Dr Lee Elliot Major

Lee Elliot Major is Britain’s first Professor of Social Mobility, based at the University of Exeter. As a Professor of Practice, his work is dedicated to helping schools, universities, governments and major corporations around the world better recognise and nurture talent, regardless of background. He was previously Chief Executive of the Sutton Trust, the UK’s leading social mobility foundation.

His award-winning books include Social Mobility and Its Enemies (Penguin), What Works? (Bloomsbury) and Equity in Education which has inspired hundreds of schools to adopt more equitable approaches. His forthcoming book, Cracking the Class Code, explores the hidden cultural barriers that shape progression in top-tier global firms and sets out a practical blueprint for identifying and developing talent, leading to fairer and more productive workplaces. Lee is one of the most prominent public voices in national education debates and is invited to speak about the topic across the world.

He was awarded an OBE in the 2019 Queen’s Honours. He is the first in his family to go to university and once worked as a bin-man.

He was also a founding trustee of the Education Endowment Foundation and helped establish a toolkit of education best bets, now used by teachers globally. Lee championed reforms to university admissions to make them fairer. He helped establish the South-West Social Mobility Commission, a trailblazer of regional efforts to improve opportunity. He has also developed an innovative university tutoring scheme that awards degree credits to undergraduates supporting local school pupils. He was awarded an OBE for services to social mobility in the 2019 Queen’s Honours.

He holds several academic posts including Associate, London School of Economics, Centre for Economic Performance. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and serves on the Strategic Advisory Network of the Economic and Social Research Council.