Suffolk Professor Catherine Lee awarded MBE by Princess Anne

Professor Catherine Lee, who lives near Sudbury and works at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, was awarded her MBE this week for her services to equality in education.

Dr Lee, who is deputy dean for learning and teaching and the student experience in the Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care, was recognised with an MBE in King Charles' first New Year's Honours List.

She received the award from the Princess Royal in London.

Professor Lee is also a National Teaching Fellow and former school teacher, and has published books on equality, diversity and inclusion in education.

For years, she taught in schools under the Section 28 legislation, which was lifted 20 years ago.

Introduced in by Margaret Thatcher’s government in 1988, Section 28 decreed that a local authority should "not promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”.

Professor Lee was an advisor on the film Blue Jean, which told the story of a gay teacher working in a UK school during the time of Section 28, which banned teachers from advocating same-sex relationships.

The film, released in February, was partly based on her own journals and experiences of being a teacher during the late 1980s when the legislation was introduced.

Professor Lee said: “I was delighted to receive an MBE for Services to Equality in Education from the Princess Royal.

“I am lucky to have been inspired and supported by some incredible colleagues and students both in schools and at ARU and those people were very much front of mind at my MBE investiture today.

“Many of us feel like outsiders during our own education and in our education workplace.

"I hope that the work I was recognised for today goes some small way to helping schools and universities be places where we are all included and feel free to be our authentic selves.”