Deborah completed an undergraduate degree in Economics and an Mphil in the Economics and Politics of Development at Queens’ College Cambridge. She completed a PhD in Economics in 1997 from SOAS University of London and has split her career across academia, charities and government.
Her academic work has focused on inequality and poverty. She is a person who stammers and is a board member of STAMMA (the British Stammering Association). Deborah has worked with others to ensure greater awareness of the needs of students who stammer. Her education leadership work has involved a close partnership with the Students Unions to eliminate Awarding Gaps of all kinds. Deborah obtained Principal Fellowship of HEA in 2019.
She is a general commissioner on the government’s Disabled Students Commission and is also part of the TASO working group on Disability and Mental Health.