Visiting Scholars – University of Portsmouth

Join us in the Research Commons (room A232) to hear from Dr Melia Lazell and PhD student Melanie Dell from the University of Portsmouth

Making Development Bankable? –  Dr Melita Lazell

This presentation examines why UK aid has increasingly shifted from grants towards private-sector investment since 2012. Focusing on Kenya, it explores how British International Investment’s use of public funds to mobilise private capital is reshaping development. It asks what drives this transformation and, crucially, whose interests it serves and what it means for poverty reduction and development outcomes in practice.

Dr Melita Lazell is Associate Professor in Political Economy and Development and Associate Dean Research at the University of Portsmouth. She is author of The Nationalisation of UK Aid and Development and host of Global Aid Rethink podcast. Her interdisciplinary research uses mixed methods to examine aid policy, allocation, effectiveness, institutional change, and the evolving politics of global development and public policy.

Seeing the Teacher, Shaping Participation: Girls’ Perceptions of Female PE Teachers – Melanie Dell

This presentation explores how adolescent girls’ perceptions of female Physical Education teachers may influence their participation in PE lessons within independent schools. Through the lens of positionality and bias, it considers how teacher identity, characteristics and practice are interpreted by pupils, and how these perceptions may shape engagement, confidence, and participation. It also reflects on what the study evokes about the complex relationship between gender, teacher–pupil relationships and girls’ experiences of physical education.

Melanie Dell’s professional background spans PE teaching across primary, secondary, and further education, alongside pastoral responsibilities for pupils in Years 7–11 within independent school settings.  Melanie is currently a Teaching Fellow in Education and Course Lead for the PGCE Physical Education programme. Her doctoral study investigates how adolescent girls’ perceptions of female PE teachers influence their participation in PE lessons in independent schools, drawing particularly on concepts of positionality and bias. 

RSVP