Appointed 2026

Professor Jacqueline Stevenson is a sociologist of education whose interdisciplinary research has advanced understandings of equity, inclusion and social justice in higher education, shaping both national policy and institutional practice. Her work focuses on the experiences and life chances of minoritised, mature, care‑experienced, refugee, and religiously diverse students, and she has published widely on belonging, mattering, community cultural wealth, pedagogic diversity and ‘possible selves’. A central thread across her research is a commitment to social impact, ensuring that evidence meaningfully informs policy, practice and improved outcomes for under‑represented groups and disadvantaged communities. She is currently undertaking a research project on social impact at York St John University.

A longstanding contributor to SRHE, she co‑convened the former Access and Widening Participation Network before being elected to the Governing Council. She subsequently served as Chair of the Research and Development Committee and then Chair of the Governing and Appointments Committee. Jacqueline was awarded an MBE in 2019 for services to higher education.