Professor Dina Kiwan

Professor Dina Kiwan

School of Education
Professor in Comparative Education
Head of Department for the Dept of Education and Social Justice (ESJ)

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 6734
Email
d.j.kiwan@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
School of Education
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham
B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Dina Kiwan is a Professor in Comparative Education, having joined the department in January 2017. She is College of Social Sciences (CoSS) Deputy Director for Research and Knowledge Transfer, and has held other leadership roles as Head of Department of Education and Social Justice, and Director of Internationalisation for the School of Education. Her interests centre around sociological and politico-philosophical examinations of inclusive citizenship through the lens of education policy, naturalisation policy and migration policy, in particular in the context of pluralist / multicultural societies, and also societies in conflict.  These interests in critical policy analysis are complemented by an interest in how those deemed to be ‘marginalised’ and vulnerable’ constitute themselves as political actors. She has extensive and long-standing academic  and policy experience and networks in the UK and internationally, in the field of citizenship. She is also an appointed member of the government's Migration Advisory Committee (MAC).

Feedback and office hours

Wednesdays 9.30am – 12.30pm or please email to set up a time to meet

Qualifications

  • PhD Education, Institute of Education, University of London, 2006
  • MEd  Educational Assessment, University of Bristol, 2001
  • MA Psychology, Harvard University, 1996
  • BA (Hons), MA (Oxon ), Psychology and Physiology, University of Oxford, 1991

Biography

Dina Kiwan is a Professor in Comparative Education, having joined the department in January 2017. She is College of Social Sciences (CoSS) Deputy Director for Research and Knowledge Transfer, and has held other leadership roles as Head of Department of Education and Social Justice, and Director of Internationalisation for the School of Education. She has an interdisciplinary background in psychology, sociology and education, educated at the universities of Oxford, Harvard and UCL. In 2015-16, she was the Centre for Lebanese Studies Fellow at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, and Associate Professor in Sociology, at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon from 2012-2017. Previously she was a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Citizenship Studies, at Birkbeck College, University of London, UK (2006-2012).

Her interests centre around sociological and politico-philosophical examinations of inclusive citizenship through the lens of education policy, naturalisation policy and migration policy, in particular in the context of pluralist / multicultural societies, and also societies in conflict.  These interests in critical policy analysis are complemented by an interest in how those deemed to be ‘marginalised’ and vulnerable’ constitute themselves as political actors. She has extensive and long-standing experience and networks in the UK and internationally, in the field of citizenship. Publications include Kiwan (2023, in press). Academic Freedom and the Transnational Production of Knowledge (Cambridge University press), Kiwan (2008). Education for Inclusive Citizenship (Routledge), and Kiwan, D. (ed). (2013) Naturalisation Policies, Education and Citizenship: Multicultural and Multination Societies in International Perspective (Palgrave Macmillan).

Professor Kiwan currently leads the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) AHRC Network Plus Disability Under Siege programme (£2M; 2020-2024) working with partners in Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine to address the challenge that most children with disabilities never go to school. She has also received AHRC funding (£100K 2023-2024) for an International Disability network for Global Development addressing the challenge of deinstitutionalisation of people with disabilities in the Middle East.  Other recently funded research led as PI includes a £150,000 15-month grant funded by the AHRC in collaboration with the UN to develop a global framework for a disability inclusive recovery response from Covid-19 (September 2020 – December 2021); and a £100,000 for a  9-month comparative case study of the impact of Covid-19 on people with disabilities in Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine (March 2021 – December 2021). Previous funding includes being PI for an Oxfam-funded project on women’s leadership in Lebanon, Jordan and Irbil whilst at the American University of Beirut (2014-2015). From 2016-2019, Professor Kiwan was a network member (Co-I) on a Leverhulme 6-country international network award on social change and youth activism (2016-2019), with partners in Australia, Canada, Hungary, Singapore and the UK.

Professor Kiwan has provided consultancy to the UK government in the domain of inclusive citizenship, through extensive networks developed over the last 20 years, playing a leading role in changing academic and public policy discourses on inclusive citizenship, in the fields of citizenship education policy and naturalisation policy in the UK. She has been appointed to the government’s Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) (2021-2024) recognising her substantive policy contributions in the field.

Teaching

Professor Kiwan has taught a wide range of sociology of education modules and programmes, including having been Programme Director for International Studies in Education, and Programme Director for International Studies in Education and Development. Modules have included Human Rights, Citizenship and the Environment, International Perspectives on Education, and Research methods.

Postgraduate supervision

Dina currently supervises students (ESRC scholarship, Global Challenges PhD scholarship and University Scholarship) on the following topics: disability, education and social movements in the Middle East, Syrian refugees and higher education, global citizenship and international schooling, Black British women’s experiences of education, and ethnic minority students’ conceptions of fairness in school. She has experience of supervising MA and PhD students on a wide range of topics including citizenship, civil society, activism, conflict, decolonisation, human rights, ethnic and religious diversity, disability, gender, sexuality, migration, refugees, intersectionality. Country/regional expertise includes the UK and the Middle East.

Doctoral research

PhD title
An inclusive citizenship? conceptions of citizenship in the citizenship education policymaking process in England

Research

The Disability Under Siege project is supported by the Global Challenges Research Fund through AHRC (£2M, 2020 -2024). This is a co-created programme bringing together a community of researchers, educational practitioners, advocacy organisations and disability-led groups in the UK and Middle East.  It aims to contribute to research efforts by providing intellectual and logistical resources that local practitioners need to transform education provision for children with disabilities in conflict-affected countries. Co-Is and partners in Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine bring complementary expertise in the fields of education under occupation, inclusion, public health and social action, visual culture and participative arts, disability and social justice. Please visit the website for information on funded network and engagement projects, commissioned research projects, reports and other activities, as well as a range of other AHRC-funded projects.

This includes a collaborative initiative between AHRC and the UNPRPD (2020-2022) to develop an evidence-informed Analytical Framework to promote and support the implementation of disability-inclusive response and recovery from COVID-19.

Resilient Cities’ interdisciplinary cross-university research project (Sao Paulo and Beirut), funded by University of Birmingham Institute for Global Innovation (IGI), £400,000.  Co-I, and work stream lead for Family, groups and community resilience (2018-2021).

Leverhulme International Network (2016-2019): Youth, education and citizenship with partners in UK, Australia, Canada, Hungary, Lebanon, Singapore.

PI, Oxfam funded project (2015): women’s leadership and participation in Lebanon, Jordan, and Northern Iraq (Kurdistan).

Regional Manager, covering Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Turkey. Varieties of Democracy Project (V-Dem) : an ambitious, multiyear effort to produce new indicators of democracy for all countries since 1900. 

Mellon Foundation Fellowship (2012-13): project examining constructions of ‘citizenship’ and ‘learning’ in humanities and social science curricula and university strategic initiatives at the American University of Beirut.

European Integration Fund (EIF) grant jointly with Compas (ESRC Centre for Migration, Policy and Society), University of Oxford (2010-2011: on the integration of migrants applying for British Citizenship. This research was a major study - the first of its kind, evaluating the nature of the processes of integration and acquisition of citizenship in the UK.

ESRC-funded seminar series (2009-2011) on ‘Education for national citizenship in the context of devolution and ethno-religious conflict’, with special issue of Ethnicities, 2011.

Fellowship of International Summer Institute on Citizenship and Migration, funded by Andrew F. Mellon Foundation and Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation (2007-2009).

ESRC Project (Identities and Social Action Programme), ‘South Asian and White Women’s Spaces of Sociality and Celebration’ (1/2005-12/2007 - 3 years, £215,000, with 1 year extension to December 2008, £14,000), named member of the research team from September 2007 – December 2008.

Publications

Books

Kiwan, D. (2023, in press). Academic Freedom and the Production of Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Ian Davies, Li-Ching Ho, Dina Kiwan, Carla Peck, Andrew Peterson, Edda Sant, Yusef Waghid. (2018) (ed). The Palgrave Handbook of Global Citizenship and Education. Basingstoke, UK and New York, US: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kiwan, D. (2014) (ed). Human Rights and Education. London and New York: Routledge. (based on Special Issue, Cambridge Journal of Education).

Kiwan, D. (2013) (ed).  Naturalisation Policies, Education and Citizenship:
Multicultural and Multi-nation Societies in International Perspective.  Basingstoke:  Palgrave Macmillan.

Kiwan, D. (2008).  Education for Inclusive Citizenship. London and New York: Routledge. Awarded joint second prize (£1,000) for Best book published in 2008 in Education by the Society of Educational Studies (SES).

Journal Special Issues

Kiwan, D. (2012) (ed). ‘Human Rights and Citizenship’ special issue, Cambridge Journal of Education. 42(1).

Kiwan, D. (2011) (ed). ‘Education for national citizenship in the context of devolution and ethno-religious conflict’ special issue, Ethnicities, 11 (3).

Kiwan, D. with Starkey, H. (Eds.) (2009). ‘Civil Society, democracy and education’, in Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 4(2) (July, 2009).

Annette, J. Starkey, H. and Kiwan, D (Eds). (2008).‘Education for Democratic Citizenship: diversity and national identity’, London Review of Education, 6 (1).

Peer–refereed articles

Kubenz, V. and Kiwan, D. (2023. ‘“Vulnerable” or Systematically Excluded? Covid-19’s Impact on Disabled People in Low- and Middle-Income Countries’, Social Inclusion, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v11i1.5671.

Mitwalli, S. Kiwan, D. , Abdul Samad, L. and Giacaman, R. (2022).‘The Double Burden of COVID-19 and Israeli Military Rule on Persons with Disabilities in the West Bank of the Occupied Palestinian Territory"’, Frontiers in Psychology

Kubenz, V. and Kiwan, D. (2022). ‘Locked down and locked out: the role of the built environment in the exclusion of disabled people during the pandemic’, Environments by Design: Health, Wellbeing and Place, AMPS Proceedings Series. ISSN 2398-9467.

Kiwan, D. (2022). ‘Dis/abled decolonial human and citizen futures’, Citizenship Studies, 25th Anniversary Special Issue Edition.

Evans, M. Peterson, A., Fülöp, M., Kiwan, D., B-Y Sim , J. and Davies, I. (2020). ‘Pedagogy and youth civic engagement: Shifting understandings, emergent considerations and persisting challenges’, Citizenship Teaching &. Learning, 15(2), 155-186.

Peterson, A., Evans, M., Fülöp, M., Kiwan, D., B-Y Sim , J. and Davies, I. (2020). ‘Youth activism and education across contexts: towards a framework of critical engagements’, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, DOI: 10.1080/03057925.2020.1850237

Kiwan, D. (2020). “Inclusion and citizenship: Syrian and Palestinian refugees in Lebanon”, International Journal of Inclusive Education, Special Issue: Inclusive education and refugees. Kiwan, D. (2019). ‘Special educational needs and the global middle class: navigating local, national and global citizenship in the Middle East’, Compare. Kiwan, D. (2017). ‘American liberal education and the civic university: ‘citizenship’ and ‘learning’ at the American University of Beirut, Geografiska Annaler B.

Kiwan, D. (2017). ‘Emotive acts of citizenship, social change and knowledge production in Lebanon’,Interface, 9(2), 114-142.

Kiwan, D. (2015). ‘Contesting citizenship in the Arab revolutions: youth, women and refugees’, Democracy and Security, 11 (2), 129-144.

Kiwan, D. (2014). ‘Citizenship in a multi-nation and multicultural context: the case of the UK’, Awraq, 10, 63-78. (translated form the English and published in Spanish and Arabic).

Kiwan, D (2012). ‘Revisiting the relationship between citizenship and human rights’, in ‘Human Rights and Citizenship’ special issue, Cambridge Journal of Education. 42(1), 1-7.

Kiwan, D (2011). ‘ “National” citizenship in the UK?  Education and naturalisation policies in the context of internal division’, in ‘Education for national citizenship in the context of devolution and ethno-religious conflict’ special issue, Ethnicities, 11 (3).

Kiwan, D (2010). ‘Highly skilled guest-workers in the UK’, Special Issue of Policy and Society. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.polsoc.2010.09.003.

Kiwan, D. (2009). ‘Civil society, democracy and education: introductory remarks’, Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 4 (2), 83-86.

Kiwan, D. (2008). “A journey to citizenship in the UK”, International Journal on Multicultural societies, 10 (1), 60-75.

Kiwan, D. (2008). ‘Diversity and Identity in Societal context: introductory remarks’, in London Review of Education, 6 (1), 27-30. (special issue:  ‘Education for Democratic Citizenship : diversity and national identity’, co-edited by Annette, Starkey and Kiwan).

Kiwan, D. (2008). “Citizenship education at the cross-roads: four models of citizenship and their implications for ethnic and religious diversity”, Oxford Review of Education, 34, 1, 39-58.

Kiwan, D. (2007).  “Uneasy relationships? Conceptions of ‘citizenship’, ‘democracy’ and ‘diversity’ in the English citizenship education policymaking process”, Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 2(3), 223-235.

Kiwan, D. (2007). “Developing a model of inclusive citizenship:  ‘institutional multiculturalism’ and the citizen-state relationship, Theory and Research in Education, 5(2), 225-240.

Kiwan, D.  (2006). “Constructing citizenship in the education policymaking process in England:  an act of citizenship?”, International Journal of Learning, Vol 13 (6), 131-138.).

Kiwan, D. (2005). “Human Rights and Citizenship:  an unjustifiable conflation?”, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Vol. 39 (1), 37-50.

Chapters in books

Kiwan, D. (2023 in press). ‘The contested scope of academic freedom’ in H. Tam (Ed) Who’s Afraid of Political Education?, Bristol: Bristol University Press.

Kiwan, D. (2020). ‘Race, gender, disability and their intersections under the impact of COVID-19’, in UNESCO (2020). International Understanding and Cooperation in Education in the Post-Corona World. South Korea: UNESCO APCEIU.

Kiwan, D. (2019). ‘Security and Development’, in J. Midgely, R. Surrender & L. Alfers (Eds). Handbook of Social Policy and Development. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Kiwan, D. (2018). ‘Constructions of “youth” and “activism” in Lebanon’. In Peterson A., Stahl G., Soong H. (eds) Palgrave Handbook of Citizenship and Education.

Kiwan, D. (2018). ‘Middle East’, in Ian Davies, Li-Ching Ho, Dina Kiwan, Carla Peck, Andrew Peterson, Edda Sant, Yusef Waghid.(2017 forthcoming) (ed).The Palgrave Handbook of Global Citizenship and Education. Basingstoke, UK and New York, US: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kiwan, D. (2016). ‘Race and Ethnicity’ In Andrew Peterson, Rob Hattam, Michalinos Zembylas and James Arthur (eds). (2016). The Palgrave International Handbook of Education for Citizenship and Social Justice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kiwan, D. (2016). ‘Syrian and Syrian Palestinian women in Lebanon: ‘actors of citizenship’?’. In M. Shalaby, and V. Moghadam (eds). Empowering Women after the Arab Spring. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kiwan, D. (2015). ‘Citizenship, inclusion and education’, in M. A. Peters (ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Springer: Singapore.

Kiwan, D. (2014). ‘Emerging Forms of Citizenship in the Arab World’ in E. Isin and P. Nyers (eds) Routledge Global Handbook of Citizenship Studies.  London and New York:  Routledge.

Kiwan, D. (2013). ‘Introduction’ in D. Kiwan (ed). Naturalisation Policies, Education and Citizenship: Multicultural and Multi-nation Societies in International Perspective.  Basingstoke:  Palgrave Macmillan.

Kiwan, D. (2013). ‘Learning to be “British”? education and naturalisation in the UK’, in D. Kiwan (ed). Naturalisation Policies, Education and Citizenship: Multicultural and Multi-nation Societies in International Perspective.  Basingstoke:  Palgrave Macmillan.

Kiwan, D. (2013). ‘Conclusion’ in D. Kiwan (ed). Naturalisation Policies, Education and Citizenship: Multicultural and Multi-nation Societies in International Perspective.  Basingstoke:  Palgrave Macmillan.

Kiwan, D. (2012). ‘Multicultural citizenship and social cohesion: reflecting on the case study of England’. In M Shuayb (ed). Rethinking Education for Social Cohesion: International Case Studies. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kiwan, D. (2012). ‘Multicultural Education’ in Routledge Education Reader.  London:  Routledge.

Kiwan, D. (2010). Multiculturalism and Mutual Understanding’ in Crick B. and Lockyer, A. (eds). Active Citizenship: what could it achieve and how? Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Jackson, S., Cox, R., Khatwa, M. and Kiwan, D.* (2009).‘Living London: Women negotiating identities in a post-colonial city’ in Identity in the 21st Century: New Trends in Changing Times Palgrave Macmillan. [volume of ESRC Identities Programme findings]* denotes listing of authors in alphabetical order.

Kiwan, D. (2009). “Citizenship at KS3 and KS4”, in Equality in the Secondary School, M.Coles (ed), London: Continuum.

Kiwan, D. (2008). “Towards a theory of inclusive participative citizenship”, in G. Titley and A. Lentin (eds), The Politics of Diversity, Strasbourg: Council of Europe.

Kiwan, D. and Kiwan, N. (2005).  “Citizenship education: the French and English experience”, p.136-158, in Young People in Transition: Becoming Citizens, C. Pole, J. Pilcher and J. Williams (eds), Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

Policy publications

Migration Advisory Committee Annual Report (2022). 

Migration Advisory Committee Annual Report (2021). 

Kubenz, V. and Kiwan, D. (2021). The impact of Covid-19 on disabled people in low and middle income countries. (UNPRPD analytic framework). Deardoff, D. K., Kiwan, D. and Pak, S-Y. (2018). Global Citizenship Education: Taking It Local. UNESCO: Paris, France. 

Deardoff, D. K., Kiwan, D. and Pak, S-Y. (2018). Global Citizenship Education: Taking It Local. UNESCO: Paris, France. 

Kiwan, D., Farah, M., Annan, R. and Jaber, H. (2015). Women’s participation and leadership in Lebanon, Jordan and Erbil (N. Iraq): moving from individual to collective change.
Oxfam Report.

Kiwan, D. and Evans, M. (2015). Global Citizenship Education. Topics and Learning Objectives by Age. UNESCO: Paris, France.

Gidley, B. Cangiano, A. Khor, Z. and Kiwan, D. (2012). Citizenship and Integration in the UK. Oxford: Compas.

Kiwan, D. (2007). Becoming a British Citizen: a learning journey. London: Ministry of Justice. Pamphlet for Lord Goldsmith Review of Citizenship, Ministry of Justice.

Ajegbo, K., Kiwan, D. and Sharma, S. (2007). Curriculum review: Diversity and Citizenship London: DfES.

Crick et al. (2003): The New and the Old: the report of the “Life in the United Kingdom” Advisory Group. London: Home Office.

Crick et al. (2003): The New and the old: the interim report for consultation of the “Life in the United Kingdom” Advisory Group. London: Home Office.

View all publications in research portal

Policy experience

Policy contributions and reports

Invited chapter author on ‘Rights and citizenship’ in Chapter 9: ‘The Paradoxes of Democracy and the rule of law’ of International Panel of Social Progress (IPSP - coordinated by Princeton University, chaired by Nobel Prize Winner, Professor Amartya Sen), to be published by Cambridge University Press. The IPSP aims to “harness the competence of hundreds of experts about social issues and will deliver a report addressed to all social actors, movements, organizations, politicians and decision-makers, in order to provide them with the best expertise on questions that bear on social change”. (See: https://www.ipsp.org/aim)

Kiwan, D. (2016). ‘Lebanon case study’. Global Pluralism Centre (supported by His Royal Highness the Aga Khan and the government of Canada), Ottawa, Canada.

Kiwan, D., Farah, M., Annan, R. and Jaber, H. (2015). Women’s participation and leadership in Lebanon, Jordan and Erbil (N. Iraq): moving from individual to collective change.

Oxfam Report.

Kiwan, D. and Evans, M. (2015). Global Citizenship Education. Topics and Learning Objectives by Age.  UNESCO: Paris, France.

Gidley, B. Cangiano, A. Khor, Z. and Kiwan, D. (2012). Citizenship and Integration in the UK. Oxford: Compas.

Kiwan, D. (2007). Becoming a British Citizen: a learning journey. London: Ministry of Justice. Pamphlet for Lord Goldsmith Review of Citizenship, Ministry of Justice.

Ajegbo, K., Kiwan, D. and Sharma, S. (2007). Curriculum review: Diversity and Citizenship London:  DfES.

Crick et al. (2003): The New and the Old: the report of the “Life in the United Kingdom”

Advisory Group.  London:  Home Office.

Crick et al. (2003): The New and the old:  the interim report for consultation of the “Life in the United Kingdom” Advisory Group.  London:  Home Office. 

Government committee work

2017: Written evidence - House of Lords Committee on Citizenship & civic engagement (published).

2008/09: Member of Experts Advisory Board for Ministry of Justice Youth Citizenship Commission.

11/07-03/08: Member of Advisory Board to Lord Goldsmith’s Review of Citizenship, Ministry of Justice.

07/06/06: Summoned to give oral evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on Education and Skills Inquiry into Citizenship Education.

11/03-: Member of Children of New Arrivals Advisory Group, managed by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA).

07/03-:Member of Advisory Panel for Implementation of the ‘Life in the United Kingdom’ Advisory Group; member of subgroup 2 on the development of web-based resources and teacher training; member of publications editorial subgroup for the production of the ‘Living in Britain’ booklet.

09/2002-: Member of Home Office ‘Life in the United Kingdom’ Advisory Group, with the following terms of reference: “To advise the Home Secretary on the method, conduct and implementation of the ‘Life in the United Kingdom’ naturalisation test.”

Research consultancies

UNESCO; Carnegie Middle East Center, Beirut; Home Office, Ministry of Justice; Department of Education, UK.

 

Journal Editorships:

2017-: Member of Editorial Board, Compare: a journal of comparative and international education.