PhD community

If you are interested in PhD study please contact individual staff members and visit our School of Education 'Postgraduate Research degrees' page.

Staff members

Postgraduate Research degrees

PhD students

Current (Working titles)

• 2020 – Jack Reed – The influence of Mobile Devices and Social Media on the Transfer of Learning in Residential Outdoor Experiences. (funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, with in-kind support from Outward Bound)
• 2020 – Luke Addison - Bringing children's voices to the fore in 'Learning for Sustainability'
• 2018 – Lewis Stockwell – What might be educational about canoe journeying? The case for natural aesthetics
• 2018 – Christian Hanser - A classroom beyond walls: Investigating student teachers’ negotiations of meaning when applying transformative pedagogies through a mobile tiny house as experimental classroom
• 2017 – Suzy Paulus - Exploring place-based outdoor education in the context of transmigration realities
• 2017 – Chris Mackie - Valuing our natural heritage: the impact of nature on those who work in and for nature (The Magnus Magnusson Scottish Natural Heritage PhD Studentship)
• 2016 – Ethan Lewis - Community gardening and connection to nature
• 2016 – Sharon Boyd - Fostering student-community engagement activities at distance – the role of the University as change-agent.
• 2015 – Louise Hawxwell - Self study - beliefs and practices shaping outdoor learning
• 2014 – John Pierce - A Longitudinal Case Study into the Practices and Processes of Outdoor Centres in Ireland
• 2013 – Douglas Britton - Is this an emergency?” Examining “emergency” in the context of school expeditions. Examining “emergency” as a social act

Completed

• 2021 – Vincent, Dorothea -  The United Nations Relationship with Civil Society Development of the 2nd Charter ‘The United Peoples’ and the United Nations Principled Decision Making Policy through The Naber Model
• 2020– Shang Zhan - Impact of outdoor learning continuing professional development and policy change on teachers in Scotland
• 2019 - Rebekah Tauritz – Certain you’re not sure? An inquiry into pedagogical strategies for teaching children how to manage uncertain knowledge about sustainability challenges
• 2018 – David Clarke - Practicing immanence: (still) becoming an environmental education academic (Principal’s Career Development Scholarship)
• 2018 – Hannah Ritchie - Global Food Systems: Addressing Malnutrition Through Sustainable System Pathways. (NERC scholarship)
• 2018 – Abdul Kahlid - The nature and scope of outdoor education in the city-state of Singapore
• 2018 – Stephen Porter - Production-phase greenhouse gases embedded within food loss and waste: magnitude, drivers, and mitigation potential
• 2017 – Clare Nugent - Multicase study of nature-kindergarten practices: exploring three examples in Denmark, Finland and Scotland
• 2017 – Jamie Hamilton - A systems-based evaluation of the feasibility of a national outdoor education programme and the long-term socio-economic and developmental dynamics of implementation. (Funded by Forestry Commission Scotland and Heriot Watt University)
• 2017 – Jenn Treacy - Curricular sport-for-development programmes and positive youth development: perspectives in a Scottish context
• 2017 - Sharifah Syed Abdullah - An Investigation into the Influence of Outdoor Environmental Education Courses on the Environmental Attitude and Behaviours of Malaysian Participants: A life history approach. 
• 2016 - Sho Shimoyamada - Production of Scottish Open Gardens. Differences in Perception of Power
• 2016 – Jane Spiteri - Young Children’s Perceptions of Environmental Sustainability: A Maltese Perspective. (Maltese Government Scholarship)
• 2016 - Mark Baker – Policy Development of Outdoor Education in Scotland
• 2015 – Stephen Banks - Distal and proximal attentional focus effects on the performance of closed and open continuous motor skills. (ESRC 1+3 Funding Award)
• 2014 – John Crosbie – The value of outdoor education for people with disabilities : an in-depth case study of the Calvert Trust. (Calvert Trust/ Zurich Research Studentship)
• 2014 - Ian Stewart-Patterson - The Role of Intuition in the Decision Process of Expert Ski Guides
• 2012 - Justine Geyer - Developing an Understanding of Greenspace as a Resource for Physical Activity in Adolescents in Scotland  (ESRC / Scottish Government Collaborative Studentship 1+3 Award)
• 2012 - Rachel Howell - Promoting Lower-Carbon Lifestyles: The role of personal values, climate change communications and carbon allowances in processes of change. (Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society (SAGES) PhD award)
• 2012 – Sam Harrison - Place-based praxis: exploring place-based education and the philosophy of place
• 2011 – Ralf Westphal – 'We have the fjells, but you have character...': a comparative study of personal and social development (PSD) within the discourses of outdoor education in Great Britain and Friluftsliv in Norway
• 2011 – Roger Scrutton - Statistical Analysis of the Benefits of Outdoor Adventure Activities Programmes (MPhil)
• 2010 - John Telford - Meanings, values, and life course: a study of participants’ experiences at a Scottish outdoor education centre. (ESRC 1+3 Award)
• 2011 – Paul Stonehouse - Rough ground of character: a philosophical investigation into character development, examining a wilderness expedition case study through a virtue ethical lens
• 2006  - Myra Beatrice Maposah-Kandemiri -  Environmental Education in Schools: Contrasting Programmes, Context and Impact in Scotland and Zimbabwe
• 2005 - Takako Takano  - Bonding with the land: outdoor environmental education programmes and their cultural contexts
• 2004 – Beth Christie – Raising Achievement in Scottish Secondary Schools? A study of outdoor experiential learning. (North Lanarkshire Council, Outward Bound and University of Edinburgh funded)
• 2001 – Robbie Nicol - Outdoor Education for Sustainable Living? An investigation into the potential of Scottish local authority residential outdoor education centres to deliver programmes relating to sustainable living. (MHSE bursary)