Student presentations form ‘Kaleidoscope’ of cutting-edge education research

University of Northampton (UON) students took a trip to Cambridge last week, as part of the Postgraduate Kaleidoscope Conference an event that attracts leading education professionals from across the globe.

This year’s theme was ‘Multiverses of Learning: Fresh Perspectives in Our Ever-Changing World’ and set the stage for a dynamic two-day conference with over 150 abstract submissions from students representing institutions in the UK as well as universities from Norway, the US, Japan, Korea, China, Finland, Vietnam, and more.

At the conference, 11 MA Education students represented UON and presented diverse research topics. Their disciplines included social media applications in education, supporting students with special educational needs and development/SEND (autism), sex education, and the psychological wellbeing of international boarding school students, among others.

These cutting-edge topics are central to current educational discussions, demonstrating the diverse and comprehensive guidance that MA Education students receive in developing their thesis subjects.

Over 85% of UON applicants were accepted to take part. This high acceptance rate places UON as a major academic research student group at the conference, second only to students from Oxbridge.

One of those students who presented was Rui Zhao (pictured): “First of all, I would like to thank my supporters from UON and my thesis lecturer, Winnie, for giving me this opportunity to attend the conference. I was greatly impressed by the amazing presentations made by excellent presenters from all over the world, and their research designs and experiences broadened my vision and increased my insights. I was deeply inspired and gained many new research ideas and inspirations from their speeches. This makes me treasure this opportunity of learning even more. With the knowledge and experience gained from the conference, I will return to my own research and make continuous efforts to pursue higher academic goals.”