Dr Kathryn Duckworth is an independent researcher and Honorary Norham Fellow in the Department of Education. Her research focuses on educational inequality, adolescent development, educational transitions, and the factors shaping young people’s pathways from childhood into adulthood.
Drawing on an interdisciplinary background spanning education, psychology, social policy, and quantitative social science, Kathryn specialises in the analysis of large-scale longitudinal and administrative datasets. Her work uses evidence from cohort studies, international surveys, and linked administrative data to understand how individual, family, educational, and social contexts influence educational outcomes, wellbeing, and transitions into adulthood.
Kathryn has worked across academia, government, and policy research for more than twenty years. Following the completion of her doctorate, she held a number of academic appointments at the Institute of Education, University of London, including Senior Research Fellow and Co-Investigator of the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (Next Steps). She has also undertaken research and advisory roles across UK government departments including the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury, and the Department for Education.
She works closely with colleagues at the Rees Centre on research exploring pathways into and through further and higher education for young people with experience of children’s social care and has contributed to evaluations of policy initiatives supporting vulnerable children and young people. Her current work also includes research on adolescent development in South Africa, educational outcomes using TIMSS and longitudinal cohort data, and emerging research on artificial intelligence in education in the Global South.
Through research conducted in both the United Kingdom and South Africa, Kathryn is interested in how robust evidence can be used to better understand educational inequalities and support more effective policy and practice.