Rachel Shanks

Dr. Rachel Shanks is a Senior Lecturer in Education and Director of the Interdisciplinary Institute for Social Inclusion & Cultural Diversity at the University of Aberdeen. Her research focuses on school uniform policies, affordability, sustainability, and their socio-economic impacts. She has influenced national policy in Scotland through her 2020 policy brief on school uniform affordability, leading to parliamentary commitments and government consultations. She holds a PhD and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Her career spans higher education, trade unions, and community education. She previously led the Trade Union Congress’s Bargaining for Skills initiative and worked with NACAB. She currently serves as an external examiner for Glasgow and Nottingham Trent Universities and edits the Human Rights Education Review. Awards include a Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (Advance HE).

Research interests also include teacher professional learning, informal mentoring, and children’s rights. She leads projects like the NIHR Global Health Research Group on mental wellbeing in sub-Saharan Africa and the EU-funded POLITICO project on political concepts.

• Education: LLB, MA, PhD
• Affiliations: Member of BERA, EARA, and the Scottish Educational Research Association
• Grants: NIHR Global Health, EU Marie Curie COFUND, and Aberdeen pump-priming funds

She supervises PhDs in education, with current projects exploring mindfulness in schools, EFL teaching in Saudi Arabia, and inclusive pedagogy. Her work bridges policy, practice, and global educational challenges.