Dr Julie Blake is an innovator in the field of education and literature. In 2012, with Sir Andrew Motion (then Poet Laureate), she was co-founder of Poetry By Heart, the national schools poetry speaking competition. She has been Director of this high-impact, large-scale, funded programme ever since. She is Co-founder and Co-director of The Full English (Education) Ltd, an artisan enterprise to re-resource English for the digital age.

She is a highly respected researcher and writer, with an impressive track record of publication. In 2019 she was awarded a PhD by the University of Cambridge. Her thesis is titled What did the national curriculum do for poetry? Pattern, prescription and contestation in the poetry selected for GCSE English literature 1988-2018.

Dr Blake’s designation as a Visiting Fellow of Manchester Metropolitan University will contribute to the collaborative PhD Making the Case: What does poetry do for young people?, an ambitious project, funded by the North West Collaborative Doctoral Training Partnership, which has the potential to influence policy and create change across the literature sector.