About our Project

Deborah Ralls

Dr Deborah Ralls is a Lecturer in Education and Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow in the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University, UK. She is the Principal Investigator on an international comparative research project funded by the Leverhulme Trust: Redefining Education for an Urban Social Solidarity Economy: Becoming Relational.

Deborah’s work explores how approaches to education can support democratic, collaborative decision-making relationships between children and young people, policymakers, schools and communities that can lay the foundations for more inclusive places and economies.
Through the Relational Toolkit, Deborah will work with regional and local partners to put the findings from her Leverhulme Trust research project into practice.
The Relational Toolkit aims to give professionals and policymakers the chance to learn with and from local experts - children and young people and other community members.
The Toolkit sets out to provide the foundation for approaches to engagement that enable local people to develop the relationships, skills and knowledge that they need to become active change agents in the places where they live, meaningfully engaged in democratic decision-making processes for more inclusive places and economies.