Lewis Winks

I am a researcher, HE impact specialist and environmental educator living and working in South Devon. My research interests span outdoor and environmental education, cultural transformation, and teaching and learning in Higher Education. I completed my PhD at the University of Exeter having previously spent six years working in education and environmental advocacy roles at the Centre for Alternative Technology and the Field Studies Council. I am pleased to be able to bring my experience of working as a practitioner in these settings into my research and impact-focused work. Since completion of my PhD in the geography department at Exeter, I have worked with the Exeter Education Incubator to support university educators to experiment with innovative teaching approaches, as well as leading research into cultures of teaching and learning in Higher Education.
I am currently working to support impactful research across four colleges at the university of Exeter, broadly focused on culture and the social sciences. I am also a partner of Lestari LLP; a research-led environmental education consultancy focused on societal transformation and sustainability.
My research focuses on the experiences of young people aged between 11-18 learning in residential and outdoor education settings, typically comprising of between 2-6 nights away from home. Throughout 2016 I carried out fieldwork at two settings: Slapton Ley Field Centre and Embercombe – both situated in South Devon, UK. Between them the two case study locations provided a rich and varied insight into the experiences of learning in outdoor settings, with both emancipatory and instrumental approaches toward environmental education. I carried out immersive research in both settings, becoming participant and facilitator/tutor on programmes running between February and November, conducting richly descriptive participant observation, making use of focus groups, and in the case of Slapton Ley, photo elicitation discussions. Emerging from this body of research are four main strands which comprise the core empirical elements of my thesis: discomfort, choice, structure and relationships. Work continues to tease out of this large empirical body a coherent and engaging narrative and involve myself with the task of writing. I am planning on submitting my PhD at the end of 2017.