I was awarded a Churchill Fellowship for 2020 to visit Canada and New Zealand to research widening participation in higher education. Run by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, the Churchill Fellowships are a unique programme of overseas research grants supporting UK citizens from all parts of society to travel the world in search of innovative solutions for today's most pressing problems. The purpose of my Churchill Fellowship project is to inform policy and practice by learning from international comparators who have pioneered targeted, aspiration-raising programmes for disadvantaged young people, increasing their progression to, and attainment in, higher education. The Fellowship will enable me to visit innovative widening participation (WP) programmes across nine cities in Canada and New Zealand, and has the potential to improve the aspirations of disadvantaged young people in Northern Ireland – particularly working class, Protestant boys – and their representation and attainment in higher education. For more information, see web links below.