Dr Jennifer Jomafuvwe Agbaire

Dr Jennifer Jomafuvwe Agbaire is a Research Associate in the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies at The Open University, where she is managing and researching on the Ibali Network AHRC-funded project on storytelling and the educational inclusion of young people in Nigeria, South Africa and the UK. She is also researching on an IDRC-funded multi-country project on school leaders’ resilience using the Improvement Science approach and working with development partner organisations -Worldreader, SUMMA and FIT-ED - in Uganda, Kenya, Chile and the Philippines. Her research interests are around social inequalities and justice, educational equity and inclusion as well as innovative, creative and participatory research methods. Her work and experience span access, policy, leadership,teaching and teacher education across all levels of education and with a greater focus on the Global South.

Before joining The Open University, Jennifer worked with the University of Bristol as Research Associate on education projects in Iraq, India and Nepal, and with the Centre for Comparative and International Research in Education at Bristol on an IIEP-UNESCO conceptual project on systems leadership in times of crisis for inclusive education, drawing on case studies of Jordan, Burkina Faso and Kenya. Jennifer has also worked with the Centre for International Education at the University of Sussex as Teaching Fellow and on a on a collaborative project on youth identities in Pakistan, Nigeria, Lebanon and Senegal. She also co-facilitated the Education and Social Work First-Year PhD support group at Sussex. Earlier, Jennifer has been a Lecturer in Nigeria teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Comparative Education, Sociology of Education, Educational Philosophy and the history of education at the University of Benin.

Jennifer is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA) and currently the Executive Secretary of the British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE). She holds a B.A (Ed) degree in English and Literature Education with First Class Honours from the University of Benin, an M.Ed in Comparative Education from the University of Lagos,  and a PG.Cert. in Social Research Methods from the University of Sussex, where she also obtained her PhD researching Nigerian higher education policy for fair access.