Kaori Kitagawa is a Lecturer in the Department of Education, Practice and Society. Her research interests include disaster/preparedness education, public pedagogy, lifelong learning and comparative analysis. She has engaged in a number of research projects including ‘Post-16 Transitions in London’ funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Her recent research focus has been community learning for disaster preparedness. She also works with international collaborators in interdisciplinary projects. In teaching, she has taught in the programmes at the Institute of Education at all levels from Foundation Degree, Master to Doctoral level courses of which delivery modes are both online and face-to-face. She also has experiences in supervising Master and Doctoral dissertations.