Dr Anna Bull

Profile

Biography

I joined the University of York in August 2021. Prior to this I was a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in the School of Education and Sociology at the University of Portsmouth (2016-21). I am also a co-founder and director of The 1752 Group, a research and campaign group addressing sexual harassment in higher education. 

I have two primary research areas. In my first research area, class and gender inequalities in classical music education, my monograph Class, Control, and Classical Music was published in 2019 with Oxford University Press and in 2020 was joint winner of the British Sociological Association’s Philip Abrams Award. In relation to my second research area, : sexual harassment in higher education, I have carried out research funded by the British Academy, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, and the Economic and Social Research Council and I am a regular commentator in the media. I have worked on various academic and public-facing reports in this area including partnering with the National Union of Students’ Women’s Campaign.

Prior to entering academia, my previous career was as a pianist and cellist in New Zealand and Scotland.

Departmental roles

• PGT Pathway Director for Education
• Deputy Director of Postgraduate Research
• Deputy Director of the Centre for Education and Social Justice

Research

Overview

I am a co-founder and director of The 1752 Group, a research and campaign group addressing sexual harassment in higher education. I was named one of the ‘Faces of 2021’ by leading HE publication Times Higher Education, who noted that ‘Dr Bull has been one of the strongest and most consistent voices against sexual misconduct in academia, while her research has made a substantial contribution to our understanding of the problem’.

Most recently, in partnership with the UK Council for Graduate Education and funded by Research England/Enhancing Research Cultures, I published a toolkit for addressing harassment and sexual misconduct experienced by postgraduate researchers, with accompanying resources. I also led the ESRC-funded project ‘Higher education after #MeToo’, working with Senior Research Associate Erin Shannon, which ran 2021-3. With The 1752 Group, I worked with the National Union of Students on a national survey examining students' perceptions of professional boundaries in higher education and experiences of sexual misconduct from academic staff, published in a report as 'Power in the Academy'. On behalf of The 1752 Group I was lead author on the report 'Silencing Students' published in Sept 2018. In order to provide guidance for universities to improve their practices, we worked with discrimination law firm McAllister Olivarius to publish the ‘Sector Guidance to Address Staff Sexual Misconduct’, published in March 2020. Please see my York Research Database profile for links to academic articles on this work.

My other research area is inequalities in classical music and music education. My monograph on classical music education, class and gender, entitled 'Class, Control, and Classical Music' was published in July 2019 with Oxford University Press and was joint winner of the 2020 Philip Abrams prize from the British Sociological Association. I have also partnered with music education charity Sound Connections on action research on ‘youth voice’ in classical music education. For the EDI Music Studies network, in 2022 I led on producing a research report, Slow Train Coming, into equality, diversity and inclusion in UK higher music education.

External activities

Overview

Keynote talks

I am a regular keynote speaker at academic and non-academic conferences and events across the UK and internationally, for example at:

2024 - Keynote speaker, Alternative Reporting Workshop, University of Birmingham, 4 July

2024 - Keynote speaker at Culture Shift conference, 24 Jan

2023 - Keynote speaker, ‘Confronting Harassment and Sexual Misconduct in Universities and Conferences’, Policy Foresight, 7 December

2023 - Keynote speaker, ‘Slow Train Coming: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Music Studies, One Year On’. University of Southampton, 24 November.

2023 - Keynote speaker, launch event for "Towards a Zero Tolerance Approach: A Good Practice Guide", National Women’s Council of Ireland, 26 April

2022 - Keynote speaker, Launch event for the ‘Ending Sexual Violence and Harassment in Higher Education Institutions Implementation Plan’, Higher Education Agency, Government of Ireland, 13 October.

2022 - Keynote speaker, UNIGEM (University and Gender Mainstreaming)conference, University of Sarajevo, May 5-6

2022 - Keynote speaker, Gender and Music conference, University of Helsinki, 24-25 January

2022 - Keynote speaker, Music and Democracy Study Day: Rethinking Participatory Processes through Music, University of Huddersfield, 14-15 January

2021 - Keynote speaker, PTI Music Subject Leadership Day, 7 July

2021 - Keynote speaker, International Symposium on the Sociology of Music Education. Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Hamar, 21-23 June

2021 - Keynote speaker, ‘Next steps for addressing sexual misconduct in Higher Education’, Westminster Education Forum, 27 April

2019 - Keynote speaker, Consent: Histories, Representations, and Frameworks for the Future. 5-6th August. Durham University

2018 - Keynote speaker, University of Portsmouth Athena Swan Conference, 9 May

Recent advisory groups and consultancy

2025 - Chair, Expert Group for reviewing the Ending Sexual Violence and Harassment Framework for the Higher Education Authority of the Irish Government.

2024 - Circle of Practice lead for EU Horizon-funded project GenderSafe, drawing together practitioners and scholars from across Europe to improve practice within HEIs

2024 - Advisory group member, Welsh Government Strategy for Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence, Workplace Harassment Stream

2023 - Chair, Advisory board for Centre for Research in Music Education and Social Justice, University of Southampton

2023 - Advisory group member for developing a prevalence survey for addressing sexual violence and harassment, Office for Students.

2023 - Strategy review consultation (tackling sexual violence and misconduct), Bristol University

Recent impact and engagement activities

• Bull, A. (2025). PhD students face high risk of sexual harassment—Can universities stop perpetrators? Nature, 642(8068), 545–545
• Dr Anna Bull discusses the Office for Student’s E6 requirements. UK Council for Graduate Education (2025, May 15).
• Sexual misconduct strikes at the heart of university life (2025, March 21). Good Law Project.
• Abuse in academia: Are universities protecting predatory professors? Media Storm. (2025, March 13).
• Comment piece for Times Higher Education: ‘Complainants must be told the results of sexual misconduct investigations’, 8 July 2024
• Bull, A. (2025, March 1). ‘Youth voice’ in instrumental music teaching. Music Teacher.