Professor who helped guide Leicester through the country's longest lockdown on why he switched careers to work at 'the people’s university'

As Director of Public Health at Leicester City Council, Professor Ivan Browne’s leadership and experience were vital in helping the city deal with the pandemic’s longest and most severe lockdown in the country. However, he has since stepped into the role of Professor of Public Health at De Montfort University (DMU), a move he calls “a continuation” of his life.

Professor Browne had decided it was “time to move on” now that Leicester was “in a place of stability” following the pandemic and transitioning into academia was something he wanted “more than anything”. He says that many feel deterred from higher education because they feel they don’t fit the mould due to their social or economic background – and this is a narrative that he wants to change.

In an interview with Leicestershire Live, Dr Ivan drew upon his own experiences as a young black boy navigating the education system, and how this ultimately shaped him into who he is today. When asked if he ever expected to be in the position he is now, he responded, “Absolutely not!”

He said: “I was a kid who grew up in the ’70s and ’80s and at that time the view of what you could be or become was very different – there was pretty overt racism. My parents were Windrush generation, and they came here because they wanted a better life, but I remember going to my secondary school, and a lot of that was just trying to navigate it to get through.

Dr Ivan said that he was never top of the class growing up, and it was his sister who was the brains of the family. “For a young, black boy coming through, myself and my friends were a small minority in a predominantly white school.

“When I was about to leave school, my careers teacher told me very bluntly that the best I could hope for was to work in a factory and he recommended that I go and work in a shoe and boot factory.”

Later on down the line, he did an apprenticeship at a garage, where he found favour with one of the mechanics. “He sat me down and asked me if this was what I wanted to be doing when I was 40.

“That stuck with me and so I decided to go back into education. At the time I did an evening course and did an O-level in English. He I did six O-levels in one year, three A-levels in another year, took a year off, and then went to university.”

Professor Browne said it was a combination of people who believed in him and supported him that changed his course. “It was key individuals who brought out what was in me.

“It made a difference in me and that’s why I have such a passion for education. I could have ended up where that career advisor told me I would without the right support, but having people believe in me was how I ended up in this place.”

De Montfort University Leicester’s campus

“I wanted very specifically to work with DMU for a few reasons. One of those is that around 50% of its students are from Leicester, like me. And, like me, they’re from diverse backgrounds and many won’t have the advantages other young people might have.

This is a university which empowers students and welcomes and supports those who might not have thought of higher education. It is a people’s university. We try to take people from deprived communities and BAME backgrounds.

“As a public health professional, our core is around inequalities, and that’s what we are battling against. It feels like a place that young Ivan would have gone to and, for me, the journey to DMU was a continuation of my life.

Dr Ivan offered some advice to those who may feel as though higher education isn’t for them. “I know financial implications come into play and some might not feel like it for them, but I’d say, don’t rule it out because you feel like you can’t or feel like it’s not for people who look like them.

“I think universities need to go into these deprived areas, speak to young people, hold sessions and clubs. We have to go downstream, we have to be in junior school and secondary schools, setting an expectation that it’s okay and that it is accessible to children.

“There are still areas of our city where there is an expectation for children in that area not to go to university, and we as a society are losing those young people who have so much potential to thrive in education. We need to look into those lower participation areas and let them know that it is accessible to them too.”