Churchill Fellowship award enables Education PGR to deliver teacher empowerment initiative across global lines
A postgraduate researcher from the University of Chester has been awarded one of the UK’s most prestigious awards for global learning and public impact and will share her expertise in Ghana this summer.
Dr Chiedza Jane Ikpeh, who lives in Liverpool, has received the Churchill Fellowship for 2025 which provides funding and support to UK citizens to travel internationally, learn from global best practices and return to drive change in their communities. Chiedza joins a cohort of Fellows working across education, health, social justice and innovation.
As part of her Fellowship, Chiedza will travel to Ghana this summer to co-design and deliver a training and development programme focused on empowering educators and promoting teacher wellbeing. The programme, titled Ubuntu in Education: Cross-Continental Models for Strengthening Educator Resilience, is grounded in the African philosophy of Ubuntu and draws on Pan-African principles of care, resilience, and community.
This new phase of work builds directly on Chiedza’s PhD research, which examines the barriers and enablers to the career trajectories of Black women teachers in the UK. Having successfully defended her thesis in March 2025, Chiedza is set to graduate from the University this autumn. The Fellowship offers an exciting opportunity to translate research into real-world action, piloting interventions that centre care and reimagine wellbeing in the teaching profession.
Through her work in Ghana, Chiedza will engage with education leaders, grassroots organisations and changemakers including Paul Mensah Amanor, Founder of the Foundation for Educational Equity and Development, to share knowledge and co-create sustainable, culturally relevant CPD (Continuing Professional Development) approaches for teachers.
Chiedza said: “It feels incredibly special to springboard from my doctoral research into the design and delivery of practical, community-rooted interventions. This is the kind of work I’ve dreamed of doing - meaningful, collaborative, and transformational.”
Dr Chandrika Devarakonda, Associate Professor of Diversity and Inclusion in the University’s Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, said: “Becoming a Churchill Fellow is a big achievement and raises Chiedza's profile, but it also puts the University of Chester on a higher pedestal. I am proud of Chiedza and I wish her more accomplishments.”
For more information about the Churchill Fellowship and the 2025 Fellows, visit: https://churchillfellowship.org/ideas-experts/fellows-directory/chiedza-ikpeh/