Staff Profile

Dr Emma Dobson is an Information Specialist at the NIHR Innovation Observatory. She has expertise in evidence synthesis, including systematic reviews and meta-analysis, and translating these outputs to more accessible formats via presentations, guidance reports, gap maps and infographics. Emma’s research interests are multi-disciplinary, spanning the fields of Education, Sociology, Psychology and Health, focussing on the health/wellbeing of children and young people through exploring Personal, Social, and Health Education (PSHE) and Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) as practised in UK-based schools and in wider international contexts.

Emma is collaborating with Surrey University, supported by funding from the British Academy Leverhulme Trust, to explore how Covid-19 lockdowns impacted the development of sexual and romantic relationships amongst youth, the positive and negative impact of sexting on sexual wellbeing and gendered practices underpinning digitally-mediated socio-sexual communication. She works with practitioners, LEAs and ITE providers to support the design, development and delivery of the new statutory RSE guidance in England.

Emma has previously worked as part of the team that develops the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) Teaching & Learning Toolkit, identifying and reviewing over 10,000 educational research reports from across the globe to assess their methodological quality and extract key findings to produce a web-based resource that summarises the impact of educational interventions to narrow the attainment gap. This is currently used by 70% of schools in England to support their spending of Pupil Premium Funding.

Emma has a particular interest in Realist Evaluation and the development of programme theories to inform the evaluation and implementation of interventions. To this end, she has collaborated with Effective Basic Services Africa (eBASE) to contextualise evidence on social policy for the Lake Chad Basin (Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon) through mapping providence of existing educational trials contained with the EEF and 3ie evidence databases and utilising moderator analysis to test ‘mechanism transfer’ between different contexts through exploring differences in intervention implementation and outcome between the Global North and South. Emma has recently conducted a series of rapid systematic reviews and meta-analyses of cash transfers and menstrual hygiene management interventions. This research was supported by the Centre of Excellence in Development Impact and Learning (CEDIL), Department for International Development (DfID) and UKAID and led to the production of a web-based resource for policymakers and practitioners, a Memorandum of Understanding between eBASE and the Cameroonian government, novel dissemination of research findings in rural areas of the Lake Chad Basin through a storytelling programme, and a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to assess the efficacy of menstrual hygiene management interventions in Cameroon. 

• Articles

  • Setty E, Dobson E. Department for Education Statutory Guidance for Relationships and Sex Education in England: A Rights-Based Approach?. Archives of Sexual Behavior 2023, 52(1), 79-93.
  • Setty E, Dobson E. Children and Society Policy Review—A review of government consultation processes when engaging with children and young people about the statutory guidance for Relationships and Sex Education in schools in England. Children & Society 2023, 37(5), 1646-1657.
  • Setty E, Dobson E. An Exploration of Healthy and Unhealthy Relationships Experienced by Emerging Adults During the Covid-19 Lockdowns in England. Emerging Adulthood 2023, 11(6), 1502-1517.
  • Higgins S, Katsipataki M, Villanueva Aguilera A, Alaidde B, Dobson E, Gascoine L, Rajab T, Reardon J, Stafford J, Uwimpuhwe G. The Teaching and Learning Toolkit: Communicating research evidence to inform decision‐making for policy and practice in education. Review of Education 2022, 10(1), e3327.
  • Dobson, E. Labelling the labia - a lesson in how to terrify teachers: Pedagogical obstacles to the introduction of compulsory Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). Education & Health 2019, 37(2), 54-60.
  • Dobson E, Beckmann N, Forrest S. Educator–student communication in sex & relationship education: a comparison of teacher and peer-led interventions. Pastoral Care in Education 2017, 35(4), 267-283.
  • Dobson, E. For successful Sex and Relationship Education, effective communication is key: but with whom?. Education & Health 2016, 34(4), 91-94.

• Book Chapter

  • Kay J, Higgins SE, Villanueva Aguilera AB, Dobson ES, Gascoine L, Katsipataki M, Rajab T, Zaman M, Ellis-Thompson A, Madgwick H, Patel R, Blausten H. The extent to which education interventions have been studied and the range of effects typically observed. In: Duraiappah AK; van Atteveldt NM, ed. Reimagining Education: The International Science and Evidence based Education Assessment. New Delhi: UNESCO MGIEP, 2022, pp.124-174.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Dobson E. A theory-driven thesis: Utilising theory-driven evaluation to guide the conduct and content of a PhD thesis examining peer-led Sex and Relationships Education. In: Imagining Better Education. 2023, Durham: School of Education, Durham University.
  • Dobson, E. Participatory peer education: An empowering process for the individual, organization and community. In: European Conference on Education. 2018, Brighton.

• Reports

  • Setty, E, Dobson, E. Relationships in Lockdown: Young people's and young adults' experiences. British Academy, 2023. In Preparation.
  • Higgins S, Dobson E, Kay J, Okwen P, Kamga E, Nsaikila M, Hanny R, Akofu A, Tangang A, Alvin L, Zithem M. Using meta-analysis to explore the transferability of education mid-range theories to Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Niger. London: Centre of Excellence for Development Impact and Learning (CEDIL), 2022. CEDIL Research Series.