Background and experience

Dr Ruth Graham has worked as an independent higher education consultant since 2008. Her work is focused on fostering change in higher education and improving university teaching and learning worldwide.

Originally trained as a mechanical engineer, Ruth specialised in aeronautical fatigue, conducting applied research in collaboration with the aerospace industry. In 2002, she joined Imperial College London, where she later led the EnVision project to transform undergraduate education across the Faculty of Engineering. This experience laid the foundations for her subsequent global work in higher education reform.

Her consultancy spans major international studies as well as targeted support for individual universities, governments and higher education organisations. Recent international work has included the Teaching Cultures Survey, a cross-institutional survey tracking how university teaching is rewarded in academic careers; Advancing Teaching, an initiative seeking to strengthen the value and reward of university teaching; and a review charting the progress of change in engineering education worldwide. 

In 2018, Dr Graham received an honorary doctorate from Chalmers University of Technology for distinguished efforts in developing university teaching and learning, and in 2020 she was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci Medal by the European Society for Engineering Education for outstanding contributions to engineering education (Laudatio).