Professor Ruth Hewston

Professor

Designated Safeguarding Lead (Centre for Lifelong Learning)

Lifelong Learning Building, Westwood Campus

Ruth dot Hewston at warwick dot ac dot uk

Professor Hewston joined The University of Warwick in 2020 and held the role of Head of the Centre for Lifelong Learning until 2025. She has worked in both teaching and research led Higher Education institutions for over twenty-five years. Prior to her appointment, Ruth held the role of Head of Department for Education and Inclusion at the University of Worcester and had taught at Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance and the Open University. She has also held academic research positions at The University of Warwick and the University of Leicester.

Ruth’s professional and research interests centre on inclusive education, the psychology of education, particularly in relation to teaching and learning, and the education of highly able and talented learners. She has written extensively in her field, including contributions to books, presented at national and international conferences and published research articles. Ruth is the co-author of ‘Opening the Door to the Virtual School: Enhancing Student Engagement Through Online Learning Communities’ in Flexibility and Pedagogy in Higher Education: Delivering Flexibility in Learning through Online Learning Communities exploring the implementation of flexible problem-based learning approaches in student’s co-construction of their learning. She has also authored ‘Gender Diversity’ In Understanding Inclusion: Core concepts, policy and practice on the influence of gender on educational inclusion, engagement and achievement. She is keen to supervise doctoral students interested in researching equality, diversity and inclusion, particularly among adult and lifelong learners.

Ruth has been an invited visiting academic to HAN University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands and has held numerous external examiner positions in undergraduate education and postgraduate provision in the educational practice of Higher Education, including for programmes conferring Fellowship of Advance HE (FHEA). In 2016 Ruth was also an invited External Reviewer Panel Member for the HEA Global Teaching Excellence Awards and since 2021 has been a Trustee of The Universities Association for Lifelong Learning (UALL). She has previously served on the editorial boards for the British Journal of Music Education, the International Journal of Music Education and has acted as a guest and book reviewer for Gifted Education International, Thinking Skills and Creativity and the Journal of Infant and Child Development.

Professor Hewston is a Senior Fellow of Advance HE (SFHEA) and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts (FRSA). She is also an Associate Fellow (AFBPsS) and Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol) with the British Psychological Society and a member of the ESRC Peer Review College.

Selected publications

Smith, S. & Hewston, R. (2020) ‘Opening the Door to the Virtual School: Enhancing Student Engagement Through Online Learning Communities’. In Flexibility and Pedagogy in Higher Education: Delivering Flexibility in Learning through Online Learning Communities, Dennis, C., Abbott, S., Matheson, R. & Tangney, S. (eds). London: Brill.
Hewston, R. (2017). ‘Gender Diversity’ In Understanding inclusion: Core concepts, policy and practice, Woolley, R. (ed.). London:
Campbell, R. J., Eyre, D., Hewston, R., Muijs, R. D., Neelands, J. G. A., & Robinson, W. (2009). ‘The social origins of students identified as gifted and talented in England: A geo-demographic analysis’ In Gifted and Talented Education, Eyre, D. (ed.), London: Routledge.
Campbell, R. J., Eyre, D., Hewston, R., Muijs, R. D., Neelands, J. G. A., & Robinson, W. (2007). The social origins of students identified as gifted and talented in England: A geo-demographic analysis. Oxford Review of Education, 33(1), 103-110.
Campbell, R. J., Robinson, W., Neelands, J., Hewston, R. & Mazzoli, L. (2007). Personalised learning: Ambiguities in theory and practice