Professor Leanne de Main

Leanne is an experienced senior leader in Higher Education, currently as Dean of the Business School and Professor of Education at Birmingham City University. She is a Principal Fellow with Advance HE (PFHEA), holds the CMBE with the Chartered Association of Business Schools, is a member of the British Academy of Management (BAM), an Advance HE Aurora Mentor and an Associate Member of the Association of Learning Technology (ALT).

Leanne is a Peer Reviewer for the European Federation of Management Development (EFMD) supporting Business Schools globally in achieving EFMD accreditation. In January 2022, Leanne joined the Advisory Group for the QAA review of Business and Management Benchmark Statements and has recently completed two QAA funded Collaborative Enhancement Projects looking at student experience post-covid and Block Teaching. In January 2025, Leanne won funding from Advance HE collaborating with international universities on new models of learning.

Leanne researches teaching and learning, neurodiverse learners, widening participation and opportunity in HE with a focus on curriculum design models, block teaching and design sprint methodology: a strategic transformation she led as Associate PVC Education at DMU. Her book, 'Achieving Teaching Excellence' was released in 2021. More recently, in January 2025, her chapter on 'Quality in Block Teaching' was published in 'Block Teaching Essentials'.