The Whitehall Group welcome Professor Lee Elliot Major OBE FAcSS, Professor of Social Mobility from the University of Exeter as guest speaker on Thursday, 4th April, 2024. During Dinner, Professor Elliot Major will be discussing his recent work on social and education inequality and the policy ideas emerging from this research.
Lee Elliot Major is the country’s first Professor of Social Mobility, and the former Chief Executive of the Sutton Trust, an educational charity and foundation. In his role at Exeter University, Major is dedicated to improving the prospects of disadvantaged young people and works closely with schools, universities, employers and policy makers.
Major was an education journalist working for The Guardian, The Times Higher Education Supplement, and Research Fortnight. He was Director of Policy at the Wellcome Trust between 2002 and 2004.
In 2006 he joined the Sutton Trust becoming its first Chief Executive in 2014. From 2011 to 2019 he was a trustee of the Education Endowment Foundation. He was co-author of What Makes Great Teaching.
Appointed as a professor of practice at the University of Exeter’s Graduate School of Education in 2019, he is focused on the impact of research, working closely with school leaders, universities, employers and policy makers. He regularly features in the national media. He argues that social mobility is about securing decent jobs in local communities not just catapulting a lucky few to the top. He has warned that there will be a ‘clash of classes’ as students compete for elite university places. He has proposed a National Tutoring Service to help schools.
Major is an associate member of Nuffield College, University of Oxford, an associate of LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance, a visiting fellow at the LSE’s International Inequalities Institute, and an honorary professor at the UCL Institute of Education.
He serves as a governor at William Ellis School, and a trustee of the Ted Wragg Trust.
He was appointed OBE in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to social mobility and in 2017, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Sheffield for services to education
To find out more about the Whitehall Group events or if you are interested in membership to the Whitehall Group please contact the Group Secretary, Fiona Jones by emailing fionajones.wg@culandsoc.com
The Whitehall Group is a high level policy discussion and thought leadership group whose members are mainly Cambridge alumni or those connected with the University of Cambridge. The Whitehall Group, a forum of the Cambridge University Land Society (CULS) hosts a series of lunches and dinners for approximately 15 – 20 attendees under the Chatham House Rules. The forum allows members and their guests to meet and discuss matters that are outside of their regular business / professional lives. We count amongst our members and supporters current and former Ministers, Diplomats and senior business executives. Past speakers have included Ambassadors, Ministers, Commissioners and leading academics and journalists. Speakers are invited to talk to the group on a current subject of political or economic interest.
