Penny Jane Burke

Professor Penny Jane Burke is a leading scholar in higher education equity and Co-Director of the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education (CEEHE) at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She held the Bath Global Innovation Chair (2020–2021), hosted by the Department of Education and Centre for Learning & Teaching at the University of Bath, fostering international collaboration on equity in higher education.

Her research focuses on widening participation, educational policy, and social justice, with a strong emphasis on feminist and decolonising frameworks. She has influenced national policy in Australia and the UK, particularly in rethinking selection practices in Fine Arts and advancing gender equity in STEAM fields. Her praxis-based approach integrates theory and transformative practice across institutional and cultural contexts.

Professor Burke's collaborative work at Bath centered on developing a comparative UK/Australian research project using Indigenous and feminist methodologies to challenge instrumentalist agendas in women's participation in STEAM. This reflects a broader commitment to critical, socially responsive research.

She has served on national expert panels, including the Australian government’s Research & Innovation Equity Panel, advising the Minister of Education. Her contributions have had significant impact on both policy and practice in higher education systems internationally.

As a leader in equity research, she has developed innovative frameworks that support both excellence and inclusion in universities. Her work is deeply collaborative, involving partnerships across institutions such as the University of Bath and the Access Project, and is grounded in transformative pedagogical and organisational change.