Dr Helen May is a freelance consultant working with universities and organisations across the UK. She works with staff and students facilitating cultural change leadership to enhance the quality of the student experience and student outcomes. Her work is varied, and currently includes supporting whole team effectiveness; curricula design; establishing quality and impact processes; and facilitating a learning framework and whole institutional approach to inclusion and students as co-leaders. Helen’s passion lies with equity and inclusion having chosen to specialise in this area at an early point in her career 30 years ago. She remains an ardent advocate, promoting inclusion as fundamental to teaching quality and student success.

Helen worked previously as a Head of Learning and Teaching, driving the Teaching Excellence Framework, academic enhancement, student as partners and Access and Participation Plan. Before that she worked nationally for 14 years for the UK based learning and teaching agency – the Higher Education Academy, where she led the Teaching Excellence Awards and on more than eight quality enhancement priorities. Her work had an impact upon sector wide approaches to student success, retention, inclusion, and internationalisation.

Helen has authored several publications, receiving over 1200 citations, on various topics including: social capital, inclusive learning and teaching, student engagement, equality and diversity, transnational education, and strategic change. Helen began her career as a primary school teacher. She holds a M.Ed (1997) and Ed.D (2003) from the University of Leeds, and a Certificate of Professional Development in Business and Executive Coaching (2011).