Professor Ann Harris has been with the School of Education and Professional Development (SEPD) since 1994 and Associate Dean International. Prior to coming to Huddersfield, Ann was for six years Head of English and Media at John Leggott Sixth Form College in North Lincolnshire, and before that she worked in a range of educational institutions and environments, both in the UK and internationally, including secondary schools, further education colleges and informal education. Between 1984 and 1987, she was Senior Research Officer at the Secondary Examinations Council in London, researching and advising on a variety of national policy initiatives in relation to curriculum and assessment and evaluating an innovative programme of in-service teacher training across England and Wales.

For her first degree, Ann studied English language and literature at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She subsequently gained a PGCE, also at Newcastle, and then a master's degree in which she focused on feminist literary theory and criticism. She has a RSA Diploma in Teaching English as a Foreign Language and has taught both TEFL and TESOL.  Her doctoral research, undertaken at the University of Nottingham, evaluated the impact of educational change and grew out of her work with the Secondary Examinations Council. The study was multi-layered and included case studies and life histories as well as aspects of phenomenological, autobiographical and action research.

Ann is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She is a member of the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET) Continuing Professional Development Committee and of the National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE) Post 16 and Higher Education Committee and of NATE Council. Ann is also on the Editorial Management Boards of the Journal of Vocational Education and Training and of the Journal of English in Education, and is on the Sholokhov Moscow State University Humanities Bulletin Editorial Board.

• Academic writing and transition
• Curriculum development and assessment, especially in the area of English, TESOL and literacy
• Communications and new literacies
• International education
• Education and popular culture
• Professional and cultural images of teachers
• Narrative and feminist approaches to research
• Management of change
• Experiences of teaching and learning environments