Professor Becky Francis (FBA, FAcSS, PhD) is Chief Executive Officer of the Education Endowment Foundation, and retains a fractional association at UCL. She was previously Director of the UCL Institute of Education (IOE). Her prior roles include Professor of Education and Social Justice at King’s College London, Director of Education at the RSA and Standing Advisor to the Parliamentary Education Select Committee.

Throughout her career, Becky has sought to maximise the impact of academic research by working closely with teachers and policy-makers. She has spearheaded high-profile research programmes assessing the impact of major reforms in the English school system on educational inequalities, and is sought out internationally as an advisor to Governments on education policy. She was the inaugural Charles Yidan Global Fellow at Harvard University (2018).

Becky's academic expertise and extensive publications centre on social identities (gender, ‘race’ and social class) in educational contexts, social in/equality, and social identity and educational achievement. Most recently her research has especially focused on the impact of pupil grouping and 'tracking' for in/equity in pupil progress. Becky has also published widely on gender theory, and on dilemmas for education and social justice. Her policy research and analysis has focused particularly on school quality, and academies policy, in relation to social equality.