Christoforos Mamas
Associate Professor
- Profile
- Education
- Research
- Selected Publications
Profile
Dr. Christoforos Mamas is an Associate Professor whose scholarship advances inclusive education across P–12 settings, with a sustained focus on elementary classrooms. A former elementary school teacher, he brings extensive classroom experience to his research, grounding his work in the everyday realities of teaching and learning.
Dr. Mamas is the originator of the concept of Relational Inclusivity, a paradigmatic approach that positions peer relationships, classroom social networks, and everyday interaction patterns at the center of inclusive education. His work examines how friendship networks, classroom participation structures, and school-level arrangements shape belonging, particularly for students identified with special educational needs and disabilities, as well as those from historically marginalized communities, including housing-insecure and refugee-background students.
In this framework, inclusion is both structural and relational. Equitable access to curriculum must be accompanied by equitable access to meaningful peer relationships.
Using mixed methods and Social Network Analysis (SNA), Dr. Mamas maps patterns of interaction across developmental stages, often drawing from elementary school contexts to illuminate how early peer dynamics shape engagement, identity formation, and academic participation. By visualizing classroom social architectures, his research highlights relational patterns that influence students’ everyday experiences of inclusion and exclusion.
His most recent line of research focuses on measuring and transforming relational inequities through the development and implementation of a Social Network Analysis Toolkit, as well as through research–practice partnerships with schools and districts. This work moves beyond documenting relational patterns to co-constructing democratic, inclusive educational systems with educators and positions teachers as relational architects who intentionally design classroom environments that foster belonging, participation, and relational equity for all students.
Education
PhD in Education with an emphasis in Inclusive and Special Education
University of Cambridge, UK, 2009.
Master of Philosophy in Educational Research with an emphasis in Research in Special and Inclusive Education
University of Cambridge, UK, 2006.
Master of Arts in Special and Inclusive Education
University of Worcester, UK, 2005
Bachelor of Arts in Primary Education
University of Crete, Greece, 2004
Credentials
Qualified Teacher Status in Greece and Cyprus, 2004
Qualified Teacher Status in the UK, National College for Teaching & Leadership, Teacher Reference Number: 3574657, 2015.
Higher Education Academy Fellow, UK, 2015.
Research
Research interests
- Early childhood studies and primary education
- Inclusion, inclusive education and inclusive pedagogy
- Special education
- National and international perspectives on inclusion, disability and equality
- Comparative and interdisciplinary studies
- Transformative research
- Sociometry, social network analysis and theory
- Mixed methods approaches
Grants & contracts
- California Educational Research Association Research Award, 2018-2020.
- Marie Curie Fellowship, European Commission, 2015-2018.
- Exploring peer relationships, friendships and group work dynamics in Higher Education (HE), 2014-2015.
- An exploration of international students’ main challenges or problems while studying at Plymouth University, 2014-2015.
- Social Science Collaboration with Exeter University award, 2012-2013.
- Social Inclusion in the Classroom: Institute of Health and Community Pump-priming funding, 2012-2013.
Selected Publications
Journal articles
Mamas, C., & Goldan, J. (2023). Exploring the Social Networks of Highly Diverse Middle School Students with Disabilities. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 1-17.
Mamas, C., Bjorklund Jr, P., Cohen, S. R., & Holtzman, C. (2023). New friends and cohesive classrooms: A research practice partnership to promote inclusion. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 4, 100256.
Mamas, C., Daly, A. J., Cohen, S. R., & Jones, G. (2021). Social participation of students with autism spectrum disorder in general education settings. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 28, 100467.
Mamas, C., Schaelli, G. H., Daly, A. J., Navarro, H. R., & Trisokka, L. (2020). Employing social network analysis to examine the social participation of students identified as having special educational needs and disabilities. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 67(4), 393-408.
Mamas, C., Bjorklund Jr, P., Daly, A. J., & Moukarzel, S. (2020). Friendship and support networks among students with disabilities in middle school. International Journal of Educational Research, 103, 101608.
Mamas, C., Daly, A. J., & Schaelli, G. H. (2019). Socially responsive classrooms for students with special educational needs and disabilities. Learning, culture and social interaction, 23, 100334.
Mamas, C., Daly, A. J., Struyve, C., Kaimi, I., & Michail, G. (2019). Learning, friendship and social contexts: Introducing a social network analysis toolkit for socially responsive classrooms. International Journal of Educational Management, 33(6), 1255-1270.
Book Chapters
Froehlich, D. E., Mamas, C., & Schneider, H. W. (2019). Automation and the journey to mixed methods social network analysis. In Mixed Methods Social Network Analysis (pp. 219-230). Routledge.
Mamas, C., & Daly, A. J. (2018). Social network analysis in K-12 settings: Review, implications, and new directions for higher education. Researching and Enacting Change in Postsecondary Education, 30-54.
Mamas, C. (2018). Exploring peer relationships, friendships and group work dynamics in higher education: applying social network analysis. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 42(5), 662-677.
Chanda-Gool, S., & Mamas, C. (2017). ‘Becoming others’ Valuing our relationship and communication with students. Pastoral Care in Education, 35(3), 192-202.
Chanda-Gool, S., & Mamas, C. (2017). ‘Coming from somewhere else’–group engagement between students and academics. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education ISSN, 667(12), 2017.
Mamas, C., Georgeson, J., & Kaimi, I. (2017). Mixed-Methods Approach to Researching Friendships and Social Interactions in Mainstream Schools in England and Cyprus. Sage Publications Limited.
Seale J, Georgeson J, Mamas C & Swain J. (2015) 'Not the right kind of 'digital capital'? An examination of the complex relationship between disabled students, their technologies and higher education institutions' COMPUTERS & EDUCATION 82, 118-128.
Mamas C. & Avramidis E. (2013) 'Promoting social interaction in the inclusive classroom: Lessons from inclusive schools in England and Cyprus' LEARNING CULTURE AND SOCIAL INTERACTION 2, (4) 217-226.
Mamas C. (2013) 'Teaching contested narratives: identity, memory and reconciliation in peace education and beyond' JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR TEACHING 39, (2) 250-252.
Mamas C. (2013) 'Understanding Inclusion in Cyprus' European Journal of Special Needs Education 28, (4) 480-493.
Mamas C (2012) 'Pedagogy, social status and inclusion in Cypriot schools' International Journal of Inclusive Education 16, (11)
Hohmann U. & Mamas C. (2015) ‘Research projects in Early Childhood Studies’, in Parker-Rees R. & Leeson C. (eds) Early Childhood Studies: an introduction to the study of children’s worlds and children’s lives, Edition: 4th, Chapter: 18, SAGE.
Mamas C. (2014) 'The relationship between intercultural and inclusive education: two sides of the same coin?' in Hatzisoteriou C; Xenofontos C Intercultural education: challenges, pedagogy and suggestions.
