About
Research
Email: sophie.wilson@stmarys.ac.uk
Tel: 020 8240 4318
Biography
Associate Professor Sophie Wilson is PGCE Secondary Geography course lead at St Mary’s University. She is a senior fellow of the Higher Education Authority and has led on curriculum design for the Professional Studies programme. As an active member of the University’s Sustainability Committee, she has been responsible for initiating the pilot Climate Education and Sustainability ITT Framework with the University of Reading and been instrumental in leading the work being done by the School of Education in integrating Sustainability Education into all aspects of the teaching curricular. Sophie has also established a successful school placement in Ghana.
Sophie is a chartered geographer, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and a GA consultant and was awarded the prestigious Geographical Association’s Outstanding Service Award in 2019 for her work in Geography Education. She is the chair of the Geographical Association’s ICT Special Interest group, and set up the GA Twickenham branch, which organises A Level talks for local sixth form students, to inspire them to study geography at university. She has recently been elected as a trustee for the Geographical Association.
Sophie joined St Mary’s in 2015, having previously been head of department and head of house, teaching Geography in schools in Surrey and Staffordshire. She completed her MA in Geography Education in 2018 and was the Principal Investigator for the highly successful three-year Erasmus+ EU funded research project Gi Pedagogy, working with university and school partners from across Europe. She has subsequently been invited to work on several other international projects and last year completed an Erasmus+ funded Staff Mobility visit to Dublin, to research Sustainability Education. Sophie also has considerable experience as an external examiner for Secondary ITT provision at several universities, in addition to having been an OCR A Level and Edexcel IGCSE exam marker. Previous experience also includes being an AQA trainer for the Inspirational Head of Department CPD courses, and geography tutor for Vidlearn’s Subject Knowledge Enhancement courses.
Research
Areas of research supervision
- Curriculum making
- Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
- Sustainability
Research profile
Funded Projects
- V-Global Project: blended teaching about global change, Erasmus+.
- Gi Pedagogy: supporting teachers and educators in teach with GIS, Erasmus+.
Publications
- Dave, H. and Wilson, S. (2023) ‘The curriculum and the teacher’ in Podesta, E and L Hoath. (ed.) Professional Studies for Secondary Teaching, London, Learning Matters, Sage Publishing.
- , De Lázaro Torres, M.L., De Miguel González, R., Donert, K., Linder-Fally, M., Parkinson, A., Prodan, D., Wilson,S. & Zwartjes, L. (2022) Toolkit of Innovative Pedagogical Approaches for Teaching with GIS, including the GI Ped Framework + Model Available via this PDF.
- Puertas Aguilar, M.A., Conway, B., De Lázaro Torres, M.L., De Miguel González, R., Donert, K., Linder-Fally, M., Parkinson, A., Prodan, D., Wilson, S. & Zwartjes, L. (2022). A teaching model to raise awareness of sustainability using geoinformation.
- Donert, K, Zwartjes, L, Gonzalez, R, Lazaro, M, Wilson, S and Lidner-Fally, M. (2021) An Innovative Pedagogical Model for Teaching with GIS Research Gate.
- Wilson, S (2018) Geography Fieldwork in Ghana, GA Magazine
Recent Conference Presentations
International
- May 23, Conference of Irish Geographers (CIG): ‘GI-Pedagogy’; An innovative model using geoinformation for a more resilient Future.
- April 23, EUROGEO; Krakow, Poland: ‘GI-Pedagogy’; An innovative model using geoinformation for teaching about sustainability.
- July 22, International Geography Union (IGU), Paris, France: Gi Pedagogy - Innovative Pedagogies for Teaching with Geo-information.
- July 22, IGU Education Conference, Rennes, France: Gi Pedagogy - Innovative Pedagogies for Teaching with Geo-information.
- April 22, EUROGEO; Lesbos, Greece: GI Pedagogy: An innovative model using geoinformation for teaching about sustainability.
- April 21, EUROGEO: Madrid online. Spain: Beyond the Map: To what extent can GIS support a more sustainable future? Gi Pedagogy - Innovative Pedagogies for Teaching with Geo-information.
- Nov 20, International Geographic Conference Geo Decade 2020-2030: Gi Pedagogy – a funded project.
National
- April 23, Geographical Association Conference: Sheffield: GI Pedagogy: Curriculum Hub; 7 Ideas to easily embed GIS in your classroom (GAICT SIG).
- Jan 23, Geography Educators Conference (GTE): online Dublin; GI-Pedagogy – Innovative Pedagogies for Teaching with Geo-information about Sustainability.
- Nov 22, Digimaps Teach meet: Ordnance Survey online: Gi-Pedagogy – Innovative Pedagogies for Teaching with GIS, using Digi map resources.
- Sept 22, Royal Geographical Society Teach meet: London online: Gi-Pedagogy – Innovative Pedagogies for Teaching with GIS.
- April 22, Geographical Association Conference: Guildford: How should common misconceptions be challenged in everyday geography; Gi-Pedagogy - Innovative Pedagogies for Teaching with GIS; ‘Tech in the post-pandemic geography classroom’ What will this look like?
- Jan 22, Geography Educators Conference (GTE): online Worcester: Gi-Pedagogy - Innovative Pedagogies for Teaching with GIS; Using tech in geography lessons during the pandemic – is this the new normal?
- Jan 21, Geography Educators Conference (GTE): online Dublin; GI-Pedagogy – Innovative Pedagogies for Teaching with Geo-information.
- Nov 20, Royal Geographical Society Teach meet: London online; Curriculum Design 4 Geography
- Oct 20, Geography Education Research Collective Open Forum (GEReCO): Impact of COVID on funded project: invited guest speaker.
- Jan 20, Geography Educators Conference (GTE): London; Beyond the Map: To what extent can GIS support Powerful Geographical Thinking?
- April 19, Geographical Association Conference, Manchester; Beyond the map: Top tips for creating a sense of place using GIS in lessons.
- April 18, Geographical Association Conference, Sheffield; Introducing Geography Fieldwork in Ghana; Practical ideas for using GIS in the Classroom.
- Nov 17, Royal Geographical Society Teach meet: London: Making a sense of place in every Geography Lesson.
- April 17, Geographical Association Conference, Guildford: Using GIS to give students a sense of place in Geography Lessons.
Local partnership school training sessions
- June 22, Ealing Learning Partnership, Teach West London: Subject Leaders’ Network: How should common ‘Misconceptions’ be challenged in everyday Geography’?
- June 21, Ealing Learning Partnership, Teach West London: Subject Leaders’ Network Curriculum Making for Geography Subject Leads.
- Nov 20, Chartered College of Teaching Teach meet, St Richard Reynolds Cath College: ‘Gi-Pedagogy’ Research implications for teaching in uncertain times.
- June 20, Westminster Academy: UK IBDP Geography Hub Day: online. Curriculum Making for the International Baccalaureate.
- Nov 19, Chartered College of Teaching Teach meet, St Richard Reynolds Cath College Connecting with Rosenshine?
- Nov 18, Chartered College of Teaching Teach meet, St Richard Reynolds Cath College. Connecting our World through Geography - Curriculum matters.
- Feb 17, Royal Borough Teaching School Alliance, West London: Motivating groups through extra-curricular activities.
- Feb 16, Somerset Heads of Geography: Using mobile devices in the geography.