The Saturday Club Trust warmly welcomes Professor Nona McDuff OBE to the Board of Trustees. Nona is the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Student Experience at London Metropolitan University. She was awarded an OBE for her services to higher education and is a National Teaching Fellow and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Throughout her career in both further and higher education, Nona has been driven by her commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion in her teaching, leadership and research. She is passionate about widening access and is dedicated to ensuring inclusion in higher education is recognised as an essential measure of quality in teaching and professional services. Nona has served on three boards and is currently a member of the British Council’s Education Advisory Group and a member of the Advance HE Peer Review Quality Committee. She has been a panel member of the Teaching Excellence Framework, a member of the UUK’s Racial Harassment Advisory Group and a member of the ministerial Social Mobility Advisory Group which has prioritised the challenges and barriers students face in Higher Education.

Nona was invited to address the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Higher Education on diversity in academia where she challenged the ministers to take active steps to promote social justice through education. Nona’s work on the B.A.M.E awarding gap and the Inclusive Curriculum Framework gained sector recognition, was awarded the Guardian Teaching Excellence prize (2017) and has been disseminated across five other institutions as part of the Office for Students’ catalyst programme on student success. Nona’s research interests include inclusive curricula and differential attainment and she is regularly invited to speak on disability and widening participation nationally and internationally. 

On her appointment to the Board, Nona said “I am delighted to be appointed to the Board of the Saturday Club Trust. It is hugely important to me to contribute to an organisation which has a profound impact on young people from all backgrounds. The National Saturday Club does a fabulous job in developing confidence, raising aspirations and broadening the experiences of young people. I am looking forward to supporting the National Saturday Club’s ambitions to grow and develop its offer so that it appeals to an even wider range of students with different interests across the UK.” 

Chair of the Board, Sir Nigel Carrington commented: “We are delighted to welcome Nona to our Board. As we expand the Clubs across the country, Nona’s expertise in widening access to education will bring us important insights as we continue to pursue our passionate commitment to the provision of a broad and inclusive education to all young people, particularly where this offers new life and career opportunities for students from disadvantaged and underrepresented communities.”