Professor Anthony Maher

Dr. Anthony J. Maher is Director of Research  and Professor of Special Educational Needs, Disability and Inclusion in the Carnegie School of Education. He leads the school’s research leadership team and is therefore strategically responsible for research impact, research outputs, external research and enterprise income, research partnerships, staff research development, research ethics and postgraduate research students.  

Anthony’s research, consultancy, and teaching expertise relate to centring the experiences and amplifying the voices of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This is part of his commitment to trying to empower pupils with SEND, placing them at the center of decisions that impact their lives, and recognising that they have expert knowledge because of their lived, embodied experiences.

Anthony is also committed to supporting key stakeholders in schools such as teachers, special educational needs coordinators, learning support assistants, educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and senior leaders to provide valuable and meaningful experiences of education for pupils with SEND.

Anthony’s research is sociological, psychological, and philosophical, using participatory, life history, (auto)ethnographical and narrative approaches. He is the author of numerous international peer-reviewed research papers, public, private and third-sector reports, invited book chapters, and books, including Teaching Physical Education to Pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities by Routledge.