Claire Forbes

Claire Forbes is a Senior Lecturer in Education at the Manchester Institute of Education (University of Manchester), serving as the Greater Manchester Research and Engagement Champion. She teaches on the MA in Educational Leadership and MA International Education programs. Her research focuses on young people’s experiences of place, education-policy intersections, and health equity, with leadership roles in the AHRC-funded Organisations of Hope project and evaluation of the DfE’s Opportunity Area in Oldham.

Education: ESRC-funded PhD (2019) from the University of Manchester, exploring community assets in disadvantaged contexts. Her doctoral work informed her current embedded research methodologies, applied in schools and local authorities across Greater Manchester.

Research interests include participatory methods with youth, assets-based approaches, and policy-practice interfaces. She chairs the MiE-GM Seminar Series, fostering collaboration between academics, policymakers, and practitioners.

Key projects include leading the Oldham Opportunity Area evaluation (2019-2021) and contributing to health equity initiatives. Her recent publications address place-based education policies and barriers to evidence utilization in evaluations.