Dr Jayakumar Chinnasamy is a Lecturer in Education at the School of Education and Social Sciences, University of the West of Scotland, based at UWS London. Bringing over two decades of experience across academia and industry in the UK, India, Bhutan, Bahrain, and other global contexts, he specialises in higher education internationalisation, global citizenship education, transnational and translocal approaches to global learning, and sustainable development. His expertise includes teaching and supervising students at undergraduate, postgraduate, and lifelong learning levels, with a focus on Education and Business Management. His work foregrounds empathy, global mindsets, and values-driven educational leadership in global classrooms that connect students across borders.

Dr Chinnasamy obtained his PhD from the University of the West of Scotland in 2022, with a thesis on “Educators’ Perspectives on Internationalisation in Scottish Higher Education: Culture, Identity, and Constructions of Scottishness”. This research critically examines how internationalisation, culture, and Scottishness are interpreted and experienced by educators, and it underpins his wider interests in rooted cosmopolitanism, belonging and the ways in which national identity and global engagement interact in higher education. He is an active member of professional associations including SERA, BERA, IPDA, BAICE, and ESREA, anchoring his practice within national and international communities of educational research and scholarship.

His teaching is distinctly research‑led, drawing on his own scholarship and collaborative projects to shape authentic, inclusive and future‑oriented learning experiences. Recent work includes contributions such as “Global classrooms, without the jet lag: a guide to transnational education” for THE Campus, alongside “Empowering student voices: co‑creating engaging and inclusive learning through authentic assessment” and conference papers on cultivating cosmopolitanism and belonging in Scottish higher education internationalisation. These outputs inform his approaches to assessment, student voice and curriculum innovation, emphasising dialogic, intercultural and ethically engaged global learning environments.

Dr Chinnasamy’s supervision and mentoring are focused on developing empathetic, globally minded researchers who are committed to social justice and sustainability. He supervises Masters dissertations in areas such as international leadership practices, international inclusive practices and international early years education, supporting projects that address equity, inclusion and global challenges across diverse contexts. He actively supervises postgraduate and PhD students and he maintains a strong, principled commitment to promoting inclusive practices, social justice and digital innovations in educational contexts, ensuring that his global classroom practice and research‑led teaching remain aligned with evolving priorities in higher education worldwide.

Dr Chinnasamy’s academic and teaching expertise is centred on international and global education. His teaching interests include international education; internationalisation in higher education (HE); critical issues in HE internationalisation; international educational research; leadership practices in education; inclusive practices in education; global and comparative perspectives in education; digitalisation in education; and innovations in teaching and learning. Across these areas, he designs learning experiences that encourage students to engage critically with international policy agendas, to reflect on culture and identity, and to adopt empathetic, globally aware approaches to educational practice.

Dr Chinnasamy is currently supervising Masters and PhD dissertations that reflect his sustained focus on leadership, inclusion and global perspectives in education, including:

·         International Leadership Practices

·         International Inclusive Practices

·         International Early Years Education

Through this supervision, he supports postgraduate researchers to develop rigorous, values‑driven inquiries that address contemporary educational challenges such as internationalisation, diversity, equity and inclusion, early childhood education in global contexts and sustainable development in higher education. His supervisory practice emphasises critical reflection, robust research design and dissemination, enabling students to connect their projects to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and to present work that advances socially just, inclusive and globally oriented educational practices across different national and institutional settings, thereby contributing directly to UWS’s research culture and strategic priorities in internationalisation and inclusion.

Current teaching activities and interests include:

• Global Perspectives on Education
• Educational Research
• Research and Pedagogy

In these modules, Jayakumar brings together internationalisation, research‑led teaching and digital innovation, enabling students to analyse global trends in education, engage with comparative case studies and design research projects that respond to complex global and local educational issues. His teaching foregrounds empathy, global citizenship and critical engagement with policy and practice, encouraging learners to connect their own professional contexts with wider debates on inclusion, sustainability and social justice in higher education.

Dr Chinnasamy’s desired research directions include internationalisation in HE; cosmopolitanism; culture; national identity; branding in HE; cross‑disciplinary research in HE; sustainable development policies and practices in education; leadership practices in education; inclusive practices in education; adult education and life‑long learning; and international collaborative research with both academic and non‑academic organisations (including NGOs). He is particularly interested in research that links these themes to empathy, global citizenship and values‑based educational leadership, and that contributes to international debates on socially just and sustainable higher education.

Target collaborative organisations include higher education institutions in the United Kingdom, India, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and China. Jayakumar welcomes opportunities to collaborate with universities, research centres, networks and NGOs in these regions on initiatives related to internationalisation, inclusive and digital pedagogies, sustainability and global citizenship education.