Dr Kate Bancroft

In 2021, Kate was awarded her doctorate in the Sociology of Gender. For her thesis, she combined American philosopher Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity with French philosopher Michel Foucault’s theories of power in the workplace.

Kate is currently completing her Level Seven Chartered Membership of CIPD qualification, focused on strategic HR and learning and development.

Kate has worked with large sports organisations including McLaren Racing, Manchester City FC, Leeds United, Sweaty Betty, and Swim England and has undertaken numerous pieces of work focusing on inclusion for the UK Government, including the Department for Education and the UK Home Office.

Kate is currently undertaking a large-scale project with the Metropolitan Police. As a lifelong sports and physical education fan, Kate also holds a BA in Secondary Physical Education Teaching, and Qualified Teacher Status in Secondary Physical Education from the same institution and has taught in several schools across West Yorkshire and finished her teaching career as Assistant Headteacher of Springwell Academy (Leeds).

Research

Research specialisms:

• HR and the inclusion of the female workforce.
• The sociocultural examination of women and girls in sport and physical education, focusing on sex-based equalities.
• Women and their experiences of working in professional sport (especially Formula one).

Supervision:

Kate now supervises MA and PhD students. For any potential research students interested in her supervising their studies around the topics listed above (and any others relating to them), please email her.

Teaching

Kate is a lecturer and supervisor on the following programmes:

• PhD/MPhil Applied Public Policy.
• MA Dissertation.
• Education Management.