Profile

Biography

I joined the Department in March 2006 after holding a five-year research post at the Danish National Institute of Public Health. I was primarily involved in research on gender-specific health effects of violence and sexual abuse. This was also the main focus of my doctoral research, which I conducted alongside a research assistantship.

On joining the Department, I was initially employed as a research fellow in the Centre for Equity and Impact in Education from 2006 until September 2007. I worked on an international research project on pupil views on educational justice. This project had a particular concern with pupil voice, specifically the voices of marginalised or disadvantaged students.

I am currently a Lecturer in Education and a member of the Centre for Research in Education and Social Justice, and am interested to develop on and integrate the issues raised in previous work. Among these, young people’s experiences of physical and sexual violence, and the normalised inclusion of SEN pupils in educational research. I am also Director of MA in Equity Issues in Education.

My undergraduate degree (Sociology) and my MA (Women’s Studies) were both completed at the University of Kent at Canterbury. I completed my PhD in Public Health at the University of Copenhagen.

Research

Overview

My current research interests include pupil views on educational and social justice; comparative and international education; human rights and education; gender and sexuality; educational experiences of marginalised pupils/pupils outside mainstream education.

Research group(s)

• Centre for Research on Education and Social Justice
  

Supervision

• Dung Tong Tuyet (Identity and second language acquisition: Barriers to intercultural communication among Vietnamese students in the UK )
•  Fasil Demsash (Integration of internationally-educated teachers: a comparative study)

• Reem Al-Buainain (Exploring facilitators and barriers to women achieving leadership positions in HEIs: case study of Bahrain)

Publications

Selected publications

See also Publications 2011

Peer-reviewed articles/chapters

Sundaram, V. (2011). Gender and education: the international perspective. In J. Arthur & A. Peterson (eds), The Routledge Companion to Education. London: Routledge.

Tsouroufli, M., Rees, C.E., Monrouxe, L.V., & Sundaram, V. (2011). Gender, identities and intersectionality in medical education research. Medical Education, Vol. 45 (3): 213-216.

Sundaram, V., & Wilde, A.  (2010). Investigating the value of vignettes in researching disabled students’ views of social equality and inclusion in school. Race Equality Teaching Journal (Special Issue on Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice), Vol. 29 (1): 40-45.

Sundaram, V. (2009). Gender and Education. In J. Arthur & I. Davies (Eds.), The Routledge Textbook of Education Studies. London: Routledge.

Kyriacou, C., Ellingsen, I. T., Stephens, P., & Sundaram, V. (2009). Social pedagogy and the teacher: England and Norway compared. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 17(1), 75-87.

Sundaram V., Laursen B., Helweg-Larsen K. (2008). Is sexual victimisation gender-specific? The prevalence of forced sexual activity among men and women in Denmark, and self-reported well-being among survivors. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23(10): 1414-1450.

Gorard S., & Sundaram V. (2008). Equity and its relationship to citizenship education. In J. Arthur, I. Davies & C. Hahan (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Education for Citizenship and Democracy. Los Angeles: Sage.

Gorard, S., Sundaram, V., & Smith, E. (2007). The role of schools in developing students’ sense of justice: a European comparative study. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/165712.htm. (Education On-line)

Sundaram V., Qin P., & Zollner L. (2006). Suicide risk among persons with foreign background in Denmark. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behaviour 36(4), 481-489.

Gorard S., Sundaram V., & Smith E. (2006). Why does the school mix matter?: equity from the students’ perspective. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/157555.htm (Education On-line)

Nørlev J., Davidsen M., Sundaram V., & Kjøller M. (2005). Indicators associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts among 16-35 year-old Danes. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behaviour. 35(3): 291-308.

Sundaram V. (2005). Selvmord blandt personer med udenlandsk baggrund i Danmark. [Ethnic differences in suicide risk in Denmark] In: Helweg-Larsen K (ed.) Selvmordshandlinger i Danmark. [Suicide in Denmark] København: Statens Institut for Folkesundhed.

Sundaram V., Helweg-Larsen K., Laursen B., & Bjerregaard P. (2004). Physical violence, self-rated health and morbidity: is gender significant for victimisation? J Epidemiology and Community Health; 58, 65-70.

Sundaram V., Curtis T., Helweg-Larsen K., & Bjerregaard P. (2004). Can we compare violence data across countries? Circumpolar Health Supplement 2, 389-397.

Helweg-Larsen K., Sundaram V., Curtis T., & Bøving Larsen H. (2004). The Danish Youth Survey 2002: Asking young people about sensitive issues. Circumpolar Health Supplement 2, 147-153.

Sundaram V., Helweg-Larsen K., & Laursen B. (2001). Gender differences in self-rated health amongst victims of physical violence and threats of violence in Denmark. In: Gender and Violence in the Nordic Countries. Copenhagen: NorVold.

External activities

Editorial duties

• Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
• Social Science and Medicine
• Open Public Health Journal
• The Sociological Quarterly
• SAGE Publications

International Links

• National Institute of Public Health, Denmark
  University of Southern Denmark
  Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain