Catherine Lee

Catherine Lee (MBE) is Professor of Inclusive Education and Leadership and Deputy Dean at Anglia Ruskin University in the East of England. She is also a National Teaching Fellow in recognition of her work to improve the national landscape in schools and universities.

Before working in higher education, Catherine spent over twenty years as a teacher, both in inner-city Liverpool and rural Suffolk. She was initially a PE teacher before gaining promotion to learning development and pastoral leadership roles in mainstream schools.

Catherine is passionate about equality and diversity and has published extensively on the theme of LGBTQ+ inclusion. In 2016, working with schools she set up the UK’s first leadership development programme for LGBTQ+ teachers, and has supported almost 100 LGBTQ+ teachers to secure school leadership roles.

Catherine received an MBE in King Charles III first New Years Honours List for services to Equality in Education. She has been nominated for a number of national awards for her work in education, including a British Diversity Award and National Diversity Award. She also featured in the LGBT Pride Power List in 2019 as one of the most influential LGBT people in the UK. Catherine has a number of strategic governance roles in the education and charity sectors, where she uses her national profile in pursuit of inclusive education and to improve the lives of those on the margins.