Leadership Team | Centre for Global Higher Education

University of Birmingham

Chris Millward is Professor of Practice in Education Policy at the University of Birmingham where he leads a group of researchers working on educational equity in policy and practice. He is a Deputy Director of CGHE .

Dr Lee Rensimer

IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society

“Lee Rensimer is a Lecturer in Education Studies at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society and a Deputy Director of CGHE. He was previously a Research Associate on CGHE Project 9, ‘Mapping supranational higher education space’, and continues to work with the co-investigators of that project on the geopolitics of regional higher education spaces.”

Dr Jan McArthur

Lancaster University

Jan McArthur is a CGHE Deputy Director, and was a Co-Investigator on CGHE Project 1, ‘Graduate Experiences of Employability and Knowledge (GEEK) Project’.

Professor Ka Ho Mok

Hang Seng University (Hong Kong)

Professor Ka Ho Mok, Joshua is currently Provost and Vice President (Academic & Research) of the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong (HSUHK). Before joining HSUHK, he was the Vice President and Chair Professor of Lingnan University, Hong Kong. Since the inception of CGHE, Professor has worked closely with colleagues of the centre for promoting higher education research with focus on Asian education and development studies. He is also a Deputy Director of CGHE. Before joining Lingnan, he was the Vice President (Research and Development) and Chair Professor of Comparative Policy of The Education University of Hong Kong, and the Associate Dean and Professor of Social Policy, Faculty of Social Sciences of The University of Hong Kong. Prior to this, Professor Mok was appointed as the Founding Chair Professor in East Asian Studies and established the Centre for East Asian Studies at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom. Ka Ho Mok led CGHE Project 10, ‘UK international graduates in mass media and public perceptions: A comparative study of the UK, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan’.

Professor Claire Callender

IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society and Birkbeck

Claire Callender is Professor of Higher Education Studies at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society. She is a Deputy Director of CGHE. Claire led on CGHE Project 5, ‘Student loan debt and graduate decision-making’ which explored the impact of income-contingent student loan debt on English graduates’ lives using both quantitative and qualitative methods. It showed how loan debt can have negative effects on graduates’ lives.

Dr Thandi Lewin

University of Johannesburg

Thandi Lewin is a CGHE Deputy Director and an Associate Professor at the Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies, in the Faculty of Education at the University of Johannesburg. She has come into academia relatively late, following a career as a civil servant.

David Mills

University of Oxford

David Mills is Director of the Centre for Global Higher Education. His current research interests include the political economy of academic research and publishing in Africa. His most recent book is ‘Who Counts: Ghanaian Academic Publishing and Global Science’, co-written with colleagues from the University of Ghana and Oxford.

Professor Alis Oancea

University of Oxford

Alis is Professor of Philosophy of Education and Research Policy at the University of Oxford and Project Lead (Research on Research) at the ESRC Centre for Global Higher Education, as well as Social Sciences Division Advocate for Impact (Responsible Engagement and Innovation). In recent years, she was Director of Research in the Oxford University Department of Education and REF2021 coordinator for the unit. Through scholarly and professional collaborations, she hopes to champion knowledge, justice, generosity and integrity in research practices and discourses, research policy and research leadership and cultures in different types of organisation. She has led and collaborated on research projects, change and development initiatives, and administrative processes on impact and knowledge exchange, and held advisory and leadership roles in education reform and research assessment. She has conducted research on research ecosystems, values in research, open knowledge, impact, ethics and integrity, epistemic diversity, research careers, understandings of quality and excellence, research assessment, research in teacher education, philosophy of research, and principled research practice. Alis is the joint editor of the Oxford Review of Education, chief editorial advisor on Routledge Open Research (Education), and co-editor of the forthcoming ‘Handbook of Meta-Research’ (Elgar). Alis Oancea led CGHE Project 3, ‘Research on Research: the research function and mission of higher education’.

CGHE Leadership Team

CGHE is overseen by a leadership team, made up of David Mills (Director) and six Deputy Directors from CGHE's university partners: Lee Rensimer (UCL), Thandi Lewin (University of Johannesburg), Alis Oancea (University of Oxford), Jan McArthur (University of Lancaster), Chris Millward (University of Birmingham) and Ka Ho Mok (Hang Seng University).