 2019. 

Non-traditional outputs. 

Co-creation Toolkit, with Emma Wright, Melissa Vernon, Robyn Wall and Lucinda Wright.  

Easy Read theory prototype, Social and Cultural Capital, with Angie Sibley-White, Gisela Oliveira, Abdullah Daya, Gillian Page and Sam Metz. 

My PhD research on Cuba focussed on ideology and citizenship, after which, I conducted a three-year post-doctoral project (2016-19) on access to and inclusion in higher education in the country. In 2023-4, I was lead investigator for an AHRC-funded disability networking grant with Cuba. The grant resulted in a permanent Cuba-UK research and practice disability network - see our work at https://networkcuba-uk.com/. Projects in development include capacity building for local development with Cuba's local universities, and developing participatory and sensory practice with the Cuban Association of Learning Disabled People (ACPDI). 

Within the UK, I am interested in inclusion, especially in relation to special educational needs, disability and neurodiversity. With disabled colleagues and students, I coordinated the cocreation of modules on disability and diversity. In both countries, I am currently working on developing and practising research methodologies built on coproduction, anti-oppressive practice and the recognition of power differentials. 

I can supervise research students in the following areas: Special educational needs and disability; access and inclusion in secondary, FE and HE; comparative education; citizenship; and ideology and curriculum.

Module leader for Special Educational Needs, Disabilities and Neurodiversity (L5) and Curriculum Development and Co-creation (L6). Other recent teaching includes diversity and inclusion, global/comparative education and research methods at BA level, as well as special educational needs, motivation and negotiated study at MA level.

• 2023  - MA Autism Spectrum (Sheffield Hallam University).
• 2019  - DELE Diploma in Spanish Language C1 (Effective operational proficiency).
• 2016  - CELTA Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. 
• 2015  - PhD in Education (Centre for Research on Cuba, University of Nottingham).
• 2008  - MA in English Literary Research (Nottingham Trent University).
• 2006  - PGCE in Post-Compulsory Education (Nottingham Trent University).
• 2004  - BA (hons) in English Literature (The Open University).

BA Education Studies

MA Education Practice

Pearson HE Innovate Awards (2022) 3rd place for 'most innovative approach to bringing inclusivity and sustainability into the classroom'. With Emma Wright, Robyn Wall, Melissa Vernon and Lucinda White. 

International Executive Committeee member. Cuba Research Forum. https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/cuba/cuba-research-forum.aspx 

Associate board member CRICKET CIC (Caribbean Research and Innovation Collaboration for Knowledge Exchnage and Transfer. https://www.cricketcic.net/our-work/

Associate board member Red Iberoamericana de Municipios e Infancias, Unión de Municipalistas Iberoamericanas. https://www.uimunicipalistas.org/infancias/ 

Member: British Educational Research Association. 

2024-25. Co-creating sustainable sensory tools for inclusive community learning disability practice in eastern Cuba. With the Universities of Holguín, Granma, Sheffield Hallam and Liverpool John Moores, Attenborough Arts Centre, and the Cuban Association of People with Learning Disabilities (ACPDI). 

2023-2027. The impact of co-created SEND education on future educators' perceptions and self-efficacy. With Gisela Oliveira, Rachel Higdon, Emma Wright, Eden Turner and Sameana Asghar. 

2023-2024. ‘Cultures of participation for equitable development in Cuba and the UK’.  AHRC funded International networks for disability-inclusive global development grant. Academic partners: the University of Granma, Cuba; Centre for Research on Cuba (University of Nottingham); Autism Centre (Sheffield Hallam University). 

2022-2023.  Building Epistemologically Just UK-Cuban Collaboration. The Situated Meanings Of Second-chance Education. Internally funded Peace and Social Justice project. With Talitha Bird, Lamia Nemouchi and the University of Holguín, Cuba. 

2022-2023. Easy Read - Inclusive Access To Theory. Internally funded Institute for Research in Criminology, Community, Education and Social Justice project with Gisela Oliveira, Angie Sibley-White and Sam Metz. 

2022-2023. Co-creating A Diverse, Student-led Curriculum In The Context Of Block Teaching. Internally funded 'Academic Innovation Project' linking students, academics and library services to co-create content for our new second-year module in Inclusion and Diversity foregrounding topics prioritised by diverse students. With Dr Lamia Nemouchi, Professor Sarah Younie, Dr Blessing Marandure, Leanne Herbert, Dr Meredith Wilkinson, Jennifer Wilkinson, Yusraa Maryam, Gillian Page, Hadassah Andrews, Jess McGowan and Roze Arbaciauskaite.

2020-2022. Inclusive, multi-partner co-creation for the teaching of special educational needs and disabilities in higher education. Advance HE funded project to recreate our final year BA Special Educational Neeeds and Disability module through co-production with students and practitioners who are disabled, neurodivergent and/or have special educational needs. UKRI-funded accessible dissemination  - video, workshop materials and Easy Read. With Melissa Vernon, Robyn Wall, Lucinda White and Emma Wright.

Recent Conference Papers and Talks.

Colaboración intercultural para un desarrollo equitativo en cuanto a la discapacidad. Universidad 2024. Havana, 2024

Smith, R., Nemouchi, L., Wilkinson Hing, J., Marandure, B., Wilkinson, M., Andrews, H., Herbert, L. Maryam, Y. Curriculum co-creation as a decolonising tool: Reflections from student and staff co-creators. Presented at ÃÛÌÒ´«Ãºmv Teaching and Learning Conference 2024 and at Reimagining HE Decolonising Conference 2024.

Keynote address. ‘Attempting inclusive co-creation in the neoliberal university’. National Conference on Inclusivity through a transdisciplinary prism. Bengaluru, India, 2023. 

Invited panel ‘Some experiences of UK-Cuba research collaboration on sustainable local development’ at Universidad 2024, Havana, with Lauren Collins (CRICKET CIC) and Emily Morris (UCL). Presentation title, ‘Colaboración intercultural para un desarrollo equitativo en cuanto a la discapacidad’.

'Co-creating for disability Education', Cultures of Participation for Equitable Development in Cuba and the UK, Bayamo, Cuba, June 2023. 

‘Culturas de participación para la discapacidad y el desarrollo equitativo en Cuba y el RU’, Cuba Research Forum Annual Conference, Centro Juan Marinello, 5th-7th June, 2023. 

"Co-creating for SEND education", with Robyn Wall and Melissa Vernon, delivered as staff development workshop ÃÛÌÒ´«Ãºmv, 9th November 2022 and MA Education guest session, University of Derby, 10th November, 2022. 

Smith, R., Collins, L. (2022). 'Generational perspectives and their impact in, and on, Cuba’, Cuba Research Forum annual conference, online.

'Marginal groups/peripheral places: Cuba’s local universities as tools for promoting social justice.' Peace, Equality and Social Justice/ SDG 16 Conference: "Building and Consolidating Peaceful and Just Societies":   ÃÛÌÒ´«Ãºmv, 19-20 May 2022.

"Lived experience as expertise in module co-creation: the example of special educational needs, disability and neurodivergence", with Melissa Vernon, Robyn Wall, Lucinda White and Emma Wright. Teaching and Learning Conference, ÃÛÌÒ´«Ãºmv, 5th December 2021

Smith, R., Luke, A. (2021). Así Somos: Cuba’s changing youth culture in the magazine Somos Jóvenes. Cuba research Forum annual conference, University of Nottingham.

‘Las motivaciones de estudiantes en las universidades comunitarias en Cuba y el Reino Unido’. Cuba Research Forum Annual Conference, Juan Marinello Cultural Institute, Havana, 10-1 April, 2019.                    

‘Viewed from the outside: The impact on Women of Cuba’s local universities’. Centre for Research on Cuba seminar series, 14th November 2018.

‘Las motivaciones de estudiantes en las universidades comunitarias en Cuba y el Reino Unido’. Cuba Research Forum Annual Conference, Juan Marinello Cultural Institute, Havana, 10-1 April, 2019.                   

‘Education and the New Cuban Citizen Identity’. ‘Becoming Latin American: Children, Education and Citizenship’ symposium, University of Reading, 13 September 2018.

‘“Ya no vemos la Universidad como algo distante; la tenemos aquí en las manos”. Personalised and situated pedagogy in the municipalised Cuban university.’ Cuba Research Forum Annual Conference, University of Nottingham 11-12 September 2018.  

‘“Why do you put so many dreams in young people?” Mass access to university in Cuba.’ VIII International Conference on Critical Education, University of East London, 25-28 July 2018.  

‘Autonomy and professionalization: the impact of the municipalised university in Granma Province, Cuba’. Latin American Studies Association Annual Conference, Barcelona, 24-27 May 2018.  

‘Trabajando en Cuba como Extranjera: En búsqueda de una metodología ética’. Event: ¿La periferia de la periferia?: Identidad y cultura en la provincia Granma. Juan Marinello Cultural Institute, Havana, 30-31 January 2018.  

Jennifer Wilkinson, "(Dis)-functional Skills? An examination of the impact of further education reforms on Functional Skills English".

Neil Young. Universal Design for Learning in Accounancy and Finance. 

2023-2024. ‘Cultures of participation for equitable development in Cuba and the UK’.  AHRC funded International networks for disability-inclusive global development grant. Academic partners: the University of Granma, Cuba; Centre for Research on Cuba (University of Nottingham); Autism Centre (Sheffield Hallam University). (100k). 

2020 -2021 - Advance HE Good Practice Grant (working in collaboration with Emma Wright) to re-develop our SEND module through co-production with students and practitioners who are disabled, neurodivergent and/or have special educational needs. UKRI funding for impact and dissemination. (4k). 

2016 -2019 - Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowship (individual) - a three-year funded post to research the mass access to HE offered through the creation of local part-time university centres across Cuba in the 2000s. The project involved more than 240 interviews with students and teachers in the rural province of Granma. (90k). 

2024-26. ÃÛÌÒ´«Ãºmv Strategic Investment in Research Excellence. Developing the Education Division's creative and participatory research culture. Collective grant for the Education Division. (£17,895). 

2024-25. Co-creating sustainable sensory tools for inclusive community learning disability practice in eastern Cuba. ISPF Institutional Support Grant (ODA). (£7,495). 

2023-2024. HLS ESRC Accelerator scheme - Universities in Communities (Cuba and the UK). Building the capacity for change. (£1,000).  

2023-2024. Bid development  - Participation of Learning Disabled people in Cuba. Internally funded QR policy strand. (£4,940), ICCESJ participatory funding (£1,142).  

2023-2025. Four funded frontrunner roles (Eden Turner, Sameana Asghar, Isabella Florence, Alicja Dziatkowiak) designing the longitudinal study The impact of co-created SEND education on future educators' perceptions and self-efficacy, with Gisela Oliveira and Rachel Higdon.

2022-2023. Easy Read - Inclusive Access To Theory. Internally funded Institute for Research in Criminology, Community, Education and Social Justice project with Gisela Oliveira, Angie Sibley-White, Raj Gill and Sam Metz. (£1,787). 

2022-2023. ÃÛÌÒ´«Ãºmv, Academic Innovation Project. Co-creation of new second year inclusion and diversity module. (£5,000).

2022-2023. ÃÛÌÒ´«Ãºmv Peace, Equality and Social Justice Fund. Building epistemologically just UK-Cuban Collaboration. The situated meanings of second-chance education.  With Lamia Nemouchi and Talitha Bird. Academic partner: University of Holguín, Cuba. (£2,700). 

2022. UKRI participatory research funding. Accessible dissemination of co-creation. (£1,000). 

External examiner. BA Education Studies with SEND. Liverpool John Moores. 

External examiner (Mres candidate) University of Nottingham. 

Funding application review for Leverhulme Trust. 

Reviewer for the Bulletin of Latin American Research; Compare, Social Sciences and Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies.  

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