A research and policy hub for intercultural citizenship in education in the United Kingdom. The case is not new — it has been made, on the record, by a government curriculum review and by Parliament itself.
Issues of identity and diversity are more often than not neglected in Citizenship education.
Integration within and between different communities is a central topic of our inquiry.
Independent education policy researcher working on intercultural citizenship in education in the UK — bringing together language education, internationalisation and the policy questions of living together in diverse societies.
Dr Adeeba Ahmad is an independent education policy researcher based in Guildford, working at the meeting point of language education, the internationalisation of higher education, and intercultural citizenship. Her doctoral research at the University of Surrey examined how intercultural citizenship is developed through foreign-language teaching and learning — and how education policy can either widen or close the space for belonging across cultural difference.
She combines research with teaching: she is a Lecturer and Module Lead at Buckinghamshire New University (delivered through Magna Carta College). Recent work includes a Research Associate role spanning the University of Oxford and Durbeen on a major study of language-in-education policy, alongside research roles at Surrey, King’s College London and the Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO).
A full publication and conference record is available on request, and her open and forthcoming outputs are gathered under Resources → Research Collection.
Dr Ahmad is writing two books on intercultural citizenship in education. Selected excerpts will appear here as each manuscript develops — drawn directly from the author’s own drafts.
[ Add a 2–3 sentence description of the book: its central argument, who it is for, and how it advances intercultural citizenship in UK education. ]
[ Paste a selected excerpt here — roughly 120–250 words. It will render as a pull-quote in this style. ]
[ From Chapter — · short context line ]
[ Optional second excerpt from this book. ]
[ From Chapter — · short context line ]
[ Add a 2–3 sentence description of the second book and how it complements the first. ]
[ Paste a selected excerpt here — roughly 120–250 words. ]
[ From Chapter — · short context line ]
[ Optional second excerpt from this book. ]
[ From Chapter — · short context line ]
These previews are taken from the author’s working manuscripts and are shared for interest only; text may change before publication. To replace a slot, paste your excerpt over the placeholder and add the chapter and context line.
Two UK sources — a government-commissioned curriculum review and a cross-party House of Lords committee — set out the gap intercultural citizenship education is meant to close. Each excerpt is quoted verbatim and linked to its source.
“Issues of identity and diversity are more often than not neglected in Citizenship education.”
Diversity and Citizenship Curriculum Review (the Ajegbo Report) · Department for Education and Skills · 2007 · Key findings, Citizenship.
The government-commissioned review found that the very questions intercultural citizenship addresses — identity, belonging and living together — were too often left out of citizenship teaching. It led to a new programme-of-study strand, “Identity and Diversity: Living together in the UK.”
“Integration within and between different communities is a central topic of our inquiry.”
The Ties that Bind: Citizenship and Civic Engagement in the 21st Century · House of Lords Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement · HL Paper 118 · 2018 · Chapter 1.
The cross-party committee placed integration across and within communities at the centre of its inquiry into 21st-century citizenship, framing a shared sense of belonging as one of the defining and most pressing challenges of our time — the gap that intercultural citizenship education sets out to close.
Bodies producing UK evidence on cohesion and intercultural skills.
The national academy’s programme on how societies stay cohesive amid rapid change — debate, publications and policy reviews on social cohesion, belonging and living together.
Global research finding employers value intercultural skills highly — yet most say education does not sufficiently develop them, evidencing a clear skills gap.
Two layers: freely available frameworks, repositories and journals to read and cite — and Dr Ahmad’s own research, gathered in one citable collection.
Frameworks, directories and a repository for self-archiving work.
The framework defining the values, attitudes, skills and knowledge for democratic and intercultural competence, with guidance on curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Freely downloadable.
A reflective tool (2nd edition aligned to the RFCDC, with visual-media and internet variants) helping learners analyse intercultural encounters. An openly published, classroom-ready instrument.
A quality-controlled index of open-access, peer-reviewed journals with deep coverage in education and applied linguistics — the first stop for citable OA outlets.
A pan-European network linking open-access repositories, journals and datasets, with discovery tools and funder open-access compliance tracking.
A general-purpose open repository for depositing pre-prints, working papers, datasets and reports with a citable DOI. Named in the OpenAIRE open-access guidance.
Directories of open-access repositories and publisher self-archiving policies — check where to deposit and which article version may be made open. Confirm exact service URLs before launch.
Free, self-paced courses and classroom resources for educators — building dialogue skills, intercultural understanding and global-citizenship practice in learning communities.
Dr Ahmad’s published, forthcoming and in-progress outputs.
Peer-reviewed article examining relationality in doctoral literacy research.
Peer-reviewed study of doctoral literacy practices across a research community.
Collaborative study of how a doctoral research group functions as a community of practice.
Final report from the TASO-commissioned project on access and outcomes, University of Surrey.
Forthcoming paper reframing language-in-education policy as a space for belonging and reparative futures.
Currently under review. Add titles, DOIs and open pre-prints here once accepted.
The UK centres, bodies and publishers building citizenship and democratic-culture education — each a route to co-authorship, joint bids, seminars or contributed chapters.
Co-founded by Prof. Hugh Starkey, ICEDC runs an international research network and webinar series on how we “learn to live together.” A natural home for co-authored work and joint events.
A lead author of the Council of Europe RFCDC and the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters — and based at Surrey, Guildford. A strong local route to seminars and co-authorship on competence-for-democracy research.
The UK’s subject association for citizenship education — CPD, an annual conference, model curricula and the practitioner journal Teaching Citizenship. The route to reaching teachers.
The international network of teacher-researchers behind the theory of intercultural citizenship — and one of Dr Ahmad’s affiliations. Its volumes are built from members’ collaborative case studies.
The publisher of the foundational intercultural-citizenship titles — the route for book and series proposals, from edited collections to single-author monographs.
The originator of the RFCDC and the democratic-culture agenda across member states — a route for contributing to implementation materials and aligning research with European policy.
Learned societies, special-interest groups and the national academy that fund, convene and recognise this field. Membership and conferences build the standing and connections behind a UK research profile.
The standing international community of teacher-researchers on intercultural citizenship — and a current affiliation of Dr Ahmad. The network for sustained collaboration in the core tradition.
The UK’s learned society for applied linguistics, with an annual conference, funding, seminars and an international membership — the umbrella for the most relevant special-interest groups.
A forum for researchers, teachers and trainers in inter- and cross-cultural communication, welcoming PhD students and early-career through to established academics. Free to BAAL members.
The UK society for higher-education research — networks, an annual conference and funding for research into HE policy and practice. A current membership of Dr Ahmad.
The international umbrella of national applied-linguistics associations (BAAL among them), with a world congress and research networks — the route to an international audience.
The UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences — funding, fellowships, and the endorsing body for the Global Talent visa, including the “exceptional promise” route for potential leaders.