Paul Wakeling

Professor Paul Wakeling is a sociologist of education at the University of York, focusing on higher education access, social inequalities, and institutional stratification. He served as Head of Department (2018–2023) and currently acts as Dean of the York Graduate Research School.

• Key Affiliations: Centre for Research on Education and Social Justice, ESRC Peer Review College, British Sociological Association

His research employs large-scale datasets and administrative data to investigate:

• Equity in doctoral education recruitment
• Socioeconomic/gender/ethnic disparities in postgraduate access
• Academic career stratification
• Impact of Brexit on EU student mobility
• Postgraduate loan policies

Recent Collaborative Trends: Work with institutions like the Yorkshire Consortium for Equity in Doctoral Education and reports for UKRI, BBSRC, and the Sutton Trust highlight his focus on evidence-based policy solutions for educational equity.

Scientific Recognition:

• Fellow of the British Educational Research Association
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Advisor to ESRC and UKRI

Supervision & Grants: Supervises 6 active PhD students with interdisciplinary approaches. Leads funded projects such as BBSRC's Life Sciences PhD Pathways (2021–2022) and Yorkshire Consortium work (2022–2026). Former students include Agata Lambrechts (2020) on refugee education and Caroline Casey (2020) on legal profession pathways.