Professor Samantha Broadhead is the Head of Research at Leeds Arts University. Her research interests are related to widening participation, in particular the Access to HE education and the experiences of mature students. She is also interested in the scholarship related to the work of Basil Bernstein (1924-2000). This is a development of her previous research that formed the basis of her doctoral study at the University of Sunderland.

Broadhead has also been involved with projects funded by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service and the Education and Training Foundation that aimed to improve Access students’ experiences of transition from further education to higher education.

She currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning and carries out review work for FACE (Forum for Access and Continuing Education).

Broadhead authored with Professor Maggie Gregson in 2018, Practical Wisdom and Democratic Education. Published by Palgrave McMillan. She also wrote in 2019 with Davies, R., and Hudson, A. Perspectives on Access: Practice and Research for Emerald Publishing. She has contributed many book chapters, most recently she wrote, Non-traditional students and Practical Wisdom a perspective from a practitioner-researcher, in Practice-Focused Research in Further Adult and Vocational Education : Shifting Horizons of Educational Practice, Theory and Research. Palgrave Macmillan.