Arlene Holmes-Henderson is Professor of Classics Education and Public Policy at Durham University where she holds a British Academy Innovation Fellowship (2022-2024). After studying Classics at Oxford, Harvard and Cambridge, Arlene qualified as a schoolteacher and taught in high schools for more than a decade before returning to academia. Arlene has conducted international comparative research in the USA as a Fulbright Scholar, in Australia as a Churchill Fellow and in New Zealand as an Erskine Fellow.

She is Vice-Chair of the Universities Policy Engagement Network with national responsibility for Arts and Humanities and is an expert advisor to international governments, parliaments and assessment agencies. She leads several research projects at Durham including an interdisciplinary project with colleagues in Education, English and Psychology, 'Shy Bairns Get Nowt', which investigates the relationship between oracy, persuasion and employability.

Arlene was awarded an MBE for Services for Education by King Charles III in the Birthday Honours 2023.

For more information, see her website www.profarlenehh.com and follow her on twitter @profarlenehh.