Anne-Marie Canning MBE

Anne-Marie Canning MBE is from Doncaster, was the first in her family to go to university and has dedicated her career to opening up educational opportunity to the next generation. She is Opportunity Mission Challenge Director at UK Research and Innovation. 

From 2020 to 2025 Anne-Marie was the Chief Executive Officer of The Brilliant Club, a UK-wide university access charity helping 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.

From 2017-2022 Anne-Marie was the independent chair of the Department for Education’s Bradford Opportunity Area. Opportunity Areas supported social mobility in the 12 areas of the country where it is most challenged. She now chairs 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 endeavour called Parent Power which continues to this day. 

Anne-Marie has previously worked at University College Oxford and holds a University of Oxford Teaching Award. She studied at the University of York and served a sabbatical term as the president of the Students’ Union. 

Anne-Marie is a trustee of the Education Policy Institute, Child Poverty Action Group, and member of the advisory board of the Higher Education Policy Institute.