Dr Omolabake Fakunle

Senior Lecturer, Chancellor's Fellow

Biography

Background

Following a 19 year professional career in accounting, auditing, banking and entrepreneurship, I moved to the UK in 2011 where I completed a BA (Hons) Business Admin (1st Class), MSc Educational Research and PhD in Education.

My research examines conceptualisations and enactment of inclusivity in internationalisation in educational policies and practices. I am interested in the connections between internationalisation, decoloniality, and employability. I use research-informed evidence to underpin theorisation/conceptual frameworks about micro-internationalisation to highlight individuals' rationales for engaging in internationalisation activities, including student and staff mobility, intercultural exchanges [within 'home' or digital environments], and multi-faceted dimensions of international partnerships in global education. The focus of my research on the micro-level dimension informs questions about how, or to what extent inclusivity is centred or embedded in macro-internationalisation processes and practices at the institutional level, and within national, and international contexts. Inclusivity is at the core of my research, teaching, EDI leadership, and consultancy. 

I am part of the MHSES Institute for Education Community & Society.

I am a past winner (2018) of the Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA) Estelle Brisard Memorial Prize awarded to an early career educational researcher for excellence and promise in their work. I had also won the SERA’s 3-Minute Capsule Competition in 2017.

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

Qualifications

PhD Education, University of Edinburgh

MSc Educational Research, University of Edinburgh

BA (Hons) Business Administration (1st Class), University of Central Lancashire

HND Accountancy, Yaba College of Technology

Responsibilities & affiliations

Director, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Co-convenor, Race and Inclusivity in Global Education Network (RIGEN)

Course organiser - Higher Education in the Global Context (MSc, Education)

Lead, EDI (Decolonisation) Curriculum Transformation Project

Fellow - Higher Education Academy

Steering Group Member - Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) Project on Decoloniality (2021-2024)

Coordinator - MSc Education (General) Pathway (2019 to 2022)

Lead - Moray House Race Equality Subgroup (2020-21)

International Advisory Board Member - Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education (JCIHE)

ECR Network Co-convernor - Scottish Educational Research Association

ECR Co-convenor - Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE)

Leadership Team Member - Universitas 21 (U21) Forum for International Networking in Education (2017-2020)

Reviewer - World Education Research Association 

Convenor - Internationalisation Research Group (2014-2019)

Committee Member - School of Education Internationalisation Steering Group (2014-15)

Postgraduate teaching

Current and past taught courses

Higher Education in the Global Context

Education Policies and the Politics of Education 

Comparative Analysis in Education

Research Methods (Sources of Knowledge and Conceptualising Research)

International Perspectives in Education and Training

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Areas of interest for supervision

I am interested in supervising topics on:

- Internationalisation of higher education (including policy development in different global regions)

- International student/staff mobility

- Intercultural experiences in education

- Inclusive internationalisation

- Internationalising the curriculum

- Digitilisation of international higher education

- Graduate employability

 

 

 

Current PhD students supervised

Jingting Hu

Topic: Examining transnational higher education from staff perceptions of their academic roles in a Sino-Foreign university

Project activity

Funded projects

2021 -2023: Principal Investigator (PI) - Developing a framework for inclusiveness in internationalisation. Institute for Academic Development PTAS Award

2021- 2022: PI - A mixed method exploration of perceptions on cultural inclusivity in a globalised world: A case study of an Edinburgh school community. RKEI Innovation Fund, MHSES

2021 -2022: Co-Investigator - Understanding Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Edinburgh-based school pupils’ higher education decision-making. Widening Participation, University of Edinburgh (2021-2022)

2021 -2022: Co-Investigator - Postgraduate international students’ extra curriculum experiences in Australia and Scotland, England: Benefits, challenges and implications to enhance employability. LaTrobe University

2019: Co-researcher - Evaluation of phase one of the South East Improvement Collaborative (SEIC) Scotland. SEIC Commissioned Project

2017 - 2018: Principal Investigator – Graduate Collaborative multinational (Australia, England, Scotland & the United States) study of doctoral researchers’ motivation for, engagement with and perceptions of international networking for personal and professional development. Funder - Universitas 21 

2017: Co-researcher – Focus-On project on national policy development for postgraduate research students’ who teach.  Funder - Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Scotland

2016-2017: Research Assistant – Coping with failure: Enhancing students’ career resilience. Careers Service funded research project

2016: Project Lead - Empirical exploration of Masters and PhD Applicants Journey to three University Colleges.  PhD Internship project, Student Recruitment and Admissions, University of Edinburgh

2014: Project Lead - Staff and PGR students’ perceptions of internationalisation at a School of Education in Scotland   

Invited speaker

2021- American Council on Education (ACE)/AIEA Internationalization Collaborative

2020- Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Missing Conference Symposium

2020- Lagos State University (LASU), Nigeria Medical Student Employability Symposium

2019 - American Educational Research Association Conference, Toronto. Human Library Session

2018 - Society for Research Into Higher Education. Employability Seminar 

2018- Transforming lives in Africa Symposium, University of Central Lancashire

2018 - Royal Society of Edinburgh – Roundtable Discussion 

2018 - American Educational Research Association Conference, New York. Human Library Panel 

2017- Internationalization seminar, Lund University, Sweden

2014 - Internationalisation Seminar, Moray House School of Education, Edinburgh - Keynote speaker 

2012 - University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) Undergraduate Conference – Panelist 

Papers delivered

Ficarra, J, & Fakunle, O. (2022) Centering local knowledge through work: Can internships facilitate decoloniality in global learning? Forum on Education Abroad | Career Integrated Global Learning Conference, Milan

Fakunle, O., McCune, V., & Xu, Y., (2022) Staff perspectives on embedding inclusiveness in internationalised classrooms. University of Edinburgh Learning and Teaching Conference, Edinburgh

Fakunle, O. (2019) Comparing international student perspectives on employability and institutional approach. Society for Research into Higher Education Annual Conference, Wales

Izard, B., Fakunle O., Dollinger, M., & Alla-Mensah, J. (2019) Doctoral student networking: Motivations, trends and barriers. American Education Research Association (AERA) Annual Conference. Toronto

Fakunle, O., Izard, B., Allah-Mensah, J., Dollinger, M. (2018) Can the changing shape of higher education include conferences as learning sites for excellent doctoral training? Findings from a comparative multi-country study. Society for Research into Higher Education Newer Researchers Conference, Wales

Fakunle, O. (2018) New inequalities? The exclusion of international student employability in higher education discourses. Work, Employment and Society Conference, Belfast

Fakunle, O, Allah-Mensah, J., Izard, B., Dollinger, M. (2018) A multi-country comparative study of the networking experiences of doctoral students. European Conference on Educational Research, Bolzano

Fakunle, O. (2017) Exploring graduate employability through the international student lifecycle. Society for Research into Higher Education Annual Conference 2017, Wales

Fakunle, O. (2017) Contextualising social justice in an increasingly internationalised higher education sector: a case for international students in Scottish higher education Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA) Conference, Ayr

Fakunle, O. (2017) Developing international student graduate employability in a globally competitive higher education landscape. Canadian Society for Higher Education Conference, Toronto

Fakunle, O. (2017) Mobile, yet constrained: international graduate employability. Educational Futures and Fractures Conference, University of Strathclyde

Macfarlane, D. & Fakunle, O (2017) Focus On: The PGR student experience. Quality Strategy Network Conference, Aston University

Fakunle, O. (2016) Quo Vadis - national context, internationalisation and graduate employability. British Council Going Global Conference, Cape Town 

Fakunle, O. (2016) Student Outcome of Internationalisation: Exploring Extracultural Learning.  American Education Research Association (AERA) Centennial Meeting Washington DC

Fakunle, O. (2015), Examining international students perceptions of their employability during their one year UK Business masters. Moray House Interweaving Conference, Edinburgh

Fakunle, O. (2014) Expanding worldview: examining graduate competencies developed during international study. Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA) Conference, Edinburgh

Fakunle, O. (2014) Transformative effect of individual internationalisation Edinburgh University Student Association Internationalisation Conference (Awarded Best Presenter)

Fakunle, O. & Allison, P. (2014). The impact of Internationalisation: evaluating specific outcome at the individual level. British Council Going Global Conference, Miami

Fakunle, O. (2013) Widening international horizons in Scottish Universities: Exploring current challenges of internationalisation Scotland. Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA) Conference, Glasgow

Fakunle O. (2012) Understanding the decision-making process of international students applying to study on a one-year Top-Up Business undergraduate programme in a UK university. British Conference of Undergraduate Research, Warwick University

Fakunle, O. (2012) Enrolling on a one-year Top-up undergraduate degree program in a UK Business School: contrasting motivations for International students and UK students University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) Undergraduate student Conference, Preston

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