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Researcher Spotlight: Radhika Gorur

Dr. Radhika Gorur is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Deakin University, Australia. Her research is in the fields of education and education policy, the sociology of quantification and metrics, and critical data studies. She is interested in how policy ideas are assembled and how they gain influence.

What are you working on right now?
One strand of my research is on data and datafication in education, and on the processes and effects of quantification, particularly on policy and governance. More recently, as data has become increasingly ‘big’ and digital, my focus has turned towards governing by dashboard, digital cultures, and other aspects of sociology of measurement and critical data studies.

The second, related strand is on how the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 (access to quality education for all) is being promoted by international organisations and within national policies and practices – including in India. This has led me in new directions – decolonising data, epistemic injustice, and alternative data and accountability practices – which is what I hope to focus on more in the next few years.

What gets you excited about work?
What is both exciting and terrifying is that the politics and practices of education have serious consequences – both immediate and long term – for individuals and for societies. This makes it very important to recognise one’s research as a political endeavour – even if there is no immediate uptake of one’s research or critique.

What has amazed me is how feasible it is to engage with some of the most exciting scholars in the world, and the magic that happens when you bring them together into a focused discussion.

For example, I am currently involved in organising a Decolonising Data Summit that will bring together wonderful scholars from all over the Global South. We will develop a strong set of ideas and concepts that we hope will inform the World Data Forum that will take place soon after this summit.

What’s the best part of your work?
I love collaborating with my amazing colleagues and students. In particular, I value my research students tremendously because I get to learn so much from them – and through them I am able to expand my thinking in different directions, become familiar with different theories, and engage with a range of phenomena.

How are you collaborating with colleagues in India?
Being of Indian origin, I have a strong interest in education policy in India. India was one of the fieldwork sites for my DECRA project on accountability practices in education. During this project I collaborated with the Centre for Policy Research, one of India’s leading public policy think tanks, to organise a key policy forum on education data in India. I also work with Oxfam India in some of their advocacy work on right to education in India.

Currently, I am collaborating with Dr Archana Mehendale from the Tata Institute for Social Sciences, Mumbai to research social enterprise projects in education. This is the beginning of what we hope will become an ongoing collaboration between the two research institutes.  

What are you reading at the moment?
Currently I am reading a novel called The Transit of Venus by Australian author Shirley Hazzard. It dazzles with its brilliance – I don’t think I have ever read anything quite like it.

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