Engaging in Schools and Communities to Change Society
How can schools and their communities contribute to transforming society? What role should the university play in fostering inclusive, democratic, and socially relevant educational practices? This seminar brings together research and university-community practice to explore how educational institutions can generate meaningful social change through dialogue, collaboration, and engagement.
The keynote address will be delivered by Professor Liz Todd, Newcastle University, reflecting on her collaborative work in the North East of England working with NGOs and schools to support people to make positive change in their communities. She also looks at the civic role of universities in making a difference in the places in which they are situated. Looks at this work on several levels, in terms of the impact on individual community members and university staff and students, how this strengthens our institutions and in terms of what such work means for reinforcing local democracy.
The keynote will be followed by a dialogue panel featuring:
- Emilia Aiello (UAM) and Maria Padrós (UB), presenting research from the #FriendsMatter research project on how friendships and relationships at the community may act as infrastructures for social change
- María José Schultz (Deusto), sharing insights from community-engaged work at Deusto Campus Social.
The session will conclude with an open discussion with participants.
You can register through this link: https://forms.gle/
Bionote
Liz Todd is Professor of Educational Inclusion at Newcastle University. Her research has a strong social justice agenda and she is known for her work on the interaction between communities and schools, involving young people in decision making, and respectful democratic approaches to change. Liz was awarded the OBE in the 2025 New Years Honours for services to education and young people. She led the Newcastle team in the SCIREARLY Horizon EU project that was led by Prof Rocio Garcia Carrion of Deusto University. She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Science in 2020. Liz is a Trustee of the Newcastle West End Children’s Community which is a locality place-based stakeholder alliance around the needs of communities. She is a director of Citizens UK. Her co-written books Beyond the school gates: can extended schools overcome disadvantage? and Partnerships for inclusive education were highly commended.