Dr Sophie Meller

Assistant Professor

Department: Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing

Sophie's main role, within the department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing at the University of Northumbria, is to lead the area of Initial Teacher Education (ITE). Within this role she works with the ITE team and liaises closely with programme leaders and the Head of Subject in the strategic planning for the area. Her pedagogy is rooted in a belief that education has the ability to empower (Freire, 1970) and that inclusive practice is fundamental to effective teaching and learning. This philosophy is reflected by her having won the Student Led Teaching Award for Northumbria’s ‘Best lecturer’ with the certifcate noting that 'she always has a positive attitude', 'creates a comfortable talking environment' and 'listens to all students'. In addition, Sophie is a Pro:NE mentor, working to widen access and participation for racially minoritised ethnic students and staff in postgraduate research.

Before joining Northumbria University as an academic she was a teacher, and leader, in schools within the Gateshead and North Tyneside Local Authorities.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Sophie's research interests are around the Mentoring of Student Teachers, Simulated Learning, Inter-Professional Learning and other areas associated with Social Justice, such as Widening Participation.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Climate change mitigation and workers’ interests: why framing a Green New Deal as redistributive and security-enhancing is key to popularity, Ardron, K., Stark, G., Meller, S., Reed, H., Johnson, M., Johnson, E. 7 Apr 2025, In: F1000Research
How can academics remove barriers for the most excluded? A call for advocacy from lived experience in the UK and Ireland, Efemini, C., Forster, N., Gallagher, M., Hardill, I., Heslop, K., Littlefair, D., Marsden, N., Meller, S., Ó’Tuama, S., Toyne, A., Johnson, M. Nov 2024, In: Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning
The Knowledge Exchange Framework and Levelling Up: understanding the importance of engagement for students and employers, Heslop, K., Meller, S., Johnson, M. 17 Sep 2024, How to Enable Engagement Between Universities and Business, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar
Virtual reality check: A realist evaluation protocol for exploring the use of Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) to support pre-service teachers’ understanding of approaches to behaviour management, Woodley, H., Mulholland, K., Nichol, D., Counihan, C., Luke, C., Gray, W., Meller, S., Herridge, D., Anderson, A., Ross, J. 1 Feb 2024, In: Journal of Applied Learning and Teaching
Enhancing Support and Recognition for Teaching Mentors, Meller, S., Allan, J., Elsdon, M., Hayman, R., Mathieson, S. 27 Jun 2023, The North East Universities Consortium Three Rivers Conference
"The Bits of the Job Beyond Teaching": Can simulation-based learning in Initial Teacher Education better prepare students for real-life as a teacher?  , Mulholland, K., Nichol, D., Herridge, D., Anderson, A., Luke, C., Gray, W., Meller, S., Counihan, C. 13 Sep 2023
Using simulation in a primary education context to encourage student engagement and professional learning, Gray, W., Luke, C., Meller, S., Mulholland, K., Herridge, D., Anderson, A., Nichol, D. 14 Apr 2023, European Teacher Education Network (ETEN) Annual Conference
Welcome Matviy: Working in staff–student partnerships to develop simulation-based learning to support teachers’ understanding of EAL, Luke, C., Counihan, C., Nichol, D., Meller, S., Mulholland, K., Gray, W., Anderson, A., Herridge, D., Karikis, D., Sanderson, R., Collard, E., Hill, R. Sep 2023
‘We need more conversations like this’: The impacts of working with student pedagogic consultants in developing simulation-based pedagogies, Mulholland, K., Nichol, D., Counihan, C., Herridge, D., Anderson, A., Meller, S., Luke, C., Gray, W. 15 Oct 2023, In: Journal Of Applied Learning and Teaching
“Everyone’s talking about Oscar.”: Using simulation in a primary education context to encourage student engagement and professional learning, Luke, C., Meller, S., Anderson, A., Gray, W., Nichol, D., Herridge, D., Mulholland, K. 3 Nov 2022, UCET Annual Conference 2022

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Participating in a conference, workshop, ...: The use of simulation-based approaches for teacher education 2024
Organising a conference, workshop, ...: Advance HE Teaching and Learning Conference 2023 2023

PGR Supervision

Carl Luke A critical participatory action research study of the use of simulation-based learning as a continuing professional development tool for teachers in their early career phase. Start Date: 01/10/2023