Pippa Sterk

Pippa Sterk is a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in Education at King's College London, affiliated with the School of Education, Communication & Society within the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy. Her work bridges critical pedagogy, queer theory, and creative research methods. She leads collaborative projects on marketized education systems and co-hosts the 'It's Just Research' podcast, which interrogates academic activism and critical inquiry. Dr Sterk is a core member of the Research Centre for Language, Discourse & Communication (LDC) and the Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR), focusing on interdisciplinary social justice and policy analysis.

Education: PhD (via LISS-DTP funding) exploring volunteers in LGBT+ university initiatives, analyzing neoliberalism's impact on higher education. Her research integrates zine-making and curation as creative methodologies. She holds a background in Film Studies and Gender Studies.

Research Interests:
- LGBT+/queer communities: Focus on volunteer labor and institutional inclusivity.
- Critical Pedagogy: Reimagining education beyond market-driven models.
- Racialisation and Identity: Intersectional analyses of belonging in academia.
- Creative Methods: Zine-making, curation, and alternative knowledge production.

Podcast Contributions: Through 'It's Just Research,' she explores themes like youth work's impact (2025), unlearning grind culture (2025), and activist ESOL pedagogy (2023). Episodes highlight her commitment to making research accessible and socially impactful.

Labs/Teams: Active in LDC (language education, sociolinguistics) and CPPR (social justice policy research). Co-founded the LDC PGR Blog (2022) to amplify postgraduate voices in interdisciplinary discourse.

Grants/Advising: No formal grants or advisees listed; however, her collaborative projects exemplify community-driven research. Current work includes a student-staff initiative on critical pedagogy in marketized education.