Advisory Board
The organisations and individuals supporting the project with their expertise
Our core goal is to investigate accent bias in hiring contexts in elite professions, and to combat any such tendencies with targeted, evidence-based policy and training materials. Collaboration with key stakeholders is therefore integral to the project, and our advisory board will ensure sustained and informed engagement with our main beneficiary groups.
The Social Mobility Commission
The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) monitors progress towards improving social mobility in the UK, and promotes social mobility in England.
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
CIPD are a professional body of experts in people at work. For more than 100 years, they've been championing better work and working lives by setting professional standards for HR and people development, as well as driving positive change in the world of work.
Aspiring Solicitors
The primary aim of Aspiring Solicitors is to increase diversity in the legal profession. They work with law firms and legal teams to provide events, mentoring, competitions, employability assistance and access to the legal profession.
Jenny Cheshire
Jenny Cheshire is Professor of Linguistics at Queen Mary University of London. She specialises in variation and change in British dialects, and co-directed the team that first documented and described Multicultural London English. She is a Fellow of the British Academy.
Lizzie Barmes
Lizzie Barmes is Professor of Labour Law at Queen Mary University of London. She is also co-director of the Centre for Law, Equality and Diversity. She has experience as a Government Lawyer and has also previously practised as a solicitor, specializing in employment, equality and personal injury litigation.
Louise Bloor
Louise Bloor is an employed barrister who has extensive experience of public law, having worked in the Government Legal Department as an advisory lawyer as well as a litigator, specialising in employment and immigration law. She is acting in a personal capacity on this Advisory Board.
Chris Wilkinson
Chris Wilkinson is the Employability Tutor at York Law School, at the University of York, where he co-ordinates the York Law School Careers and Development Programme. In previous roles, he has served as a Careers Adviser, at other Law Schools, and, prior to that, he worked for several years as a solicitor.