Josh is a Researcher at the Edge Foundation, where he conducts research on tertiary education, with a focus on the relationship between further and higher education, new higher education institutions, and historical policy development. He has contributed to research on degree apprenticeships, T levels, and tertiary collaboration. He coordinates Edge’s Skills Shortages Bulletins, Edge’s Learning from the Past policy reviews, and helps convene Edge’s Emerging Researcher’s Network. Josh completed his PhD in History at the University of Warwick in 2021, examining the expansion of British higher education in the post-war period. After his PhD, Josh held an Early Career Fellowship at Warwick’s Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning. He was the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Postgraduate Researcher Pedagogic Practice, co-developed the Maskulinities Project, an anti-sexism initiative at Warwick. He has published journal articles in Modern British History and Midlands History, authored reports for Edge, comment with London Higher, Wonkhe and HEPI, and regularly presents at events including by SRHE and JVET. His forthcoming book, Universities and the Purpose of Higher Education: Expansion and Development Post-World War II with Routledge, explores the evolution of higher education in liberal societies. He is also a member of the British Academy’s Higher Education Policy Development Group and serves on the Early Career Editorial Board of Higher Education Quarterly.
Publications and Reports
Laczik, A., Patel, J., Emms, K., Dabbous, D., Newton, O., Quyoum, A., Hordern, J., Orr, K., Wormald, J., James Relly, S., Polding, L. (2025), ‘Degree Apprenticeships in England: what can we learn from the experiences of apprentices, employers and providers?’, Edge Foundation.
Dabous, D., Patel, J., Emms, K., Laczik, A., Orr, K., Papworth, H., Gluck, S., Newton, O. (2024). ‘Student Voices: What Are Students Saying About Their Experiences of T Levels?’, Edge Foundation
Sevens, T., France, A., Staniland, C., Stevens, K., Patel, J. (2024) ‘What makes an effective Work Based Mentor in Allied Healthcare Professions: perceptions and expectations’. Edge Foundation.
Patel, J., Botcherby, P., Sleight, L., Woods, K. (2024) ‘Co-creation and the Opportunities and Challenges of the Student Archive’, in Hortelano, L., Gruden, M., Stojanovic A. (eds.), They:Live. Exploring Student Lives Through Context-based Art (tirant humanidades).
Patel, J. (2024), ‘General/Liberal Studies in English Further Education: The rise and fall of a radical programme to balance general and technical education, c1957–1980’. Learning from the Past. Edge Foundation.
Patel, J. ‘Playing the Market: Retail Investment and Speculation in Twentieth-Century Britain. By Kieran Heinemann’, Twentieth Century British History, 34:3 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwad017
Patel, J. (2023), ‘The Evolving Tertiary Space in London’, in Dixon, E. (ed.), Talking Tertiary: How London’s Universities and Colleges are working together to support students, employers and local communities. London Higher.
Laczik, A., Patel, J., (2023), ‘The evolving tertiary space in the UK: Meeting the skills needs through HE in FE’, in Carasso, H. (ed.), ‘UK higher education – policy, practice and debate during HEPI’s first 20 years’, HEPI Report 161.
Emms, K., Laczik, A., Patel, J. (2023) ‘New Higher Education Institutions in England: A real chance to innovate?’, Edge Foundation.
Laczik, A., Dabbous, D., Wilson, E., Patel, J (2023) ‘Good Policy Making: What can we learn from past policies?’, Edge Foundation.
Patel, J. (2023) ‘Midlands industrialists, liberal education, and the founding of the University of Warwick’, Midlands History, 48:2. https://doi.org/10.1080/0047729X.2023.2217232
Patel, J. (2023), ‘The Puzzle of Lionel Robbins: How a Neoliberal Economist Expanded Public University Education in 1960s Britain’, Twentieth Century British History, 34:2. https://doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwac039
Patel, J. ‘Utopian Universities’, History Workshop Journal, 92 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1093/hwj/dbab029
Patel, J. (2021), ‘Breadth, ‘national needs’, and reimagining the role of the university in society: the early University of Warwick’, Exchanges: The Interdisciplinary Research Journal, 8: 4. https://doi.org/10.31273/eirj.v8i4.794
Patel, J. (2021) 'The Journal of Postgraduate Researcher Pedagogic Practice and the Warwick Postgraduate Teaching Community: Editorial', Journal of PGR Pedagogic Practice, 1. https://doi.org/10.31273/jppp.vol1.2021.925
Selected Conference Papers
December 2024 ‘(One) model of student behaviour in liberal HE systems: British post-war expansion’, CGHE International Student Funding Network
December 2024 ‘Degree Apprenticeships in England: Learnings from experiences of apprentices, employers, and HE providers’, UVAC National Conference 2024.
July 2024 ‘Exploring T levels: learner profiles, experiences and perceptions’, ARPCE International Conference 2024.
June 2024 Understanding Graduate Experiences of Indebtedness in England and Scotland, ‘Personal experiences of graduate indebtedness’, SRHE Student Access and Experience Network.
December 2023 ‘Revisiting the Robbins Report at 60: education for citizenship versus education for consumerism?’, SRHE International Research Conference.
October 2023 ‘The Evolving Tertiary Space in London’, London Higher Roundtable: How can college and university relationships be further developed in London?
