Helen is a Strategy Lead within the Department for Education’s Skills Strategy Unit. She joined the DfE in March 2022, after working for over a decade in student administration and systems development at The University of Sheffield. She also holds a French Studies doctorate from the University of Nottingham, where she researched 20th Century French philosophy, especially existentialism and phenomenology, and Gabriel Marcel’s distinctive contribution to this field.

Helen initially entered DfE as a senior policy adviser focused on further education oversight, and then moved into the Skills Strategy and Engagement Division to develop her interest in wider post-16 skills system strategy further. Helen is also one of the DfE leads for the ‘Sheffield Policy Campus’, which aims to maximise the major Civil Service policymaking presence in the Sheffield and wider South Yorkshire region, including through the development of a knowledge exchange and policy collaboration framework, to enable government departments, experts and stakeholders in the region to work together on cross-cutting issues more routinely.

Helen’s visiting policy fellowship with SKOPE therefore has a dual focus, seeking to support the development of the government’s long-term post-16 education and skills strategy (announced in Labour’s manifesto) via engagement with SKOPE’s latest research, and to test ways of joint working between the Skills Strategy Unit and SKOPE in order to develop a plan for ensuring ongoing policy collaboration.

In her spare time, Helen sings with an award-winning female choir and spends as much time outdoors as she can, with a particular love for running, cycling, and climbing mountains.