Toby GreanyThroughout my career I have sought to bridge the worlds of research, policy and practice with a focus on exploring and enhancing educational leadership and management.
I recently joined Manchester Metropolitan University as Professor of Education having previously been a Professor at UCL IOE (2013-2018) and the University of Nottingham (2018-2026).
My research focuses on how policy and practice interact to shape educational opportunities and outcomes, in particular across local systems and through networks, and the nature and role of leadership in these processes. Since 2013 I have secured more than £3.5 million in research funding, including from ESRC, Nuffield Foundation, Wellcome Trust, Education Endowment Foundation and the UK Department for Education. I have led and contributed to various large-scale research and evaluation projects, exploring themes such as system governance and reform, partnerships and collaboration, placed-based change, and the ways in which leaders work to secure a broad, balanced and equitable education for all. Most recently I led a three-year ESRC-funded project which explored leadership and sustainability across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland using a mixed method comparative design. My work adopts a pragmatic and constructivist stance, inquiring into leadership through the experience of leaders. It draws on a range of theoretical perspectives, including governance and institutional theories, place, identity and complexity.
My books, journal articles and reports have been widely cited, including in the media and in multiple policy documents and white papers. I was pleased to be awarded the EMAL Best Paper Award in 2024, together with my co-author Dr Annelies Kamp. I sit on the editorial boards of EMAL and Quality Education for All and review for a range of journals and am a member of the ESRC’s Peer Review College and Assessor Panel.
During my career in higher education, I have held a range of leadership roles, including Head of Department, Vice-Dean and Deputy Director of Research. Before entering academia, I was Director of Research and Policy at the National College for School Leadership (2006-2013) and held roles at the Department for Education, Cabinet Office, Design Council and Campaign for Learning. I have been a Special Advisor to the Education and Skills Select Committee and from 2022-25 I chaired the Greater Manchester Priority Area Partnership Board on behalf of the Department for Education. I served for eight years as a Trustee of Transform Multi-Academy Trust in Nottingham, providing direct board-level experience within education. These roles have given me significant experience of organisational and team leadership; policy development and enactment; budget management and oversight; strategic planning; commissioning, undertaking and disseminating research; developing researchers at different stages of their careers; and building networks nationally and globally.
I have extensive experience of postgraduate teaching, have supervised multiple PhD and EdD students and been a doctoral examiner at various UK and international universities.
Finally, I have significant international experience, including as an Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and an Invited Distinguished Visitor at the National Institute of Education, Singapore.
I am standing for election to the BELMAS Board because I am passionate about advancing educational leadership research and ensuring that our collective work makes a meaningful difference to leaders, learners and education systems.
BELMAS plays a vital role in championing and facilitating rigorous research, critical dialogue, vibrant interest groups and networks, and rich professional learning. Over recent decades BELMAS has broadened its global membership and has helped to expand and diversify research into educational leadership, both in terms of the range of contexts in which it is studied and the methodologies and theoretical perspectives that inform such work. We should celebrate this plurality and seek ways to extend it further so that the Society and the wider discipline remain inclusive and relevant, while maintaining an unambiguous focus on high-quality research that seeks to enhance equity and social justice.
BELMAS has played an important role in my own professional and academic journey, so part of my motivation for standing is to give something back. Over the past 20 years I have attended the BELMAS conference regularly, where I have been both a contributor and a learner. I was particularly honoured to be asked to give a keynote address at the 2025 Conference in Brighton. I have always found BELMAS to be a supportive community characterised by respectful dialogue and productive critique. If elected I will work to ensure that we nourish and sustain this culture.
If elected as a trustee, I will contribute to honest debates about the state of the discipline and will collaborate with my fellow trustees and members to explore how we might address the key challenges we face. Public education systems are under threat and leaders face huge strains, yet the funding for research that might critique, reframe or challenge these developments or that could provide practical tools and advice on how to overcome them is ever more scarce. Meanwhile, careers in academia are becoming more precarious and recruitment onto educational leadership post-graduate programmes is falling in many contexts.
If elected as a trustee, I would work to support BELMAS in three areas. First, strengthening the connections between research, policy and practice so that BELMAS continues to shape debates that matter to educational leaders. Second, supporting the next generation of researchers, including doctoral and early career colleagues, through opportunities for mentoring, networking and public engagement. Third, helping BELMAS maintain and enhance its international reputation as a leading learned society in educational leadership and management.
As my biography outlines, I would bring a combination of strategic leadership, academic standing, experience as a trustee and sector knowledge. BELMAS occupies a unique position, bringing together scholars, practitioners and policy influencers to advance understanding of educational leadership and management. I would welcome the opportunity to help shape the Association’s future development and impact.
