Professor Sam Friedman is a sociologist of class and inequality, and his research focuses in particular on the cultural dimensions of contemporary class division. He is the author of The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged, Comedy and Distinction: The Cultural Currency of a ‘Good’ Sense of Humour, and co-author of Social Class in the 21st Century. His new book (with Professor Aaron Reeves) Born to Rule: The Making and Remaking of the British Elite was named as a ‘2024 Book of the Year’ by The Economist and The Times, and won the 2025 Mary Douglas Book Prize from the American Sociological Association. He is also the co-editor of The British Journal of Sociology.

Dr Pere Ayling is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Business, Arts, Social Sciences and Technology (BASST). Pere was born in Nigeria and has over 10 years of teaching experience in early years, primary and higher education. Pere is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her area of interest is sociology of education and race, with a focus on the temporal and geographical characteristics of inequality and privilege.

Pere has several publications, all of which are closely linked to her area of interest and specialism and focus on how social class, gender and race, as well as (dis)ability, intersect to (re)produce ‘privilege’ and ‘inequality’ in education and society more broadly. Her most recent publications examined how elite Nigerian parents are attempting to reproduce their class position by choosing to educate their children in ‘white’ British private schools, while another explored the ethical dilemmas involved in researching elites. Her work on Nigerian elites has received national and international attention, leading to speaking engagements at various conferences and symposia and invitations from well-known scholars in the field of social class and elite studies.

Pere completed a successful bid for a BT-funded systematic review of best practice in industry-linked STEM scholarships, internships, industry-school partnerships, and other/mixed programs offered to sixth form and university students. Pere was part of an international research team (Romania, Turkey, France and England) that successfully completed an Erasmus+ funded research project – Development of Inclusive and participatory learning in organisations through multicultural Ambassadors (DIPLOMA). Pere is a member of the British Sociological Association and the British Educational Research Association. She is also a core member of the BSA Elite study group.

Chris previously served as the OfS’s first Director for Fair Access and Participation between 2018 and 2021, returning to the role on an interim basis in 2025. He is Professor of Practice in Education Policy at the University of Birmingham, where he conducts research, teaching and public engagement on higher education policy and practice. Chris held senior roles at the Higher Education Funding Council for England, including Director of Policy, overseeing initiatives such as the Teaching Excellence Framework, the National Student Survey and Uni Connect. He is a trustee and fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, a trustee of the Society for Research into Higher Education, a Marshall Scholarships Commissioner, and a board member of Medr, the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research in Wales.