Eri Mountbatten OMalley – Bath Spa University

Personal statement

Eri is Senior Lecturer in Education at Bath Spa University. Eri has a breadth of local and national experience working within the third sector and student union movement, in particular researching and campaigning for social equality and disability rights.

He has almost 10 years’ experience conducting social policy research in areas such as well-being, mental health, higher education policy and practice, and social welfare. In particular, he has been active via his policy work for national organisations such as Citizens Advice, NAWRA and NASMA.

In recognition of the impact of his advice and research-led campaigns “going above and beyond” the call of duty, he was awarded NASMA Student Money Adviser of the year 2016.

Eri continues to contribute to a number of local, national and international committees in education, philosophy and policy. For example, he is a director and trustee for Edge Hill University Students' Union, an elected national executive member for Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain, and a contributing member to the Leadership for Flourishing Group hosted by the Human Flourishing Programme at Harvard University.

He also leads or co-leads a number of projects here at Bath Spa University, with the aim to encourage and support a sense of 'community of practice' between staff and students.

In terms of teaching, Eri’s background pedagogical interest is in nurturing critical thinking and complex concept development in his students, enabling greater and greater independence and insight.

Specialising in the areas of global education, education policy, well-being, equality and inclusion, Eri will be drawing on these applied and eclectic strands of research and teaching experience to support both undergraduate and postgraduate students to excel through their student journey at the School of Education, Bath Spa University.

Academic qualifications

PhD, 'Human Flourishing: a conceptual analysis', Edge Hill University
Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education (PGCertTHE), Edge Hill University, (Distinction)
BA Hons, International Politics & English, Aberystwyth University, (Double First class).

Professional qualifications

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Generalist Certificate in Advice (Citizens’ Advice)
Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM3, MTQ test)
Leadership in the advice sector programme (Cass Business School, City University, London)

Other courses

Principles of positive psychology (Aberystwyth University)
Counselling skills for non-counsellors (Aberystwyth University)
ASIST suicide intervention certification (Mind Cymru)
MBTI advanced (Aberystwyth University)
Belbin team roles (Aberystwyth University)

Professional memberships

Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain (PESGB)
British Philosophical Association
Irish Philosophical Society
Royal Institute of Philosophy
British Wittgenstein Society

External roles

Development committee member – Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain (PESGB)
Elected national executive committee member - PESGB
Student trustee/ Director – Edge Hill Students’ Union
Fellow – Citizens Network
Contributing member - Leadership for Flourishing Group (Human Flourishing Programme, Harvard University)

Teaching specialisms and interests

Education Policy (global, national)
Social Policy
Equality and civic rights
Philosophy

Contact Eri about

Supervision, teaching, research, pastoral support.

Research

Eri’s current research interests are in using philosophical skills to better understand common social problems. He has had the opportunity to share his research and read papers at numerous international conferences on the problems of reductionist accounts of normative concepts such as “wonder” and “human flourishing”, “meaning” and “happiness”, as well as on the possibilities for insightful ways of thinking about student-agency, learning and development.

His concern with how we often conceptualize and operationalize concepts such as “well-being” and “happiness” led him to recently complete his PhD research ('Human flourishing: a conceptual analysis') and forthcoming research monograph book by the same title with Bloomsbury Academic Publishers.

His book, which received outstanding endorsements and reviews, is a unique and timely project that addresses some of the fundamental conceptual confusions in the literature on human flourishing and related cognate terms.

Research supervision

Policy, philosophy, education, personal development.

Research Centres or Groups

Policy, Pedagogy and Practice in Education (PPP) (Research Centre)

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