Professor Penny Jane Burke is UNESCO Chair in Equity, Social Justice and Higher Education, Global Innovation Chair of Equity and Director of the Centre of Excellence in Equity in Higher Education at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Penny’s personal experiences of accessing higher education against the odds over three decades ago has shaped her tenacious commitment to equity and social justice and widening participation in lifelong learning and higher education.
As a feminist activist scholar, her work is dedicated to generating critical time, space and resources for collective reflection/action and reimagining education towards generating social justice and challenging gender-based violence. Penny has published widely and is co-editor of the Bloomsbury Gender and Education book series. She has held the positions of Global Chair of Social Innovation at the University of Bath, Professor of Education at the University of Sussex and University of Roehampton and Reader at the Institute of Education, University of London
