Dr Ryan Bramley
BA, MA (English Literature), MA (Social Research), PhD, SFHEA
School of Education
Lecturer in Education
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Academic Lead for Student Support
Widening Participation Coordinator
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+44 114 222 8103
Full contact details
School of Education
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
Sheffield
S10 2AH
- Profile
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I am a lecturer, filmmaker, and arts-based researcher currently based at The University of Sheffield’s School of Education. My work primarily explores how minoritised groups are represented in film, TV, media, education, and beyond. I also enjoy training people - from primary school pupils to doctoral students - in creative, non-traditional modes of qualitative inquiry, such as filmmaking, documentary techniques, and creative writing.
In 2021, whilst completing my PhD, I was recognised as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), demonstrating my long-standing commitment to learning and teaching within a higher education setting - with a particular focus on my role in introducing a brand new PGR degree programme, the ‘PhD-by-Practice’, across the Faculty of Social Sciences (as of 2020/21).
I hold two Master's degrees in English Literature and Social Research respectively, and my research routinely explores ways in which artistic practice (especially filmmaking) can broaden our understanding of the social world - including my first feature-length documentary film, Born of Coal, which premiered at Sheffield's Showroom Cinema in May 2015.
I am co-Principal Investigator (alongside Dr Sabine Little) on the 'My Media, My Power, My World' project, having secured approximately £80,000 of research funding from Holistic Think Tank (Poland) to create a new interdisciplinary primary school subject which could be taught to children internationally. I am also the co-Principal Investigator (alongside Dr Kirsty Liddiard) on 'Rethinking Deafness, Film and Accessibility', a Sheffield Innovation Programme (SIP) project with Beth Evans and Jon Rhodes at user research and design studio Paper, to explore how Deaf people perceive suspense in films as an under-researched and under-represented group. Additionally, I was Principal Investigator on the UKRI-funded ‘Evaluating Trespass Prevention’ project in 2021, in partnership with Network Rail and the National Railway Museum (UK).
- Qualifications
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BA English Language & Literature (Sheffield, 2015)
MA English Literature (Sheffield, 2016)
MA Social Research (Sheffield, 2017)
PhD in Education (Sheffield, 2021)
- Research interests
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My multimodal research outputs include:
- Born of Coal (2015): a feature-length documentary film about the socio-cultural impacts of the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike conflict;
- Research Ethics: Developing Practice for Researching in the Global South (2019-20): a series of video interviews with internationally renowned researchers for the Sheffield Institute for International Development (SIID);
- In Their Own Image (2021): a series of four short documentary films depicting voluntary filmmaking at ‘Kirklees Local TV’, a non-profit community media outlet (and the partner organisation for my Collaborative PhD project). One of these four films, ‘The People’s News Outlet’, can be viewed here;
- Evaluating Trespass Prevention (2021): videographic essays disseminating research co-produced with a group of digital media students from Barnsley College, as part of a research project investigating the effectiveness of railway anti-trespass media campaigns.
Current research projects and engagements include:
- 'My Media, My Power, My World' (2022) - we (myself and Dr Sabine Little) were awarded approximately £80,000 of research funding from Holistic Think Tank (Poland) to create a new interdisciplinary primary school subject which could be taught to children internationally. Our project team, composed of two Research Associates (Hannah Raine and Adeline Choo) and a Digital Content Designer (Sheida Tanhai), have created a series of 45 lessons complete with interactive learning resources, ready-made to be incorporated by primary school teachers within existing curricula. A case study of this project was produced by Hannah Raine for the Research England funded 'Connect and Reflect' project, as an example of best participatory research practice.
- 'Rethinking Deafness, Film and Accessibility' (2022) - working with Dr Kirsty Liddiard (as co-PIs) and Beth Evans and Jon Rhodes at user research and design studio Paper, this Sheffield Innovation Programme (SIP) project explored how Deaf people perceive suspense in films as an under-researched and under-represented group. We designed this research project with the help of a Deaf Advisory Board, and conducted online video interviews with a small group of Deaf people, facilitated by a Deaf Interpreter (Kat Pearson). Our project findings will be presented in both written English and British Sign Language, to make the research accessible to both Deaf and hearing people. A Deaf Studies Database has also been created as a result of this project, to enable and promote future research possibilities with Deaf people as participants.
- Evaluating Trespass Prevention (2021) - working as the Principal Investigator on a UKRI National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) project, working in partnership with Network Rail and the National Railway Museum to better understand young people’s perceptions of anti-railway trespass video campaigns. Working alongside several academic colleagues from The University of Sheffield, including Dr Becky Parry, Marion Oveson, and Dr Aneesh Barai, we developed an evaluation toolkit for Network Rail, who intend to use this to better understand how young audiences interpret and engage with anti-trespass media material. Hannah Raine has also compiled a case study of this project for the Research England funded 'Connect and Reflect' project, as an example of best participatory research practice.
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Evaluating trespass prevention: working with young people as co-researchers and filmmakers on a railway safety project. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 29(1), 2308080.
- Beyond ‘do no harm’? On the need for a dynamic approach to research ethics. Area.
- ‘Resisting Neoliberalism: Swimming against the Tide’ Life for the Academic in the Neoliberal University. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 28(4), 650-653.
- What sits, what sticks: moving into lived, disruptive, co-produced filmmaking practices in literacy classrooms. Education 3-13, 1-14.
- ‘A Community Legacy on Film’: using collaborative documentary filmmaking to go beyond representations of the Windrush Generation as ‘victims’. Studies in Documentary Film, 1-18.
Chapters
- “Just Coal Seams and Heartbroken Miners”: Poetic Representations of the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike in (Post-)Industrial South Yorkshire, Performative Representation of Working-Class Laborers (pp. 17-37). Springer Nature Switzerland
Reports
- . A country that works for all children and young people: An evidence-based plan for upskilling our children and young people for digital futures
Theses / Dissertations
- Evaluating trespass prevention: working with young people as co-researchers and filmmakers on a railway safety project. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 29(1), 2308080.
- Teaching interests
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As well as being recognised as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, I have also proved myself to be a versatile educator. I am currently involved with five different programmes within the School of Education (more info under ‘Teaching activities’).
I am really interested in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary teaching, particularly when it involves bringing arts-based methods and methodologies into new spaces. As such, I have made significant contributions to university learning and teaching beyond the School of Education. I delivered an annual Guest Lecture, ‘Introduction to Storytelling’ for Master’s of Architecture (M.Arch) students at the Sheffield School of Architecture (SSoA) between 2015-2018. I have also lectured on the School of English’s MA Research Methods module, delivering an interactive session on ‘Filmmaking as an Arts-Based Research Practice) to postgraduate Language & Linguistics students.
One of my proudest achievements was the substantial role I played in the development and implementation of a new, innovative learning and teaching opportunity for students across the Faculty of Social Science: a 'PhD-by-Practice' Programme, introduced in 2021-22. In contrast to the traditional 80,000-word written thesis, a PhD-by-Practice allows a student to make a creative submission for their doctorate (e.g. poetry, film, photographic essay, drama performance, etc.), along with a written creative commentary that explores the theoretical and practical considerations underpinning the piece.
I would be happy to supervise PhD and EdD students interested in exploring any of the following themes: Digital Media Consumption, Contemporary Film, Digital Literacies, Working-Class Voices, Alternative Media, Active Citizenship, Literary Representation, Multimodality, and the educational work/role of Third Sector and Non-Profit Organisations. I am also particularly interested in supervising PhD-by-Practice doctoral students.
- Teaching activities
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I teach across a broad range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes within the School of Education, both as a lecturer and a seminar tutor:
(Modules taught on include: EDU111 Making Sense of Education - Facts, Fiction and Data; EDU203 Research Project in Education, Culture and Childhood; I also deliver Academic Seminars for Year One and Year Two students)
(EDU6356 Critical Issues in Education and Educational Research; EDU6358 The Practice of Research)
(EDU6186 Practice-based Inquiry; EDU6168 Education, Teaching and Learning)
(EDU81004 Educational Research - Theory and Practice)
- Professional activities and memberships
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Member of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL)
Member of the Disabled & Ill Researchers’ Network
Member of the Emotionally Demanding Research Network
Committee Member The Participatory Research Network at the University of Sheffield (PRN@TUOS)