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John H McKendrick was appointed Commissioner for Fair Access (to higher education) by the Scottish Government in January 2023. He is also a member of the Education and Skills Reform Ministerial Group. In his day-job, he is Professor of Social Justice and co-Director of the Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit in the Glasgow School for Business and Society at Glasgow Caledonian University. He is primarily concerned to inform the work of practitioners and campaigners beyond the academy who seek to tackle poverty in Scotland. He has published many reports, briefings papers and addressed a wide range of Third sector and local government events on issues pertaining to the eradication and amelioration of poverty in Scotland. He sits on the group of National Partners offering advice and support to local authorities and local health boards in relation to the preparation of their Local Child Poverty Action Reports. He has been an active member of SERA’s poverty and Education group for many years. He is an external member of the Scottish Government’s Child Poverty Programme Board and Education Scotland’s Scottish Attainment Challenge Programme Board. He is Chair of the Board of the Glasgow Council for Voluntary Services, Chair of the Wheatley Foundation, and Board member of several other anti-poverty charities. He retains an interest in promoting children’s play and co-edited Born to Play (with Tam Baillie, ex Children and Young People’s Commissioner). It is a return home for John, who started his career as a Research Associate in the Department of Geography in the University of Manchester back in 1993.