Beth Hocking
I am an independent qualitative researcher exploring how educational and occupational pathways are influenced by culture and social inequality. Using a critical lens, I examine aspirations, transitions, choices and experiences to understand how opportunities and participation are shaped. My research aims to inform more equitable and inclusive policy and practice.
I focus on educational settings as an important site for understanding social inequality and seek to bridge the micro level of educational experience with the systemic factors impacting patterns of participation.
I have a particular interest in women’s pathways and the cultural influences on their choices and opportunities, including from an intersectional perspective. This has led me to focus on areas in which women are underrepresented (such as STEM) and to examine how entry and persistence are encouraged and constrained.
More information
Research approaches
Qualitative approaches including discourse, narrative and thematic analysis of policies, websites, online discussions and in-depth biographical interviews. Also quantitative approaches aimed at analysing patterns of participation using administrative and institutional datasets.
Research interests
Ability discourses, educational inequality, patterns of participation, forms of disadvantage, gender, mathematics, numeracy, transitions, choices, access, inclusion, admissions and selection, equitable assessment, disciplinary culture, gender pay gap, career paths.
Doctoral research
My research on English elite mathematics higher education uncovered exclusionary practices, policies and cultures that subtly and unintentionally create barriers for women and other underrepresented groups. The study took place across four institutions and involved in-depth interviews with students, academics, teachers and other stakeholders during 2024. Ability discourses were interrogated using a Foucauldian framework to reveal how they perpetuate exclusivity.
Conferences, invited talks and profiles
Culture, collaboration and confidence in elite mathematics, Maths Education Seminar, University of Leeds 2026 https://mathsseminars.leeds.ac.uk/seminars/2026-05-14-beth-hocking-imperial-college-london/
The experience of women undergraduates studying mathematics at four elite universities and the links to admissions practices and course culture, Student Experience and EDI Network, Imperial College London 2026 https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/206694/see-edi-network-event/
Admissions tests: efficient or exclusionary?, Festival of Teaching and Learning Conference, Imperial College London 2026 https://www.imperial.ac.uk/staff/educational-development/networks-and-events/festival-of-learning-and-teaching/
Measuring potential: navigating admissions tests, Mathematics Department Teaching and Education Seminar, Imperial College London 2025 https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/191410/teaching-seminar-beth-hocking-imperial/
Discourses of access in elite mathematics, Society for Research into Higher Education, International Conference 2024 https://srhe.ac.uk/arc/24/0324.pdf
Wonkhe profile: https://wonkhe.com/staff/beth-hocking/
Imperial College London profile: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/education-research/about/students/
Prior experience
I am a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales with over 15 years of experience across business consulting, equity research and forensic accounting. I specialise in valuing companies and damages for investment, regulatory and legal purposes. I am a qualified secondary school teacher with experience of teaching Business and Economics at key stages 4 and 5. I have six years of school governance experience with a focus on quality of education and SEND.
I also have a degree in Law and an MA in Research Methods.
Affiliations and status
I completed my doctorate at Imperial College London in the Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship. I am now consolidating and disseminating my research as an independent post-doc. I am involved in projects to develop teaching materials on research methods and academic skills.
Contact me
I am happy to be contacted in conjunction with research, talks or related opportunities via my email: beth_hocking@hotmail.com
bethhocking.uk 