Dr Sonia Ilie is a university lecturer in the Faculty of Education University of Cambridge where she explores education inequality through the life course, looking at the socio-economic factors which shape children and young people’s access, experiences in, and outcomes from education. She focuses particularly on fair access and equitable participation in higher education and how earlier educational experiences affect this, primarily in relation to the English education system, and also in low- and lower-middle income contexts. Her research builds evidence about what is effective in supporting fairer higher education access, widening participation to higher education, and better learning in schools, using large-scale experimental and quasi-experimental research designs.