At FACE we are keen to generate insight that enables our community to develop knowledge to support equitable educational opportunities. Through our conference and summit, our members generate ideas which are then synthesised by our research and insight team to develop research ideas. We offer our members the opportunity to contribute to the research through undertaking primary and secondary data collection and analysis.  

Current projects:

Discouraged by Discourse? A Social Media Discourse Analysis on Attitudes Toward Higher Education

A review of the outputs from our January 2025 summit identified the need to undertake research into what is influencing young people's decisions not to go to university. We have identified three phases to this project:

Phase 1 - November 2025 - June 2026: The social media influencers, influencing young people's decisions not to go to university

Phase 2 - October 2026 -  June 2027: The influence of parents and their own understanding of the value of higher education

Phase 3 - October 2027 - June 2028: The value of higher education to employers and how it meets industry needs

Phase 1:

For Phase 1 of the project, we have recruited an academic with expertise in discourse analysis, to review content within the accounts of a number of social media influencers, which have been identified by our research and insight team. The outputs of Phase 1 will be presented at our annual conference at the end of June 2026.