Charlotte Haines Lyon

Dr. Charlotte Haines Lyon is an Associate Professor at the School of Education, Language and Psychology, York St John University. She holds a PhD in Education (2019) and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her work focuses on social justice, democracy in education, and participatory research methodologies. She leads the Toilet Talk project, empowering students to address school toilet policies, and has researched authoritarian policies, neoliberalism in education, and democratic engagement.

Education Background: Informal and Community Education (YMCA George Williams College), MA in Philosophy and Religion (Heythrop College, UCL), PhD in Education (York St John University). Professional Roles: Chair of School Ethics Committee, Co-convener of the Participatory Enquiry Group, and former Chair of Governors at a primary school. She teaches research methods, educational policy, and supervises doctoral candidates exploring topics like queer activism, autism advocacy, and employability agendas in higher education.

Research Interests: Democratic methodologies, populism in education, intersectional feminist research, and the culture wars in education. Key projects include Toilet Talk (improving school toilet policies through youth-led research) and analyses of authoritarian behavior policies in schools. Her work often employs critical discourse analysis and participatory approaches to challenge systemic inequities.

Awards: Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Professional Activities: Editor of the John Macmurray Seminar Newsletter, external examiner at Staffordshire University, and contributor to international conferences on education policy and social justice.

Grants/Advising: Supervises doctoral research on topics like queer activism, bullying in PE, and decolonial policy analysis. Recent grants include studies on employability agendas and youth participatory action research.

Labs/Teams: Institute of Social Justice, Participatory Enquiry Research Group. Future Work: Continuing Toilet Talk expansion, investigating populism's impact on education, and developing ethical frameworks for democratic research practices.