The two editors of the book 'Doing Critical and Creative Research in Adult Education', Bernie Grummell and Fergal Finnegan would like to invite you to a dialogue.

Scholarship on adult education has fuelled a high level of methodological creativity and innovation because to conduct critical researchwith rather than on people requires new ways of thinking of approaching research. Doing Critical and Creative Research in Adult Education brings together both leading and emerging scholars in adult education research in order to capture the vitality and complexity of contemporary adult education research. This includes contributions on biographical, narrative, embodied, arts and media-based and ethnographic methods alongside the critical use of quantitative and mixed methods. We believe this distinctive and rich methodological contribution in adult education has a general relevance and usefulness for all researchers and students in the social science and humanities, which draws attention to the importance of critical and creative participatory learning processes in human life and learning.

The editors will discuss the background and content of the book alongside trends in adult education research and invite participants to discuss with each other how they view critical and creative research as is relates to transformative learning. We very much want this to a be a collaborative session.

The book published by Sense in collaboration with the European Society for Research on the Education of Adults in available as an open access publication here: https://brill.com/view/title/56609

About the presenters:

Bernie Grummell is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Education and Adult & Community Education, Maynooth University. Her research explores the complex landscape, processes and experiences of inclusion, diversity and transformation across different sectors of education and society, with a particular focus on gender, care and adult literacy. She has worked extensively on Irish and European research projects and is currently a partner on the Maynooth University Erasmus + SMILE Social Meaning Impact through Lifelong Learning project. Recent publications include Power and Possibility, Doing Critical and Creative Research in Adult Education, Further Education and Training in Ireland: History, Politics, Practice. She is currently a co-director of the Centre for Research in Adult Learning and Education and a member of the Social Science Research Subcommittee and the Athena Swan gender equality initiative in Maynooth University. She a co-director of the Doctorate in Higher and Adult Education and the PhD in Adult and Community Education programmes in Maynooth University. 

Fergal Finnegan is a senior lecturer at the Department of Adult and Community Education, Maynooth, National University of Ireland and is a co-director of the Doctorate in Higher and Adult Education and the PhD in Adult and Community Education programmes.

Fergal worked in community adult education before becoming an academic. He has a longstanding interest in equality and education and recent publications include the books Access and Widening Participation in Irish Higher Education, Power and Possibility, Doing Critical and Creative Research in Adult Education and European Perspectives on Transformation Theory. He is one of the editors of the the Journal of Transformative Education and of The European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults. He is especially interested in social class, critical pedagogy and popular education, transformative learning, biographical and participatory methods of research and critical realism. He is an active member of the European Society Research on Education of Adults (ESREA) and is currently a co-convenor of the network on Active Democratic Citizenship and Adult Learning.