Lesley is DPhil Candidate with a Wolfson-Marriott-ESRC Graduate Scholarship at Oxford University. Alongside this, Lesley is an English PGCE Curriculum Tutor and Supervisor for the Masters in Learning and Teaching course at the Oxford University Education Department. Prior to this, Lesley taught English in two local Oxfordshire state secondary schools for five years & she was one of the researchers for the recent Penguin Lit in Colour report (June 2021) and is currently a Penguin Lit in Colour Advisory Board member.

Lesley's research work and forthcoming book concern the Black British undergraduate experience in the UK.