Dr Helen Martin

Dr Helen Martin
Dr Helen Martin
Dr Helen Martin

BSc (Hons), PGCE, PhD

Lecturer

Accepting PhDs

About
Email Address
h.martin@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number
+44 (0)1224 274769
Office Address
MR610 MacRobert Building
Old Aberdeen Campus
581 King Street
AB24 5UA

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School/Department
School of Education

Biography

Helen Martin is a Lecturer in Mathematics Education where she specialises in developing pedagogical design capacity and supporting professionally informed ethical decision-making. Her research and teaching are based on the design principles ‘valuing diversity, developing flexibility and making connections’ with an emphasis on how others make sense of doing mathematics, becoming and being mathematicians within a community. Helen has led collaborative projects across universities around E-Formative Assessment, online study sessions for primary pre-service teachers and Multiplicative and Algebraic Reasoning across Scottish schools as well as continuing to work at a National level with the Scottish Government, Scottish Mathematical Council, Edinburgh Mathematical Society and the Joint Mathematical Council of the UK.

An important part of encouraging more young people to recognise themselves as mathematicians involves supporting enrichment opportunities for children and young people including the Royal Institution Maths Masterclasses from way back as a tutor with Prof. Edward Patterson, Stem in the Pipeline, UKMT Team Maths challenges, Scottish Maths Challenge (now in its 50th year) and the Primary Enterprising Maths Challenge (nearing it's 25th anniversary) started here in Aberdeen with events now running across Scotland.

She is also the Editor-in-Chief of the international open access Education in the North journal (now in its 60th year) which supports researchers at every stage of their careers across the Arctic and beyond where she works closely with UArctic Teacher Education for Social Justice and Diversity in Education thematic network and The Centre for the North. The design principles 'valuing diversity, developing flexibility and making connections' are now used alongside the extensive editorial expertise to support early career researchers as programme director of the MEd Professional Education, EdD course coordinator and REF impact lead. 

Qualifications

  • PhD Mathematics Education 
    2014 - University of Aberdeen 
  • PGCE Secondary Mathematics 
    1990 - University of Edinburgh 
  • BSc (Hons) Mathematics 
    1989 - University of St Andrews 

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships

University Court elected member Nov 2020 - present

Finance and Resource Committee (FRC) Sept 2023 - present

Govenance and Nominations Committee (GNN) Feb 2021 - Sept 2023

Leadership & Governance workstream (ACS) Feb 2026 - present

Senate elected member Oct 2017 - Sept 2020 

Senate Business Committee (SBC) member Sept 2018 - Sept 2020

Senate Effectiveness Review group elected member 2019/20, 2020/21

UOA Ref Impact Leads School REF Impact Lead Sept 2024 - present

School Research Committee Sept 2021- present

School EDI Committee Chair (Feb 2023 - Oct 2025); member 2023 - present

Education in the North Chair and Editor-in-chief May 2020 - Present; Book Review Editor 2015-2020

The Centre for the North board member

External Memberships

Edinburgh Mathematical Society, Joint Chair of the Education Committee and member of Council, Sept 25 - present

Joint Mathematical Council of the UK, member Apr 2026 - present

British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics (BSRLM) member of Higher Education Mathematics Group

PRIMES: Pedagogy and Practice in Mathematics Education Scotland Member

Scottish Mathematical Challenge (MC) Committee

Scottish Mathematical Council (SMC) Member Sept 2015- 2018 and trustee Nov 2016 - Sept 2018 

Education Scotland member of Curriculum Improvement Cycle Mathematics Collaboration Group and National Numeracy Network

UArctic Teacher Education for Social Justice and Diversity in Education Arctic Futures

New Northern Pedagogies Group Sept 23 - present

Prizes and Awards

Senior Fellow, Advance HE (formerly HEA) 2021

First Scottish Academic journal to gain the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) seal 2021

Research

Research Areas

Accepting PhDs

I am currently accepting PhDs in Education.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.

Education

  • Supervising
  • Accepting PhDs

Current Research

Assessment in Higher Education Mathematics

Learning and Teaching Mathematics in Higher Education

How choice might be actualised within classrooms

Collaborations

UK Prosperity Funded ‘Multiply’ project with Aberdeen City Council

UK Prosperity Funded ‘Multiply’ project with Aberdeenshire Council

Dyscalculia Working Group with Aberdeen City Council

Supervision

My current supervision areas are: Education.

Current supervisions

PhD: Transitions from Secondary to Post-Secondary Mathematics in Malta

EdD: Ethical Leadership

Previous supervisions

PhD: Teaching mathematics with Saudi Arabian English Language Learners

PhD: Vulnerable young people in Scotland: tacking food and health inequalities

Funding and Grants

New Northern Pedagogies Group (NNPG): Co-PI funded by Scottish Government Arctic Connections (£7795) with co-investigators from Universities of Strathclyde, Edinburgh, Highlands & Islands, and Lapland.

Improving Children’s Mathematical Reasoning (ICMR): Principal Investigator funded by The Carnegie Trust Larger Collaborative Grant (£40000) with co-investigators from Universities of Glasgow and King’s College London alongside Education Scotland and Scottish Government.

Online Mathematics Assessment for Primary Teachers (MAPT): Principal Investigator funded by Education Scotland (£12000) with co-investigators from Universities of Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow alongside Education Scotland and HMIE.

Teaching

Programmes

Teaching Responsibilities

Current Teaching

Programme Director

Masters in Professional Education

Course Coordinator

ED6002 EdD Identifying and Articulating Issues in Professional Practice

ED506A(2025-26): Master Project/Dissertation

ED556A(2025-26): Master Project/Dissertation

PGDE(S) Mathematics Education

ED1008 Radical Reconstructions of Mathematics

Publications

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Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings

Contributions to Conferences

Contributions to Journals