Honorary Professorships bestowed on Dr Sarah Durston and Dr Kate Adams
Two academics whose research focusses on children have been awarded Honorary Professorships from the University of Central Lancashire.
The prestigious academic honour has been bestowed on Dr Sarah Durston, Professor of Developmental Neuroscience at Utrecht University in The Netherlands, and Dr Kate Adams, Professor of Education at Leeds Trinity University.
Together with the University of Central Lancashire’s Dr Donna Thomas, they have developed the International Research Unit for Exploring Self, Consciousness and Social Transformation with Everyday People (ICreateS), which is based at the University’s Preston Campus.
The trio are working on collaborative research studies which explore the nature of consciousness, self and self-development and extra sensory experiences with children, young people and families/communities. The unit works with a variety of research partners including the world-famous Great Ormand Street Children’s Hospital.
"It is a great honour and I’m very excited to continue to work with Professor Adams and Dr Thomas as co-directors of ICreateS"
— New Honorary Professor Dr Sarah Durston
As the former head of the child development lab NICHE at the University Medical Centre Utrecht and head of developmental disorders research in the associated graduate school, Professor Durston is nationally and internationally recognised as an experienced researcher and educator in child development and consciousness.
She directed a research lab on child development for 18 years and has mentored and supervised more than 75 PhD students and other staff. She is an active committee member of a variety of Dutch and global funding agencies and has been invited to present at international societies and networks around the world.
Professor Durston said: “I’m thrilled to be appointed as Honorary Professor at the University of Central Lancashire. It is a great honour and I’m very excited to continue to work with Professor Adams and Dr Thomas as co-directors of ICreateS. This exciting new initiative starts from the experiences of everyday people to investigate what it means to be human in our changing world and to investigate the nature of self and consciousness.”
"It is a privilege to be appointed as an Honorary Professor at the University of Central Lancashire"
— New Honorary Professor Dr Kate Adams
With a background in primary teaching, Professor Adams moved on to an academic career to become an internationally recognised expert on children’s inner worlds and spirituality. She has also held the strategic posts of Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange at two UK universities and is a former institutional lead for postgraduate research.
Professor Adams’ international reputation has seen her present invited papers at conferences and public engagement activities around the world while her research has also attracted wide media interest.
She commented: “It is a privilege to be appointed as an Honorary Professor at the University of Central Lancashire. It is a wonderful opportunity to develop further groundbreaking, interdisciplinary work between Leeds Trinity University and the University of Central Lancashire, which challenges conventional ideas about being human. With a crisis in young people’s mental health and wellbeing, our research with children is particularly pertinent as it will increase understanding of children’s experiences and perspectives on their sense of being, self, and finding their place in the world.”