Associate Professor, transdisciplinary studies, Faculty of Education
CEO, Cambridge Global Knowledge Nexus (website coming soon!)
Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Croation Studies, University of Zagreb.
Associate, Digital Education Futures Initiative (DEFI)
Principal, Steven Watson Academic Consultancy
Foreign Expert/ Visiting professor, Beijing Normal University.
Fellow, Wolfson College
Head of Education Research, Glenlead Centre
E-mail Address
sw10014@cam.ac.uk
Phone
+ 44 (0) 1223 767584
Qualifications
- PhD (University of Nottingham)
- MA ERM - Educational research methods (University of Nottingham)
- MEd (Open University)
- PGCE Secondary Mathematics (University of Sheffield)
- MA Chemical Engineering (University of Cambridge)
Membership of Professional Bodies/Associations
- British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics (BSRLM)
- British Education Research Association (BERA)
- European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (ERME)
- European Sociological Association (ESA)
Profile
My research is transdisciplinary and is concerned with very practical and real issues in and around education but involves a level of abstraction in order to comprehend and explains these issues in a more general scientific way.
Transdisciplinarity is an approach to research and problem-solving that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. It integrates knowledge from various academic fields and non-academic sources, fostering collaboration among scholars, practitioners, and stakeholders to address complex, real-world issues. This holistic approach aims to create new frameworks and solutions that are more comprehensive and applicable across diverse contexts.
This holistic approach, which resonates with my background in engineering, teaching, social sciences, and interests in philosophy, sociology, and psychology, aims to create new frameworks and solutions that are more comprehensive and applicable across diverse contexts.
In my current research on the role of generative AI in education and society, this means leveraging transdisciplinary approaches using autopoietic ontology to develop comprehensive frameworks that evaluate AI's potential, ethical implications, and practical applications in educational settings and societal contexts. Autopoietic ontology is a concept from systems theory that describes how systems are self-creating and self-maintaining but that are paradoxically a part of the environment from which they are distinct. In simple terms, it means that a system, like matter, a living organism, cognition, technology, an individual or a social system, continuously regenerates and defines itself through its own processes and interactions but in relation to all that is external to it. This gives rise to a dynamic but evolutionary stabilities of these autopoietic systems but that are always subject to change.
This has led to an innovative understanding of the role of generative AI in society as a meaning tool, with the possibility of making communication more probable in a contemporary hyper-individualised societal where language and meaning are increasingly diverse and contextualised. This gives rise to new understandings of generative AI literacy as well as frameworks for developing applied ethical insights in highly contextualised iterative and participatory research and development. The transdisciplinary approach provides a means of analytic generalisation and scientific understanding from the particular.
See my blog https://chatgptineducationandsociety.wordpress.com
While a central focus of my research is generative AI, I also research educational and societal inclusion, political and cultural systems, the nature of learning, the history, sociology and philosophy of technology, from this holistic and transdisciplinary standpoint.
Recent talks, presentations and public engagements
The role of generative AI in education (11 July 2024) Invited lecture: Open University of China HQ, Beijing China.
Live TV interview (27 June 2024). Invited guest at the World Economic Forum Summer Davos Event, Dalian TV.
AI in Education (26 June 2024). Invited panelist, Peking University: World Economic Forum Summer Davos "New Champions" Dalian City, China
Integration of Generative AI in Education (21 June 2024). Invited lecture: Shanghai Institute of AI in Education, East China Normal Univeristy, Shanghai, China.
AI in Education (26 May 2024). Invited presenter: University of Cambridge Teaching and Learning Community of Practice Webinar.
The Role of AI in Education (21 May 2024). Invited panelist: Generative AI and the Knowledge Economy, a 2 day symposium hosted by Imperial College and the London School of Education. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLmJ9ezDogo
The future of knowledge in the generative AI era (3 May 2024). Keynote lecture: Wolfson Research Event 2024, Wolfson College, Cambridge.
Use of AI in Higher and Further Education (17 April 2024) Invited guest and contributor: Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP), Cambridge, workshop with UK Department for Education.
A sociological inquiry of EdTech (16 April 2024). Invited guest: Playground to Pixels podcast presented by Keshav Rastogi https://open.spotify.com/episode/0IcaaacAuvKIjvFz3sjrKP?si=5f5b1d6ee45e45b4
Generative AI in Higher Education (11 April 2024). Invited speaker: School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield.
Generative AI in Higher Education Disability (28 February, 2024). Keynote, JISC, London
Generative AI and disability (24 January, 2024). Invited speaker. National Association of Disability Practitioners Webinar on Generative AI and disability.
Generative AI and disability (24 January, 2024). Invited speaker. National Association of Disability Practitioners Webinar on Generative AI and disability.
Large Language Models in Higher Education (16 December, 2023). Keynote speaker. Global MOOC and Online Education Conference, Milan, Italy.
Large Language Model AI: opportunities and challenges for organisational integration (14 November, 2023) Invited speaker. Beijing Institute of Technology.
AI and the future of education: revolution and continuity in educational practice (26 September, 2023). Invited speaker. Cambridge Innovation Summit.
The Role of ChatGPT in Modern Education: Opportunities, Challenges, and Ethics (12 June, 2023). British Academy Early Career Research Network, Birmingham.
ChatGPT in Higher Education (1 June, 2023). Invited speaker, Universitat de Vic - Universitat Central de Catalunya
Transcidisciplinary research in education (1 June, 2023). Invited speaker, Universitat de Vic - Universitat Central de Catalunya
ChatGPT interview (31 May, 2023). BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Chris Mann Show.
ChatGPT talk and workshop for staff (24 May 2023). Hills Road Sixth Form College, Hills Road, Cambridge, UK.
ChatGPT in education (23 May, 2023). Keynote and panel for first year PhD conference. Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge.
ChatGPT in education (5.40pm BST, 19 May 2023). Voice of Islam Radio https://voiceofislam.co.uk/drive-time/
The Role of ChatGPT in Modern Education: Opportunities, Challenges, and Ethics (18 May, 2023) Digital Education Futures Initiative (DEFI) Webinar
Assessing the Impact of ChatGPT on Higher Education: Preliminary Insights and Analysis. (10 May, 2023). Wolfson College, Cambridge
ChatGPT education and schools. (20 April, 2023). The Pat Kenny Show, Newstalk Radio, Ireland.
Making use of ChatGPT in teaching and learning (27 March, 2023). Diversifying Assessment Forum, Centre for Teaching and Learning, University of Cambridge
Making use of ChatGPT in teaching and learning (8 March, 2023), Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge.
ChatGPT, education and society (19 January, 2023), Knowledge Power Politics research group, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge.
Principal and Recent Publications
Pre-prints
My latest writing and pre-prints can be found at ResearchGate. The following is a selection.
Watson, S., Romic, J., & Lien, V., (2023) ChatGPT与社会、教育和技术的纠缠进化：系统理论视角. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.16108.13448
Watson, S., (2023). ChatGPT and the Entangled Evolution of Society, Education, and Technology: A Systems Theory Perspective. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.19272.39689
Watson, S., (2022). Scientific communication in educational policymaking: the case of new right think tanks in England and Australia. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.32036.14728
Watson, S., (2022). Organisations of legitimacy: new right think tanks in England and Australia. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363214118_Organisations_of_legitimacy_new_right_think_tanks_in_England_and_Australia
Watson, S. (2022). Toward a systems theory approach to mathematics education. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.30987.57124
Watson, S. (2022). Scholar-activism: knowledge, populism, politics and society. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.17565.79844
Journal Articles
Watson, S., & Zhang, D. (2024). 系统论、现象学与交叉学科研究——与剑桥大学史蒂文·沃特森的对话 (Systems theory, phenomenology, and interdisciplinary research: A dialogue with the University of Cambridge's Steven Watson). 大学教育科学 (Daxue Jiaoyu Kexue), (2), 39-49
Watson, S., & Romic, J. (2024). ChatGPT and the entangled evolution of society, education, and technology: A systems theory perspective. European Educational Research Journal, 0(0). DOI: 10.1177/14749041231221266
Watson, S., Romic, J., Lien, V., & Yuan, L. (2023). ChatGPT与社会、教育和技术的纠缠进化―中国教育信息化网ICTEDU. 中国教育信息化, 期(总第528期). https://www.ict.edu.cn/sknews/jyxxhs/neirong/n20231124_82716.shtml
Watson, S. (2023). A educação matemática como um sistema da sociedade. Revista de Educação Matemática (REMat). 10.37001/remat25269062
Barnes, N., & Watson, S. (2022). The moral positioning of education policy publics: how social media is used to wedge an issue. Critical Studies in Education. DOI: 10.1080/17508487.2022.2153372
Marschall, G., & Watson, S. (2022). Teacher self-efficacy as an aspect of narrative self-schemata. Teaching and Teacher Education, 109, 103568. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103568
Watson, S., & Barnes, N. (2021). Online educational populism and New Right 2.0 in Australia and England. Globalisation, Societies and Education 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2021.1882292
Watson, S. (2021). New Right 2.0: Teacher populism on social media in England. British Educational Research Journal. 47(2), 299–315. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3664
Watson, S. (2020). George Spencer-Brown’s laws of form fifty years on: Why we should be giving it more attention in mathematics education. Mathematics Teaching-Research Journal Online, 12(2), 161–187. commons.hostos.cuny.edu/mtrj/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2020/09/v12n2-George-Spencer-Brown-s-laws-of-form-fifty-years-on.pdf
Watson, S., & Marschall, G. (2019). How a trainee mathematics teacher develops teacher self-efficacy. Teacher Development, 23(4), 469-487. https://doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2019.1633392
Watson, S. (2019). The politics of ability and online culture wars. FORUM, 61(1), 67–75. http://doi.org/10.15730/forum.2019.61.1.67
Major, L., & Watson, S. (2018). Using video to support in-service teacher professional development: The state of the field, limitations and possibilities. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 27(1), 49–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/1475939X.2017.1361469
Book Chapters
Watson, S. (2023). Toward a Systems Theory Approach to Mathematics Education. In Ongoing advancements in the philosophy of mathematics education. Springer.
Bamber, S., & Watson, S. (2023). Teaching the lesson. In S. Morgan, D. Swanson & R. Archer (Eds.) A practical guide to mentoring beginning mathematics teachers. Routledge
Watson, S., Dawes, M., & Marschall, G. (2023). The role of mentoring when learning through experience. In S. Morgan, D. Swanson & R. Archer (Eds.) A practical guide to mentoring beginning mathematics teachers. Routledge
Watson, S. (2018). Educating the working class. In I. Gilbert (Ed.), The working class, poverty, education and alternative voices (pp. 14–29). London: Bloomsbury.
Watson, S. (2017). A manifesto for control: democracy, scholarship, activism and solidarity. In L. Rycroft-Smith & J.-L. Dutaut (Eds.), Flip the system UK: a teachers’ manifesto (pp. 68–75). London: Routledge.
Watson, S., & Dawes, M. (2016). Learning mathematics: a cognitive focus. In S. Johnston-Wilder, C. Lee, & D. Pimm (Eds.), Learning to teach mathematics in the secondary school: a companion to school experience (4th ed.) (pp. 32-51). Routledge: London
Watson, S., & Crawford, M. (2016). Connecting leadership, professional development and affect. In B. Apelgren, P. Burnard, & N. Carbaroglu (Eds.), Transformative teacher research: theory and practice for the twenty-first century (pp. 73-86). Sense Publishers.
Book Reviews
Conference Papers
Marschall, G., & Watson, S. (2019). Social Cognitive Theory as an integrated theory of mathematics teachers’ professional learning. Presented at the Conference of the International Group of Psychology in Mathematics Education (PME-43), University of Pretoria.
Watson, S. (2019). Revisiting teacher decision making in the mathematics classroom: a multidisciplinary approach. Presented at the Eleventh Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (CERME-11), Utrecht University.
Watson, S. (2019). Bridging theory and practice: a posthuman perspective on mathematics teacher education. Presented at the 15th International Conference of The Mathematics Education for the Future Project, Theory and Practice: An Interface or A Great Divide?, Maynooth University, Kildare, Ireland.
Major, L., Watson, S., & Kimber, E. (2016). Teacher change in post-16 mathematics: a multiple case analysis of teachers in the Zone of Enactment. Presented at the 13th International Congress on Mathematics (ICME-13), Hamburg, July 2016.
Major, L., Watson, S., & Kimber, E. (2015). Developing instructional and pedagogical design for the Cambridge Mathematics Education Project: A Design-based research approach. In Adams, G. (Ed.) Proceedings of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics (BSLRM) 35(2). BSRLM Day Conference, University of Durham.
Watson, S. (2014). The impact of professional development on the teaching of problem-solving. Proceedings of the 8th British Congress on Mathematics Education. University of Nottingham.
Nardi, E., Biza, I. & Watson S. (2014). What makes a claim an acceptable mathematical argument in the secondary classroom? A preliminary analysis of teachers’ warrants in the context of an Algebra Task. Proceedings of the 8th British Congress on Mathematics Education. University of Nottingham.
Watson, S. (2013). Understanding mathematics teachers’ professional development from the perspective of social learning theory. In: B. Ubuz, C. Haser, & M. A. Mariotti (Eds.), Proceedings of the 8th Congress of European Research in Mathematics Education (CERME-8), Antalya, Turkey (pp. 3287-3295). Ankara: Turkey
Watson, S. (2012). The effects of professional development on teaching self-efficacy. In: The proceedings of the 12th International Congress of Mathematics Education, Seoul, South Korea.
Watson, S. (2012). Developing teaching efficacy for inquiry-based learning. The Fibonacci Project European Conference Inquiry Based Scienceand Mathematics Education: Bridging the gap between education research and practice, University of Leicester.
Watson, S., & Evans, S. (2012). Observing changes in teachers' practice as a consequence of taking part in professional development: developing a protocol for the observation of lessons In: C. Smith (Ed.), Informal proceedings of the British Society for Research into Learning of Mathematics, University of Sussex.
Swan, M. & Watson, S. (2011). Designing professional development for mathematics teachers: A case study. In: Ubuz, B, (Ed.) Proceedings of the 35th Conference of the International Group for Psychology of Mathematics Education, vol 1. p. 414.
Watson, S. (2011). The influence of teaching efficacy and professional life-stage on secondary mathematics teachers' use of problem-solving in their teaching In: C. Smith (Ed.), Informal proceedings of the British Society for Research into Learning of Mathematics, University of Oxford.
Textbooks and teaching materials
Steel, T., Thomas, C., Dawes, M., & Watson, S. (2015). GCSE Mathematics for AQA/Edexcel/OCR Higher/Foundation problem-solving book. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Commissioned reports
Haßler, B., Major, L., Warwick, P., Watson, S., Hennessy, S. & Nicholl, B. (2016).
Perspectives on Technology, Resources and Learning: Productive Classroom Practices, Effective Teacher
Professional Development. Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge.
Haßler, B., Major, L., Warwick, P., Watson, S., Hennessy, S. & Nicholl, B. (2016).
A short guide on the use of Technology for Learning: Perspectives and toolkit for discussion. Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge.
Reports
Watson, S. (2009). Implementing collaborative planning in the mathematics department of a secondary school. Teacher Enquiry Grant Report for the NCETM.
Professional journals
Tomalin, J., Watson, S., Swan, M., Mason, J. and Watson, A. (2012). Mathematical friends and relations. Mathematics Teaching. 226.
PhD Thesis
Watson, S. (2014). The impact of professional development on mathematics teachers’ beliefs and practices (Unpublished PhD thesis). University of Nottingham.
