Since its inception in 2011 as the ‘What Works’ centre for education, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has built a strong reputation in the school system promoting evidence-informed practice, and continues to provoke interest and imitation internationally. It has recently been re-endowed to enable its work for at least another decade. But arguably its impact on academic educational research has been relatively limited. EEF Chief Executive Professor Becky Francis will outline the EEF’s recent developments and strategic direction, and reflect on the EEF’s achievements, limitations and learning to date. She will attend to the EEF’s relationship with academia and wider educational research, reflecting on successful existing and potential collaborations and opportunities, addressing some myths about the EEF, and inviting greater strategic engagement of HEIs and academic teams with the EEF, for the benefit of socially-disadvantaged pupils.