Nic’s expertise centres on supporting schools to embed meaningful, research‑aligned Holocaust education that foregrounds authentic voices and fosters critical, compassionate engagement among young people. She works extensively with Beacon Schools, survivor families, community partners and national organisations to strengthen whole‑school approaches and ensure that Holocaust education remains relevant, responsible and impactful. Her interests include intergenerational memory, identity, and the ways students make sense of complex histories through disciplinary lenses. Nicola is committed to supporting teachers to navigate sensitive material with confidence and integrity, drawing on both her academic work and her ongoing classroom practice, to refine CPD design and classroom materials. She is passionate about bridging research, policy and pedagogy, and about creating learning experiences that help students understand the past and their responsibilities in the present.
Associate Professor (Teaching)
Nicola Wetherall, MBE
Nicola is an Associate Professor (Teaching) at the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education, where she leads the Centre’s Quality Mark programme and works closely with Beacon and Alumni Schools to strengthen whole‑school approaches to Holocaust education. She supports national partnerships and sector engagement, working with teachers, school leaders, policy partners and stakeholders to ensure meaningful, research‑informed practice. Her dual role at UCL and as a practising classroom teacher provides a unique bridge between the academic and pedagogical realm, combining research, policy and lived school experience and thus Nic uniquely understands the importance of relationships, engagement and retention across our the Centre’s programmes and within our communities of practice.
Nic is a lead practitioner in Holocaust, genocide and human rights education at a secondary school in Wiltshire, bringing over two decades of classroom experience to her work. She has led major educational projects including The Holocaust, Their Family, Me and Us, (supported by the Centre), It’s Time to Talk About…, and the teacher‑development conference programme Empowering Young People to Change the World. Alongside her school‑based practice, she advises and supports a range of national and international bodies working in the fields of Holocaust education, genocide awareness, remembrance and human rights. Her work is grounded in disciplinary integrity, shaped by her PhD research and her training as a Religious Education teacher - a background that informs her commitment to thoughtful, rigorous approaches to teaching about the Holocaust. Nicola’s dual professional identity enables her to connect research and practice in ways that directly support teachers and students. Her contribution to education was recognised in 2017 with an MBE for services to Holocaust education.
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