Academic Profile - Dr Sara Rye

What are your main areas of research? 

As mentioned, I look at disaster management and collect data from a variety of sources, such as the UN and other organisations that are involved in disaster areas, and I’m particularly interested in how people are affected in a disaster zone. I’m about to publish a book of my research looking at how to optimise a humanitarian supply chain and the resource allocation within a natural onset disaster. 

Another element of my research is game-based learning; I've been very sensitive towards inclusivity measures within a classroom, and I found game-based learning a very good tool to reach different kinds of learners, including students with disabilities, neurodiversity, different cultural backgrounds, etc.  

As a result of my research, I created a toolkit which can be employed in a variety of different learning scenarios and for different age groups. It can be used for young children, in higher education, even in care homes with people with dementia or Parkinson's disease. The toolkit is adaptable to the learner’s needs and the materials used can also be flexible - you could use Lego, people's bodies or marshmallows and spaghetti, as long as it’s fully inclusive. For example, if you have a student who is colour blind, then you shouldn’t use too many colourful cards, or if someone has Parkinson’s disease it can be very difficult for them to hold small objects. 

Games have their own rules with rewards and ‘punishment’. It’s motivational learning that grabs students’ attention and keeps them completely engaged. There’s a dictionary of games to work from, but once an educator is confident with the tools, they can create their own games that are tailored to their learners. There is also a website where they can share their practice with others, get feedback and see how others use this toolkit.