Rhian is Director of the WISERD Education Multi-Cohort Study and a Lecturer at the School of Social Sciences, where she teaches on education and sociology modules.

Her research interests include children’s rights, assessment and equity in education, and children’s social movements. She is currently working on a project on children and young people’s activism in Wales.

During her time at Cardiff she has completed two projects for the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, including an evidence review on the human rights of children in Wales.

Prior to joining Cardiff University, Rhian completed her PhD in Education at the Centre for Children’s Rights, Queen’s University Belfast. This was a mixed-methods project which used a children’s rights approach to identify students’ views and experiences of GCSEs and their reform in Northern Ireland and Wales. While completing her doctorate she worked as a Research Fellow on a University of Oxford and Queen’s University Belfast project investigating the predictability of Leaving Certificate examinations in the Republic of Ireland.

Additional advisory roles:

  • Trustee of Play Wales
  • Rhian represents Cardiff University on the Equity & Inclusion Collaborative Research Network which was established to support the Welsh National Strategy for Educational Research and Enquiry.
  • Rhian is on the editorial board for the Welsh Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences (Esboniadur Gwyddorau Cymdeithasol).
Rhian Barrance Bio