Julie Blake

Dr Julie Blake is a Visiting Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University and a co-founder of Poetry By Heart, a national schools poetry speaking competition established in 2012. She also co-directs The Full English (Education) Ltd, an enterprise focused on re-sourcing English for the digital age. Her academic work centers on education, literature, and the intersection of poetry with curriculum development.

Education:

• PhD (2019) from the University of Cambridge, with a thesis titled What did the national curriculum do for poetry? Pattern, prescription and contestation in the poetry selected for GCSE English literature 1988-2018.

Research Contributions: Dr Blake’s work explores the role of poetry in education, the national curriculum, and digital humanities. She leads the collaborative PhD project Making the Case: What does poetry do for young people?, funded by the North West Collaborative Doctoral Training Partnership, aiming to influence policy and literature education practices.

Affiliations:

• Visiting Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University
• Co-founder and Director of Poetry By Heart
• Co-founder of The Full English (Education) Ltd
• Collaborative partner with the North West Collaborative Doctoral Training Partnership

Projects and Impact: Through Poetry By Heart and The Full English, Dr Blake drives large-scale, funded initiatives to modernize English education and promote poetry engagement. Her research and practical work emphasize digital transformation and policy influence, particularly in secondary school curricula.