Dr. Leigh-Anne Perryman received the 2015 OE Consortium Open Research award with UK Open University colleague Patrina Law, and the 2014 OCW Consortium Open Research award with colleagues from the OER Research Hub (OERRH – now Open Education Research Hub). Leigh-Anne’s passion for openness in education is inseparable from her commitment to educational inclusion and social justice and is evidenced in her ongoing research around OER and OEP for development.
Leigh-Anne has many years’ experience in open education. She spent 15 years as an arts lecturer, teaching and writing course materials for The Open University (UK) and in 2011 gained a PhD in arts education pedagogy for research exploring adults’ cognitive and affective responses to controversial contemporary art. While completing her PhD Leigh-Anne began working on OER projects for the UK charity sector, including The Children’s Workforce Learning Network and CharityWise.
In 2012 Leigh-Anne became involved in the Gates Foundation-funded Bridge to Success project before joining the OER Research Hub as a researcher in 2013. This latter role gave Leigh-Anne the opportunity to begin researching the potential of OER and OEP in developing countries, notably in connection with the TESS-India project. In 2014 Leigh-Anne gained a post as an academic with the OU’s Institute of Educational Technology but maintained her OERRH links through a Fellowship which allowed her to continue her TESS-India research while also conducting impact research with the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth. The announcement of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 has led Leigh-Anne to pursue a new research focus drawing on OERRH open data in researching the potential of OER and OEP to help achieve empowerment for women and girls in the developing world.
In addition to her PhD in arts education Leigh-Anne has a Masters in Educational Research and a BA (Hons) in Humanities with Art History.