Two years ago, Joel Dunn stood outside Chapel about to embark on an MPhil in Education. Last week he officially begun the next stage of his academic journey as a PhD student. He shared his powerful and deeply moving story with us.
“Last week marked my matriculation ceremony at the University of Cambridge, formally inducting me as a PhD student. Two years ago, I stood on those same steps, beginning my MPhil in Education.
“I felt completely out of place, no academic background, no idea what to expect, just conviction and purpose. During those two years, I dedicated my research to dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline, centering the voices that are too often reduced to statistics: excluded students and parents.
“Through poetry, they told stories of pain, frustration, and resilience. Their words revealed how exclusion doesn’t just remove a child from a classroom, it fractures families, erodes belonging, and leaves lasting emotional scars.
“It exposed what I’ve long known: school exclusion is a systemic failure. And if the system cannot be moved by the human cost, then perhaps it must be moved by the economic and societal consequences of doing nothing.
“My PhD will build on this work, expanding it across major UK cities to deepen understanding, strengthen policy influence, and create pathways for prevention.
I was accepted into Cambridge not because of a traditional academic background, but on the strength of my practice-based research, built through years of frontline work in education, youth justice, and community spaces.
“That same experience once made me feel like an outsider among seasoned education leaders.
“Now, I see it differently. My lived experience is my superpower, it gives me a unique lens and a deep responsibility to amplify the voices of those who are rarely heard in academic spaces.
“Still, coming from a non-traditional route has made securing funding difficult. Many schemes rely on conventional academic scoring systems that don’t recognise alternative pathways. So this part of the journey calls for humility and community.
“If you believe in this work, in the power of lived experience, and in the need to reimagine education systems that too often fail the most vulnerable, I’d love your support whether that’s sponsorship, introductions, or advice.
“I’m deeply grateful to everyone who’s stood with me so far and to the parents and young people who trusted me with their stories.
“My commitment remains the same: to build the fence upstream and make exclusion prevention a national priority.”
If you’d like to read more inspiring stories like Joel’s, then head over to our student profiles page.
