I am a facilitator of learning, informed by research and enjoy working with students and colleagues within Higher Education. I am currently an academic and the Race and Equality Lead in the School of Education, Environment and Development (SEED) at the University of Manchester. Prior to joining Manchester, I held teaching and research positions in Bournemouth and then at Nottingham Trent, during which I provided leadership to a University’s Research Staff Association, a Special Interest Group (SIG) on Education and International Development and a Professional Placement Program, amongst others.
I obtained a PhD from Canterbury Christ Church University in the broader subject of Education and sub-area of Development Education. My thesis, submitted in 2014 and captioned “Rethinking university engagement to address local priority needs within the context of community development: a case study” built a systematic understanding of how people construct the existing and potential role of the university, and what might be required to meet their aspirations and desires in more developed and dialogical ways within the context of community development.
Prior to completing a PhD, I obtained a master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Management from the University of Nottingham in 2011 and a bachelor degree in Management from the University of Buea in 2005.
Teaching
At the University of Manchester, I teach on the postgraduate program “Education for a Sustainable Environment” and co-lead two course units, namely: “Community and Policy in Sustainability Education” and “Planning and Piloting Research in Sustainability Education”.
I am also a member of the Higher Education, Green Research in Education and the Power, Inequalities and Activism scholarship and research groups within Manchester Institute of Education.
Research interests
I am particularly interested in researching the role of Indigenous Knowledge Systems within the nexus between Education (broadly defined) and Sustainable Development, with a key focus on SDG 13 (Climate Action) but also other SDGs. Other subjects of interest include decolonisation, widening participation, epistemic justice, service learning, and local/community development.
In line with my research interests, I am completing a project in Cameroon and Zambia, respectively, on “The Indigenisation of Education for Climate Change Adaptation”.
Most recently, I was a recipient of the prestigious New Investigator Fellowship worth £200K under the Humanities Research Investment Fund to take on the following project over two years: “Understanding the Learning of Indigenous Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Regions of Chongwe and Kasenseli in Zambia: Towards an Inclusive Response (TIR) in Building Back Better”.
In realising my research objectives, a set of approaches come to the fore, notably Interpretive Case Studies, Ethnographies, Action Participatory Research and Indigenous Methodologies. I am the founder of the Indigenous Knowledge for Sustainable Development network of academics and practitioners, and lead editor of two important books in my discipline, namely: “Indigenous Methodologies, Research, and Practices for Sustainable Development” (Springer); “Practices, Perceptions and Prospects for Climate Change Education in Africa” (Springer).
Dr Marcellus Mbah 