Professor John Storan is Director of Continuum, the Centre for Widening Participation Policy Studies at the University of East London.

He is also Director of Action on Access which is the national Co-ordination team for widening participation. As founding current Chair of the Forum for Access and Continuing Education (FACE) he represents communities of practitioners involved in Access and Lifelong Learning from across the UK and beyond.

In 2001 he was made a Professorial Fellow at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). He has been an influential regional and national figure on Lifelong Learning and Widening Participation in HE. Over recent years he has been advising and supporting the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and various agencies in the field. In addition to his extensive UK experience John also has enormous international experience as result of his keynotes and conference inputs and involvement in a large number of research and development projects.