Dr Michael Tomlinson BSc, PGCHE, PhD, FHEA
Associate Professor
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Dr Michael Tomlinson is Associate Professor within Southampton Education School at the University of Southampton.
Michael is an Associate Professor in Education and Director of the Professional Doctorate in Education (EdD). He was previously a lecturer at Keele University in the School of Public Policy and Professional Practice. Following an ESRC-funded doctorate and ESRC post-doctoral fellowship in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University, he worked on a large-scale ESRC-funded project at the Cardiff Business School exploring leadership and leadership development in the public services.
His research is located broadly within the sociology of education and work, particularly in relation to the changing context and nature of work and its impact on people's identities and approaches to work and careers. More specific research interests lie in the higher education and labour market interplay and the social construction of ‘graduate employability'. Within this area, his research has explored transitions from higher education to work and how employability is constructed and managed by students and graduates. He is also interested in graduates' early career experiences and their engagement in processes of work-related learning and skill formation. Michael has recently completed various funded projects, including the social, educational and institutional dimensions of access to higher education (funded by the Greek Education Ministry) and the impact of recent policy changes on student attitudes to learning in higher education (funded by the Higher Education Academy).
In addition to his these areas, he has interests in the area of public management and leadership, focusing on issues around policy mediation, context dynamics and leadership development and learning. As convenor of the Higher Education Research Group (HERG), he is keen to develop the profile and scope of higher education research within the university and promote collaborative, cross-disciplinary research programmes in the field of higher education.
Michael welcomes doctoral candidates in the following areas:
- Higher Education and Labour Markets (including graduate employment, employability, under-employment/unemployment and transitions/orientations to work)
- Higher Education Policy and Impacts (including access and widening participation; student learning, values and identities, consumerism; student motilities and internationalisation; academic work and career progression)
- Work-related Learning and Skills (including organisational learning, skills policy; international comparisons of HE systems; political economic aspects of education)
- Critical Management and Leadership in Education (including policy mediation; management/leadership learning; leader capitals & identity; symbolic violence & power)
- Sociology of Education and Work (including substantive topic areas in transitions from education to work; lifelong and work-related learning; vocational learning; equality, opportunity & class politics in education; professions and occupational change)