Research projects

School Meals Service: Past, Present – and Future?

Through a combination of historical and ethnographic approaches, our project seeks to discover the impact of the School Meals Service upon schools, communities and families from 1906 until the present day. We ask what lessons may be learned from the lived experiences of school meal recipients, teachers, parents and catering staff, both now and in the past. The project is led at IOE by Professor Gary McCulloch with Dr Heather Ellis (University of Sheffield) and Dr Gurpinder Singh Lalli (University of Wolverhampton).

Project website: About SMS (theschoolmealsproject.co.uk)

Generation UCL: Two hundred years of student life in London

As UCL starts the countdown to its bicentenary in 2026, a new research and engagement project puts students and alumni at the heart of the history of UCL. ‘Generation UCL’ explores 200 years of student life in London, turning institutional history upside down to suggest that the first students of 1828 should be seen as the real ‘founders’ of UCL. Generation UCL will establish the first major collection of oral history interviews with UCL alumni and support the deposit of students’ union archive material with UCL Special Collections. Generation UCL is led by Professor Georgina Brewis (IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society) and John Dubber (Students’ Union UCL), with Dr Sam Blaxland. The project is a partnership between the International Centre for Historical Research in Education at IOE, Students’ Union UCL and the Office of the Vice-President (Advancement). A new exhibition in UCL’s Octagon Gallery is open from 25 September 2023 to 18 August 2024.

Project blog: Generation UCL | Students Union UCL

Exhibition page: Generation UCL Exhibition

A specially commissioned film using historic footage can be seen here.

The Redress of the Past

The Redress of the Past is major Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project examining historical pageants in twentieth-century Britain. Drawing on oral and written evidence, the project offers key insights into the role of heritage in leisure activities, the interaction between local, national and imperial identities, and the changing character of community life in twentieth and early twenty-first century Britain. It reveals the stories that communities and institutions told about themselves through historical pageantry, an immensely popular and all too often overlooked way in which many people engaged with their pasts. In July 2019, the team was awarded follow-on funding for impact and public engagement.

Project website: Home | Historical Pageants

Colin Penman and Sam Blaxland review objects shortlisted for the 2023 Octagon Exhibition organised by Generation UCL