ProfGurpinder Singh Lalli

Gurpinder is Professor in Education for Social Justice and Inclusion in the School of Education. He has an international track record of delivering funded research projects focused on social justice and educational ethnography within inclusive communities. He is advisor to the National School Food Review working group, School Meals Coalition and working within the network of the World Food Programme for school feeding. His work was cited in the UNESCO Education Global Monitoring report, 'Education and nutrition: Learn to eat well'. Currently, serves as the England representative for the UNESCO Global Health Education secretariat. He is Co-Director and founding member of the Centre for Research in Education and Social Transformation (CREST) and the research hub lead for Education, Leadership and Social Justice. He is module lead for Critical Approaches to Diversity, Equality and Social Justice in Education (7ED002, MA Education) and teaches on the Doctoral programme. He has led doctoral students to completion and is currently supporting students as Director of Studies. Gurpinder holds Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA).

Gurpinder is an award winning researcher and has authored 8 books. These include Schools, Food and Social Learning (Routledge, 2019), School Farms: Feeding and educating children (Routledge, 2021), Schools, Space and Culinary Capital (Routledge, 2022), Food Futures in Education and Society (Routledge, 2023), Food, Culture & Society in India: Social, Political, Economic and Cultural Perspectives (Berghahn, 2026), Critical Food Studies from the Global South (in production, Peter Lang, 2026), GenAIED: Cultural and Pedagogical Catalysts in Higher Education (Routledge, 2026). He has co-written a research monograph, following the completion of the ESRC School Meals Service project, titled, 'A social history of the school meals service in Britain' (under review). He has published over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles in leading international education, sociology and language journals and led special issues to completion. He was appointed as a member of the ESRC peer-review college (2024-present).

Gurpinder is Editor-in-Chief for European Journal of Education and Associate Editor for the British Journal Sociology of Education. Gurpinder is book series editor for Food and Cultures from the Global South (Peter Lang Publishing). He has published in leading Education journals and serves on a number of leading education and sociology editorial boards which include: British Journal of Sociology of Education, Cambridge Journal of Education, International Studies in Sociology of Education, Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition and British Journal of Educational Studies. He is a member of the executive committee for the Society for Educational Studies and an elected member of the BERA council. He is Visiting Professor of Education in the Centre for Teacher Education and Research (CTER) at Beijing Normal University and Visiting Associate Professor of Education in the Department of Education at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

His research has been funded by the ESRC (UKRI), British Council, NIHR Special schools and school meals, World Food Programme, BERA, BAICE, Independent Social Research Foundation, Society for Educational Studies, UKPRP, Birmingham Childrens Project, Birmingham City Council, Walsall Council Food Plan, Wolverhampton City Council Early Researcher Award Scheme. He is co-investigator on the first detailed historical and ethnographic study of the UK School Meals Service with a particular focus on the lived cross-generational experience of those receiving and preparing school meals. Funded by the UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the study is titled 'The School Meals Service - Past, Present and Future' (Grant no: ES/X000737/1, 2023-2025) and awarded £1 million.

Gurpinder's work has received media coverage and across key Think Tanks which include UK Parliament POST, School Food Matters, International Food Tank, The Conversation, Express and Star, Education Business, Department for Education, Times Education Supplement, School Food Matters, Teaching Times and more recently on school breakfast provision from the British Medical Journal (BMJ)