Jess Moody

Jess is a Senior Adviser at Advance HE, supporting diversity and inclusion across the staff and student lifecycles in higher education.

Currently working with universities with their inclusive curricula development (including issues of internationalisation and decolonisation), she also supports institutions in their work on tackling inequality in access and participation (including attainment and experience ‘gaps’ and APPs). She focuses on approaches which consider intersectionality, the ethical use of equality data, and long term cultural change.

Her recent publications and research include the Increasing Diversity end of project report on targeted action in student recruitment; examining ‘what works’ for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the International research and innovation landscape (UKRI, 2020); and new sector guidance on religious inclusion in higher education (2018), and. With an interest in how national regulation and policy impacts inclusive practice and process, Jess has also worked with a wide range of sector bodies (e.g. Office for Students, UUK, GuildHE, UCAS, and the DfE).

Formerly a Senior Policy Adviser at Equality Challenge Unit, Jess has worked in higher education for 15 years, with professional services roles at post-1992, small specialist, and research-intensive institutions. She has been a member of the SPA National Expert Think Tank on fair admissions, a member of the Action on Access steering group, and Secretary to the Russell Group working group on qualifications. She studied Law at the University of Oxford, and holds an MA in Gender, Sexuality & Culture from Birkbeck, University of London.