Dave is an Occupational Therapist (remit in social justice) and Public Health Specialist. He is a Board member of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists in England and a member of the Health and Care Professions Council Diversity and Inclusion Forum.
Dave is also a member of the Office for Students (OfS) Blended Learning Review Panel
He is also an Associate Consultant at Advance HE, specialising in inclusive leadership, equality, diversity and inclusion.
As an inclusive thought leader, Dave’s myriad intellectual contributions to public dialogues (academic and non-academic) and endeavours shapes contemporary discourses. He brings an intersectional and critical perspective to his teaching, research, scholarship and practice. His scholarly outlook, grows from a deep understanding of contemporary and historical structural inequalities and ways in which they are manifested and sustained intersectionally in societies. He adopts a strategic, person-cantered approach in supporting individuals, organisations and communities to operationalise transformational ontological positions and methodologies in creating and sustaining intersectionally diverse and inclusive ecosystems.
Dave has a range of publications pertaining to inclusive leadership, racial justice, equality and inclusion, educational psychology, occupational justice and social justice. He is a co-editor of Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization: Practical tools for research and scholarship (2022) Bristol University Press; the lead editor of Doing Equity and Diversity for Success in Higher Education (2021) Palgrave Macmillan; and Towards Decolonising the University: A Kaleidoscope for Empowered Action (2020) Counterpress Oxford.
Dave conceptualised and developed the novel set of Culturally Sensitive Curricula Scales (CSCS) and Culturally Sensitive Curricula Scales – Educator Self-reflection tool (CSCEST) as quantitative tools to assess the extent to which higher education curricula are culturally, sensitive and support curricular enhancement.
Dave also conceptualised and developed the novel set of Culturally Sensitive Organisational Environment Scales (CSOES) as tools to assess whether an organisation is culturally sensitive, in order to create and sustain more culturally sensitive working environments.
Dave is a co-developer of the esteemed collaborative Santander Universities and Open University anti-racism course Union Black: Britain’s Black Cultures and Steps to Anti-racism
Dave tweets as: @DrDaveThomasOT