Anne-Marie Canning MBE is currently Opportunity Mission Challenge Director at UKRI, working to improve outcomes for people and places across the UK by identifying solutions that promote economic and social prosperity. She was previously the Chief Executive Officer of the Brilliant Club, a UK-wide university access charity focused on increasing the number of less advantaged students accessing the most competitive universities and supporting them to succeed when they get there. In 2018, she was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to higher education.
In recent years, Anne-Marie was the independent chair of the Department for Education’s Bradford Opportunity Area. She now leads a broad-based coalition of organisations in Bradford who are working together to improve opportunities for young people in the city – the Education Alliance for Life Chances.
Between 2012 and 2019, Anne-Marie was the Director of Social Mobility and Student Success at King’s College London. In this role, she founded an award-winning parental engagement endeavor called Parent Power. Anne-Marie has previously worked at University College Oxford and holds a University of Oxford Teaching Award. Anne-Marie is also a trustee of the Child Poverty Action Group.