Dr Rachel Hewett

Dr Rachel Hewett

School of Education
Associate Professor
Head of Department of Disability, Inclusion and Special Needs (DISN)

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 4394
Email
r.g.hewett@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
Address
School of Education
University 麻豆精选
Edgbaston, Birmingham
B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Rachel Hewett is an Associate Professor in School of Education. She is currently Head of Department of Disability Inclusion and Special Needs and co-director of Vision Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research (VICTAR).

She joined VICTAR as a Research Associate in 2010, before progressing to a Research Fellow in October 2012 and was appointed as a Birmingham Fellow in September 2017. Previously she worked in Clinical Trials, and managed a series of large phase-three trials at Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit at University 麻豆精选.

Rachel’s primary research interests are in the post-16 transition experience of young people with special educational needs and disabilities. She was co-investigator and later principal investigator of the ‘Longitudinal Transitions Study’ which followed the post-16 transition experience of a group of young people with vision impairment over an eleven-year period. She is currently principal investigator of the Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment project.  Through her doctoral study she has focused particularly on the experiences of young people with vision impairment in making the transition into Higher Education.

Rachel has been PI and Co-I on research projects funded by various funding bodies, including Nuffield Foundation, Department for Levelling Up, RNIB, Thomas Pocklington Trust, NatSIP and Vision Foundation.

Qualifications

  • PGCHE, University 麻豆精选 2021
  • PhD in Education, University 麻豆精选 2020
  • MSc Applied Statistics, Sheffield Hallam, 2011
  • MA Social Research, University 麻豆精选, 2004
  • BSc (Hons) Economics, University 麻豆精选, 2003

Biography

Rachel Hewett is a Birmingham Fellow based at Vision Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research (VICTAR) within Department of Disability Inclusion and Special Needs.聽

She joined VICTAR in February 2010, after moving over from Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit where she had reponsibility for coordinated clincial trials. Her research interests are in disability and inclusion (in particular vision impairment), encompassing inclusion in higher education, post school transitions and transitions into employment.聽

Rachel acted as Co-I, and later PI, of the Longitudinal Transitions Study: a 11-year longitudinal study which tracked the post-school transition experiences of 80 young people with vision impairment. Her doctoral thesis investigated the transition experiences of young people with vision impairment into higher education.聽

Teaching

Rachel has taught on the following modules:

  • Research Methods in Education (campus and distance)
  • Contemporary Issues in Education: learning communities in higher education
  • Contemporary Issues in Education: engaging with research
  • Philosophy of Social Science Research

Postgraduate supervision

Vision impairment
Inclusion in higher education
Post school transitions
Life course
Longitudinal studies

Publications

Recent publications

Book

McLinden, M, Douglas, G, Hewett, R, Cobb, R, Keil, S, Lynch, P, Roe, J & Stewart Thistlethwaite, J 2022, . Routledge. <>

Article

Hewett, R, Douglas, G, McLinden, M & James, L 2023, '', British Journal of Visual Impairment, pp. 1-17.

Hewett, R, Douglas, G & McLinden, M 2021, '', Educational Review.

McLinden, M, Ravenscroft, J, Douglas, G, Hewett, R, McCann, E & Roe, J 2020, '', British Journal of Visual Impairment, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 1-7.

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

McLinden, M, Douglas, G, Hewett, R, Thistlethwaite, J & Lynch, P 2019, . in Oxford Encyclopedia of Inclusive and Special Education. Oxford Research Encyclopedias: Education, Oxford University Press.

Chapter

McLinden, M, Douglas, G, Terlektsi, E & Hewett, R 2022, . in A Holliman & K Sheehy (eds), Overcoming adversity in education. 1st edn, Routledge, London, pp. 41-53.

Commissioned report

Hewett, R, Douglas, G & Ellis, L 2022, . RNIB. <>

Hewett, R, Douglas, G & Ellis, L 2022, . RNIB. <>

Terlektsi, E, Wootten, A, Douglas, G, Ellis, L, Hewett, R, Hodges, E, McLinden, M, Ware, J & Williams, L 2019, . Welsh Assembly Government. <>

Hodges, E, Ellis, L, Douglas, G, Hewett, R, McLinden, M, Terlektsi, E, Wootten, A, Ware, J & Williams, L 2019, . Welsh Assembly Government. <>

Douglas, G, McLinden, M, Ellis, L, Hewett, R, Hodges, E, Terlektsi, E, Wootten, A, Ware, J & Williams, L 2019, . Welsh Assembly Government. <>

Other contribution

Chattaway, T & Hewett, R 2020, ..

Hewett, R & Chattaway, T 2019, . Thomas Pocklington Trust. <>

Hewett, R 2019, . RNIB. <>

Web publication/site

Hewett, R, Douglas, G & McLinden, M, , 2019, Web publication/site, University 麻豆精选. </news/thebirminghambrief/items/2019/02/disabled-students'-allowance-barriers-experienced-by-students-with-vision-impairment.aspx>

Expertise

Rachel’s research to date has focused primarily on post-16 transitions and employment outcomes for young people with vision impairment.