Ms. Isabel Machado Da Silva

Isabel is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Doctoral Candidate at the School of Human Development at the DCU Institute of Education. She is also a member of DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. She is part of the Doctoral Network “PARTICIPATE” Project, funded by the Horizon Programme of the European Commission – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). The wider PARTICIPATE project seeks to empower parents/guardians to better understand, and respond to, cyberbullying. Isabel's research directly explores how to enhance family-school partnerships to reduce and prevent online and offline bullying.

She completed a MSc in Education with International and Comparative specialisation at Stockholm University. For her master’s thesis she conducted a qualitative study on young people's sense of belonging at school during the COVID-19 pandemic. She earned a Bachelor of Laws and Political Sciences from the University Nice Sophia-Antipolis.

Isabel's most recent work looks into (cyber)bullying, parenting in the digital age, young people's digital lives, social stratification, belonging and AiEd. In her research, Isabel specialises in qualitative research and uses critical ethnography and creative methodologies such as PhotoVoice.

Research Interests

Bullying and Cyberbullying; Social Stratification; Parenting in the Digital Age; Social Class; Young people's Sense of Belonging in Educational Institutions; Race, Ethnicity and Education; Childhoods in Global Contexts; Gender, Sexuality and Schooling; Ai Education; Global Educational Governance; Comparative-International Education.

Teaching Interests

My teaching is shaped by a commitment to helping future educators make sense of the social worlds they work in. My teaching aims to support students, teachers, and teacher-educators, in developing the confidence to unpack complex issues, such as bullying, social inequality, digital life, and belonging, and to understand how these challenges are shaped by wider social structures.

I gravitate towards teaching approaches that are hands-on, relational, and reflective. I frequently use photography and visual methods, especially from my PhotoVoice research, to open up conversation, spark curiosity, and invite students to consider multiple perspectives. Bringing real case scenarios from my fieldwork is also central to my teaching, as it helps students link abstract ideas to everyday school life in concrete and meaningful ways.

I am interested in creative and critical pedagogies that encourage students to question taken-for-granted assumptions, recognise their own positionality, and understand how power operates in educational spaces, both online and offline. I aim to create learning environments that support critical thinking, and a sense of responsibility to the communities they will teach in.

Overall, my teaching seeks to equip future educators with practical tools and sociological ways of seeing that help them navigate the complexities of contemporary schooling and participate in education as thoughtful, reflective, and socially engaged professionals.