Arlene Holmes-Henderson is Professor of Classics Education and Public Policy at Durham University. After studying Classics at Oxford, Harvard and Cambridge, Arlene qualified as a schoolteacher and taught in high schools for more than a decade before returning to academia. Arlene has conducted international comparative research in the USA as a Fulbright Scholar, in Australia as a Churchill Fellow and in New Zealand as an Erskine Fellow.

By sharing her expertise on language education, ancient rhetoric and oracy with policymakers across seven UK government departments, her research has catalysed several policy changes in English education. Working at the intersection of research, policy and practice, Arlene collaborates closely with three All-Party Parliamentary Groups and is Chair of an Expert Panel in the Department for Education.

She builds capacity in both academic colleagues and in policy actors by delivering research-policy training at the British Academy and the Institute for Government. She has co-authored to major reports regarding policy engagement with academic research:

Holmes-Henderson, A. and Sewell, L. (2024) How does Arts and Humanities research influence Public Policy?, UPEN/Laidlaw Foundation/Durham University.

Holmes-Henderson, A. and Lewin, P. (2025) How, and where, is policy engagement recognised and rewarded in Higher Education?, UPEN/Laidlaw Foundation/Durham University.

As UPEN Vice-Chair for Arts and Humanities, she acts as a national champion for diversifying research evidence in policymaking. In 2025-2026, she is on secondment to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology as an Expert Fellow working on a cross-government foresight project (The Future of Childhood and Adolescence).