Staff profile

Biography

I am an academic with a strong interest in educational and digital practices and inequalities. I am particularly interested in exploring – both in my research and in my teaching - the intersection of education and emergent social phenomena through different social theory lenses. I have conducted research on widening participation, digital literacies and digital inequalities, curriculum innovation and digital scholarship practices in the last few years. For example, I was the UK co-coordinator of the ERASMUS+ project Digital Literacy and Inclusion of Learners from Disadvantaged Background. (2015-2017). I also worked on different projects regarding Estranged Students’ Experiences of Higher Education with Professor Yvette Taylor.

Current projects:

1. 2020-22 From on-campus to online: International students returning to academia in the context of COVID-19 with Dr Huaping Li (Shanghai Normal University), funded by BA/Leverhulme Small Grants. (see report + Blogpost)

2. 2022 - The Durham University Digital Literacy Clinic with Dr Michaela Oliver. Funded by ESRC IAA.

I have also started a research project with Dr Ana Lúcia Pereira that aims to explore students' and academics' digital pedagogical practices and wellbeing in Brazil: Higher Education interrupted: exploring the challenges covid-19 poses to students and academic staff in Brazil . 

I have supervised PGR students in a wide range of areas, including digital literacies and digital practices, internationalisation of curriculum, estranged students, gendered practices, etc.

I currently convene and teach the PGT modules Digital Technologies and the UG module Digital Society: Theory and Practice. I have also taught or currently teach the following MA modules:

• Education and Critical perspectives in Education
• Narrative inquiries 

I served as Programme Director (student experience) for the Master's in Education programme (2020 - 2022) and Research Environment Co-ordinators within the School of Education.

Currently, I coordinate Student Recruitment, Marketing & Internationalisation for the School. 

I am Co-Director (MA in Research Methods) in the Durham Research Methods Centre

I am co-editor of the Social Theory Applied blog/website www.socialtheoryapplied.com and act as co-convenor of the BERA Social Theory and Education SIG

You can find me on Twitter as @cristinacost

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Information for Prospective Doctoral Research Student Supervisions

I would be pleased to work with students interested in pursuing research in areas of inquiry related to student experience, widening participation, educational and/or digital inequalities, curriculum innovation, critical digital practices and literacies, internationalisation and globalisation of education. I also have a strong interest in working with students wishing to engage with social theories as part of their research projects.

• Social Theory
• Critical Digital Literacies
• Widening Participation
• Educational and Digital Inequalities
• Student/ Family Estrangement
• Digital Scholarship Practices
• Higher Education
• Digital education

• Durham University Evidence Centre for Education (DECE)
• Higher and Further Education

• From on-campus to online: International students returning to academia in the context of COVID-19

• 2020: From on-campus to online: International students returning to academia in the context of COVID-19

• 0000: External Examining: I often examine Ph.D and Ed.D theses at different British universities. I have also served as an examiner for Ph.D theses and Master’s dissertations in mainland Europe (Portugal and Spain), Australia, and Brazil.
• 0000: Invited Talks: Selected invited talks
  • Guest speaker atThe Future of Education and Public Policy, Glasgow University: ; ;Online Education during the pandemic (2021)
  • Guest speakers at the Webinar series on “Development in Education in East Asia” in Hong Kong: ;From on-campus to on-line: international students’ experience on the ground during a pandemic (2021)
  • Co-speaker and Co-organiser: ;Taking stock of social theory in education research: Hybridity, methodology and critical reflexivity. ;BERA Social Theory and Education SIG (2021)
  • Guest Speaker: Oxford debate on the impact of Covid-19 on He. EDEN Conference (2020) ;
  • Guest Speaker: ;Digital cultures and educational practices: a new opportunity. ; Sunderland Software City network ;(2020)
  • Guest Speaker: ;Older people and the digital: generational divide or collide? ;Sunderland Software City network ;(2020)
  • Guest Speaker: Digital Europe: Challenges and opportunities for education. Conversations for the future of Europe. ;European University Institute. (2020)

  • Guest Speaker: Addressing the policy issues surrounding estranged students in higher education. Stand Alone Event on Estranged Students for the Scottish Parliament.(2019)

  • Guest Speaker: Hybrid social theory and education research: working with conceptual interdisciplinary. BERA Social Theory SIG (2019)

  • Keynote Speaker: The impact and influence of digital cultures on curriculum design. Congresso Internacional de Ensino – CONIEN. State University of the North of Parana, Brazil. (2019)

  • Keynote Speaker: Curriculum Innovation and Digital Participatory Practices. Aula Magna. State University of Ponta Grosssa, Brazil. (2019)

  • Invited Workshop: The application of social theory to educational research. State University of Ponta Grosssa, Brazil. (2019)

  • Guest Speaker: The experiences of estranged students in the strange space of academia. University of Bristol, UK. ;(2019)

  • Guest Speaker: Digital scholars: A feeling for the academic game. University of Strathclyde – Research Seminar Sessions (2019)

• 0000: Peer reviewing:
  • Australasian Journal of Educational Technology
  • Critical Studies in Education
  • International Journal of Lifelong Education
  Editorial Board Member of British Journal of Sociology of Education; ;The Curriculum Journal; International Studies in Sociology of Education; ;International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education (ETHE)

  Editorial Board Member Book Series Social Theory and Methodology in Education Research, Bloomsbury Publishing

  Co-Covenor of the BERA Social Theory and Education SIG (2020 -) and the ;BSA study group ‘Digital Sociology ;(2016 - 2021)

Available for media contact about:

• Subject specialists:
• General policy:
• Education:
• Subject specialists:
• Social and ethical inequality:
• Sociology:

Chapter in book

• Murphy, Mark & Costa, Cristina (Forthcoming). Social theory and methodology in education research: From conceptualisation to operationalisation. In Social Theory and Education Research Understanding Foucault, Habermas,Bourdieu and Derrida. Murphy, Mark Routledge.
• Murphy, Mark & Costa, Cristina (2022). Social theory and methodology in education research: From conceptualisation to operationalisation. In Social Theory and Education Research Understanding Foucault, Habermas,Bourdieu and Derrida. Murphy, Mark London: Routledge. 24-43.
• Costa, Cristina (2020). The Politics of Academic Life: Professional Identities and Intellectual Selves in Neo-Liberal Times. In Social Theory and the Politics of Higher Education: Critical Perspectives on Institutional Research. Murphy, Mark, Burke, Ciaran, Costa, Cristina & Raaper, Rille Bloomsbury Academic. 87-96.
• Costa, Cristina & Murphy, Mark (2019). EU Digital Media Policies and Education: The Challenge of a Digital Agenda for Europe. In Education and Public Policy in the European Union: Crossing Boundaries. St. John, Sarah & Murphy, Mark Palgrave Macmillan. 149-164.
• Costa, Cristina (2018). Digital Scholars: A Feeling for the Academic Game. In Feeling Academic in the Neoliberal University: Feminist Flights, Fights and Failures. Taylor, Yvette & Lahad, Kinneret Palgrave Macmillan. 345-368.
• Costa, Cristina & Murphy, Mark (2016). Digital Scholarship: Recognizing New Practices in Academia. In Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. 1.
• Costa, Cristina & Murphy, Mark (2015). Bourdieu and the application of habitus across the social sciences. In Bourdieu, Habitus and Social Research: The Art of Application. Costa, Cristina & Murphy, Mark Palgrave. 3-20.
• Costa, Cristina (2015). Academics Online: Fighting for a New Habitus. In Bourdieu, Habitus and Social Research: The Art of Application. Costa, Cristina & Murphy, Mark Palgrave Macmillan UK. 151-166.
• Costa, Cristina & Murphy, Mark (2015). Doxa, digital scholarship and the academy. In Theory as Method in Research: On Bourdieu, Social Theory and Education. Murphy, Mark & Costa, Cristina Routledge. 49-62.

Edited book

• Murphy, M., Burke, C., Costa, C. & Raaper, R. (2020). Social Theory and the Politics of Higher Education. Critical Perspectives on Institutional Research. Social Theory and Methodology in Education Research. Bloomsbury.
• Murphy, Mark, Burke, Ciaran Costa, Cristina & Raaper, Rille (2020). Social Theory and the Politics of Higher Education: Critical Perspectives on Institutional Research. Social theory and methodology in education research. Bloomsbury Academic.
• Breeze, Maddie, Taylor, Yvette & Costa, Cristina (2019). Time and Space in the Neoliberal University. Palgrave.
• Costa, Cristina & Condie, Jenna (2018). Doing Research In and On the Digital: Research Methods across Fields of Inquiry. Routledge.
• Murphy, Mark & Costa, Cristina (2015). Theory as Method in Research: On Bourdieu, Social Theory and Education. Routledge.
• Costa, Cristina & Murphy, Mark (2015). Bourdieu, Habitus and Social Research: The Art of Application. Palgrave.

Journal Article

• Costa, Cristina & Li, Huaping (2023). Digital cultural knowledge and curriculum: the experiences of international students as they moved from on-campus to on-line education during the pandemic. Learning, Media and Technology
• Li, Huaping & Costa, Cristina (2022). ‘Why Do We Think We Are Doing Everything Right [Just] Because We Do It’ What Transforms Chinese and Scottish Student-teachers’ Taken-for-granted Views in Study Abroad Experiences. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education 52(7): 1170-1188.
• Costa, Cristina Taylor, Yvette, Goodfellow, Claire & Ecochard, Sidonie (2020). Student estrangement in higher education: identity formation and the struggle against stigma. British Journal of Sociology of Education 41(5): 685-700.
• Costa, C., Taylor, Y., Goodfellow, C. & Ecochard, S. (2020). Estranged students in higher education: navigating social and economic capitals. Cambridge Journal of Education 50(1): 107-123.
• Costa, Cristina, Gilliland, Gemma & McWatt, Jennifer (2019). ‘I want to keep up with the younger generation’ - older adults and the web: a generational divide or generational collide? International Journal of Lifelong Education 38(5): 566-578.
• Costa, Cristina, Hammond, Michael & Younie, Sarah (2019). Theorising technology in education: an introduction. Technology, Pedagogy and Education 1.
• Costa, Cristina, Burke, Ciaran & Murphy, Mark (2019). Capturing habitus: theory, method and reflexivity. International Journal of Research & Method in Education 42(1): 19-32.
• Murphy, Mark & Costa, Cristina (2019). Digital scholarship, higher education and the future of the public intellectual. Futures 111: 205-212.
• Costa, Cristina, Murphy, Mark, Pereira, Ana Lucia & Taylor, Yvette (2018). Higher education students’ experiences of digital learning and (dis)empowerment. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology
• Costa, Cristina & Harris, Lisa (2017). Reconsidering the technologies of intellectual inquiry in curriculum design. The Curriculum Journal 28(4): 559.
• Costa, Cristina (2016). Double gamers: academics between fields. British Journal of Sociology of Education 37(7): 993.
• Costa, Cristina (2015). Outcasts on the inside: academics reinventing themselves online. International Journal of Lifelong Education 34(2): 194.
• Costa, Cristina (2013). The habitus of digital scholars. Research in Learning Technology 21(1): 21274.

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

• Singh, Samia (Illustrator) Taylor, Yvette & Costa, Cristina (2020). Estranged Students: (Widening) Participation Postcards.

Report

• Costa, Cristina & Li, Huaping (2022). The Online Response of Higher Education to the Pandemic: A Snapshot of International Students’ Experiences in the UK. School of Education. Durham, School of Education, Durham University.
• Costa, Cristina, Li, Huaping & Singh, Samia (Illustrator) (2022). The Online Response of Higher Education to the Pandemic: A Snapshot of International Students’ Experiences in the UK. School of Education. Durham, School of Education, Durham University.
• Taylor, Yvette Costa, Cristina & Singh, Samia (Illustrator) (2019). Estranged Students: Illustrating the Issues. University of Strathclyde.