Our Experts

Joanne leads our Global Programmes, working across technical and operational areas to enable NFER’s research, evaluation and assessment expertise to inspire and inform policy makers and practitioners internationally, with sub-Saharan Africa as the primary focus. Joanne works to strengthen and build the organisational systems necessary to grow NFER’s international portfolio and oversees the Centre for International Education.

Prior to joining NFER, Joanne worked with the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) as Global Lead for Results and Learning. She established and led AKF’s organisation-wide monitoring, evaluation, research and learning function and managed a wide-range of large-scale multi-country studies. Previously, Joanne was the Director of Programmes for AKF’s US office. She has extensive experience in programme development, design and implementation and a track record of building strategic partnerships to support improved outcomes for the most marginalised. She has worked extensively in South America, Central and South Asia and East and West Africa.

Liz heads up Assessment Research and Product Development and co-leads a team of over 30 assessment specialists and test designers. Her team develop NFER’s highly successful assessment products and undertake leading-edge assessment research. Between 2001 and 2013 she was the National Research Coordinator for the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and worked on the development of the 2016 and 2021 studies.
Liz’s other international work includes providing advice on formative assessment in China, assessment development in Botswana and the evaluation of a benchmarking method across a range of countries to assist reporting for SDG 4.1.1.

With over 25 years’ experience in assessment development and research, Liz managed the development of English tests taken by all 11-year-olds in England and the development of non-statutory tests used nationally in key stages 2 and 3 (11- and 14-year-olds) from 1997-2012. She also managed the development of the national reading and numeracy tests in Wales. Liz was previously deputy head of a combined school, having taught primary and lower secondary students.                                                                                                                                                         

Angela leads our Contracted Assessments and Research and co-leads a team of over 30 assessment specialists and test designers. She oversees a range of high profile assessment projects, including England’s National Reference Test, the Reception Baseline assessment and also several assessment projects for international governments. Her team has also developed assessment frameworks and developed EGRA and EGMA-style assessments to support the evaluation of education interventions in a range of low-resource settings.

Before joining NFER, Angela worked for England’s Qualifications and Curriculum Authority as Head of Test Development. She has extensive experience of managing large- scale and high-stakes assessment projects, including the development of statutory national curriculum tests at primary and secondary level and non-statutory assessments. She has also worked for the International Baccalaureate, where she was responsible for securing recognition and accreditation of the International Baccalaureate qualifications in several jurisdictions.

Ben leads our Education Trials Unit, which is responsible for the delivery of an extensive portfolio of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of educational interventions. He sits on external Advisory Groups and Trial Steering Committees, and advises the UK’s Education Endowment Foundation on matters concerning the analysis of education RCTs. He presents at conferences and workshops on aspects of trial design and analysis. Ben also supports international projects by using his expertise gained from English trials and whilst working as a Statistician on the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative for sub-Saharan Africa.

Originally trained as a scientist and a teacher, Ben has a DPhil in neuroscience, a PGCE and is a Chartered Statistician.

Katarzyna is a Senior Specialist, responsible for research and evaluation in international education and development. Before joining NFER, she worked on UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, in 2016-19, where she led work related to teacher policies and socio-emotional skill development, in particular. She also worked as Policy Analyst at the OECD’s Education and Skills Directorate, in 2011-16. There, she was part of the Education and Social Progress project, focusing on how education brings about socio-emotional skills and how these contribute to different measures of wellbeing. She also served as Analyst on the OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) team, drafting chapters analysing TALIS 2013 results and contributing to the preparatory work for TALIS 2018 and TALIS Video Study.

Anne oversees reading assessment development projects and capacity-building work. Her role involves expert review of reading tests in development, both high-stakes assessments for both national and international clients and those intended for NFER’s own publications. Anne is also responsible for internal staff training on aspects of test development, especially item-writing. In her role on capacity-building projects for external clients, she leads on and contributes to training for external item-writers and oversees follow-up activities to consolidate training.

With NFER’s international work, Anne has been involved in item writing contracts for other jurisdictions, including Australia and Mozambique, in capacity-building work such as with the Botswana Examinations Council, and in the adaptation of the EGRA instrument widely used for evaluations of early literacy interventions worldwide. With a background in linguistics, she also contributes to assessments in other languages, English as an additional language and grammar assessments. 

Anne has been involved in the national curriculum assessment of reading in England since its introduction in 1988. Her work in this area is complemented by research projects on reading skills, reading teaching and assessments for other purposes such as formative / diagnostic assessment.

Anne has a BA (Hons) in French and Linguistics and an MA in Curriculum and Instruction.

Bethan is responsible for directing large-scale assessment development projects across a range of subjects and for different age groups, working with international and UK clients. She is currently the project director for England’s National Reference Test which monitors performance standards in English and mathematics qualifications towards the end of compulsory school education (for students aged 15-16) and informs grading decisions for the GCSE examination.

Bethan also has considerable experience in leading the delivery of International Large Scale Assessments and is project director for TIMSS 2019 in Northern Ireland having previously been National Research Coordinator for TIMSS 2015. She has undertaken further analysis of the findings from both TIMSS and PISA to support classroom practice in the UK. She has a BSc (Hons) in Psychology, an MSc in Occupational Psychology and has Practitioner status with AEA-Europe.

Rebecca is responsible for NFER’s International Large Scale Assessment portfolio. She ensures that these high-profile, complex research projects are delivered to strict quality standards and ensures the data is analysed robustly and used to inform international education policy and practice. She is Project Director for PISA 2018 in the UK, and was previously the National Project Manager for the OECD International Early Learning and Child Wellbeing Study in England.

Rebecca has wide experience of managing large-scale international assessment projects and was previously the National Project Manager for PISA 2012 in the UK, PISA 2015 in Scotland and the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) 2011-2012 in England and Northern Ireland. Her background is in test development, with experience of developing assessments for children aged 5-15. She has a BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences and an MA in Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment.

Kathryn leads our Survey Operations and has considerable experience in designing and implementing response maximisation and attrition minimisation strategies for evaluations, supported by NFER’s Telephone Unit and specialist survey administration software. With a broad range of education research in the UK and overseas, she has led these aspects for many Education Endowment Foundation RCT evaluations, including: Catch Up Literacy efficacy trial; Literacy Octopus trials; Philosophy for Children trial; Helping Handwriting Shine trial; and the Evaluation of Accelerated Reader. She was the operations lead for NFER’s GEC evaluation in Mozambique and a study of Teacher Attendance in Kenya.

Dr. Frances Brill is a literacy assessment specialist with a background in educational linguistics and primary teaching. Over her 20-year career at the NFER, she has managed and directed national and international assessment projects, with a focus on the areas of writing composition, phonics, technical English, oracy, reading comprehension and 21st century competencies.

Frances has authored suites of literacy assessment materials for classroom use, including support materials for teachers. She has also written literacy competency assessments for teachers. Her international work includes the development of life skills assessments for use in Australia, and in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa). Frances is the joint editor of NFER’s peer-review international journal, Educational Research, published by Routledge Taylor and Francis.

Frances holds a PGCE (primary), an MA in general linguistics and a PhD in educational linguistics.

Juliet is responsible for managing the project life cycle for research and evaluation projects in education and development, with a particular thematic focus on teaching and learning. She currently works with a team that is leading evaluation of a school inspections’ project in Uganda.

Juliet holds a Bachelor’s degree (BA Education) School of education, Makerere University Kampala. She brings over 16 years’ international development experience including 6 years teaching in Public Secondary schools in Uganda and 10 years managing, designing and implementing education programmes for children living in contexts of crisis. She has contributed to developing Global technical guidance, blended learning courses and participatory research in the area of education in emergencies.

She previously served as Regional technical lead for Save the Children’s Education projects portfolio across 12 countries in East & Southern Africa.

Rachel is an assessment expert. She has worked on most of the major International Large Scale Assessment studies (including PISA, IELS, TIMSS and PIRLS) with particular expertise in the translation and cultural adaptation of test items and questionnaires and the marking of constructed response items. Rachel was a co-author for the TIMSS 2015 and PIRLS 2016 National reports for Northern Ireland.

Rachel works closely with the Centre for Assessment on a variety of test development projects, including NFER Key Stage 2 (for children aged 7-11) optional tests for reading, provision of literacy texts and item writing for the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), and National Curriculum reading tests in England. Rachel has also worked on a UNESCO study reviewing Rwanda’s readiness to implement e-assessment.

Paola is responsible for managing the project life cycle for research and evaluation projects in education and development, with a particular thematic focus on teaching and learning.

Paola is a PMDPro qualified project manager with more than 10 years’ experience working in international development within consultancy, academia and not-for-profit organisations. She has extensive of experience of designing and coordinating the delivery of complex education project in low- and middle-income countries, including the FCDO’s Girls’ Education Challenge project in Sierra Leone, implemented by Plan International and the Open University.

Paola’s research, monitoring and evaluation experience include studies on teacher professional development, life skills training for disadvantage women, and professional development for health workers.  

Jose is a Senior Statistician.  He is involved in all aspects of data pre-processing and statistical analysis at the NFER. His areas of expertise include sample size calculations, multilevel modelling and the analysis of Large Scale International Assessment projects, such as PISA and PIRLS. Jose’s Data Science experience includes developing machine learning predictive models, frequent pattern mining and R and Python programming. Jose is particularly interested in evaluating the effectiveness of programmes that have not been randomly allocated to control and intervention groups. His expertise includes working with Big Data and colossal distributed file systems. Jose is a cognitive psychologist by training. Previous to the NFER, Jose worked for academia and the international development sector.

Robert is the International Project Manager responsible for senior project management of international contracts at NFER. He is a PRINCE2® qualified project manager with a Masters in Development and Emergency Practice with over ten years of project and stakeholder management experience having worked in a range of sectors in the UK and overseas.

Robert has worked on projects for multiple international donors and clients including UNICEF, UNDP, GIZ, IDRC as well as DFID and managed partnerships across global consortia. With oversight of international projects he is responsible for partnership and operational management across the organisation. Prior to joining NFER, Robert was working for the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) as Programme Manager within the Risk and Resilience Programme, overseeing a portfolio of projects focused on research, analysis and policy advice. He also has experience of project management in East Africa as well as in the UK for UCL and Teach First.

Geeta is a Researcher and applies her expertise in Teaching and Learning to the development of assessment texts and items, including adapting the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) to the Indian context and cultural adaptations of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) texts. She also contributes to the design of qualitative tools for research and evaluation projects, with recent work including the pilot of the UNESCO SDG 4.7.6 Breadth of Skills Indicator. She is currently working in a team that is generating lessons to inform the scaling of a school inspections programme in Uganda.

Geeta holds a teaching degree (PGCE) and has over 10 years of experience in both Secondary and Primary Education in the UK, including three years as Head of Department (Psychology). She also holds an MA in Education and International Development from the UCL Institute of Education.

Lesley joined NFER in January 2015. She leads the research department which designs and delivers research and evaluations, specialist information and reviews, develops assessments and provides expert advice. The department also manages the Foundation’s bid development function.

Prior experience and professional background

Lesley is an experienced and respected researcher, who has led multi-disciplinary teams in the Home Office, the National Policing Improvement Agency, and the Royal College of Nursing, covering a diverse range of social policy issues. Motivated by improving service users’ experience of public services and committed to helping policy, she has designed and tested survey instruments, developed evidence-based national clinical guidance for government agencies, including the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence, and delivered programmes of research and analysis to understand and discover effective ways of responding to issues.

Lesley has a BSc in Psychology from Goldsmiths College, an MA in Social Anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies and a PhD in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Jude joined NFER in 2016 as Quantitative Research Director, after working for five years at the Department of Education as Head of Profession for Statistics. He is a highly experienced Government statistician with over 25 years’ experience of working across six departments of state.

Jude has an excellent knowledge of a wide range of educational data sources, particularly Department for Education sources which he was responsible for managing while in the department. He also has expertise in the school accountability system, and led work to develop the innovative destination statistics and the new Longitudinal Educational Outcomes database.

At NFER, Jude is the principal investigator of a major Nuffield funded research project which is investigating teacher retention and turnover issues. He also has expertise in system structures in the schools sector, having directed projects that investigated the role of Regional School Commissioners, and the effectiveness of University Technical Colleges.

Emily has been with NFER since 2001 and has worked on a wide range of projects developing test materials in science and mathematics, including for the key stage 1 and 2 statutory tests in England and the Australian statutory NAP test.

Emily is responsible for overseeing the development of NFER Tests, working particularly closely on mathematics. She is also a consultant member of the TIMSS 2019 Science and Maths Item Review Committee and in recent years has contributed to the development of their new practical science e-assessment tasks, as well as developing and trialling the standard science questions. Prior to working at NFER Emily was a Year 6 class teacher with responsibility in science and music.

Simon is Head of Statistics and leads a team of nine statisticians and psychometricians.  The team provides expert statistical advice and support to many of NFER’s external and internal projects.  This support covers the design of evaluations, sampling, statistical analysis, report writing and interpretation.

Simon has worked on many types of projects whilst at NFER with many of these projects requiring the use of large and complex datasets, including the National Pupil Database and the Individualised Leaner Record.  He has worked on many of the International Surveys being responsible for the analysis of TIMSS, PISA and PIRLS datasets.  Simon has also been project director for a number of Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) projects.

Caroline has over 30 years’ experience in leading, designing and contributing to qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods research and evaluation projects. Through her vast experience in collecting data she is able to give children, young people and practitioners a voice – something she finds particularly rewarding.

Caroline has worked on international comparative studies and has extensive experience of writing for and presenting to practitioner and policy audiences. She also has a particular interest in research methods and communicating research findings, as well as supporting others to develop their research and writing skills. 

Caroline is committed to advancing the role of research and information in promoting social mobility through education. This includes studies of how English schools support disadvantaged pupils through the pupil premium and how Welsh early childhood education settings use the Early Years Pupil Deprivation Grant.

Jack, NFER’s school workforce lead, is an expert on the teacher labour market. His research and analysis aims to understand the changing teaching profession and identify ways of improving teacher recruitment and retention. He has given evidence to the Education Select Committee on how schools and policymakers can better retain teachers and is a member of the Department for Education’s Teacher Supply Model technical group.

Specialising in analysis of large datasets, including the National Pupil Database, School Workforce Census and Labour Force Survey, Jack uses advanced techniques to gain insights for policy and practice.

Jack is experienced in quantitative policy evaluation and value for money analysis. He has led a number of impact evaluations using randomised controlled trial and quasi-experimental designs and has also developed the Education Endowment Foundation’s guidance on cost evaluation.

He is an expert media commentator on the retention, recruitment and development of teachers. A regular on the NFER blog, Jack has also written for publications such as TES, Schools Week, ASCL’s Leader Magazine, Headteacher Update and Sec Ed Magazine.

Gustavo is an experienced researcher, international development and education specialist, and former educator with a decade of multidisciplinary practice in several countries. He brings an extensive understanding of education practice and policy in international development alongside expertise in qualitative, policy-oriented and applied political economy research, in addition to a long-standing quantitative background in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

As an NFER Researcher, Gustavo collects and analyses primary and secondary data for multilingual research and evaluation projects in low- and middle-income countries and the UK. He also participates in project design and reporting while providing research delivery and management support to project leads from inception to dissemination.
His regional expertise covers sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, notably Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Brazil and Peru.

Gustavo was previously an academic within STEM, working across teaching, research, capacity development and management, in both public and private not-for-profit higher education institutions in Latin America and Europe. Having lived, worked and studied in various countries on these two continents, he is fluent in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and German.

Gustavo holds an MA in Education and International Development from the University of East Anglia (UK), a PhD and an MSc in Engineering from the École Centrale de Marseille (France), as well as a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil).

Pearl joins NFER with a wealth of experience in education, from both the UK and sub-Saharan Africa. With expertise in qualitative education research, gender, teacher education and CPD and education programme design & implementation, Pearl has worked with a number of international organisations and is also a UK-qualified secondary school mathematics teacher.

As NFER’s representative in Ghana, Pearl’s knowledge and ability will help us to build upon our network of local expertise, and will provide us with invaluable insights as we continue to look at new ways to improve learning outcomes for young people in Ghana.

Diana has twenty years of experience within Uganda’s education sector, having previously worked for the Aga Khan Foundation, the European Commission, the Embassy of Ireland, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank. 

Diana leads NFER's strategic engagement in Uganda, working with stakeholders and expanding NFER's work to provide insights to support improvements across the education sector.

Maria Jose is responsible for managing the life cycle of research and evaluation projects in education and development.

She has extensive experience in international education across sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. With a track record in learning assessments and mixed methods research, Maria Jose’s technical areas include project management, gender and inclusion, strategic planning, international partnership building, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL), data collection, analysis and reporting. She has contributed to national and international reports presenting the results of learning assessments (TERCE, ERCE, PISA-D, PIAAC and PIRLS).

Maria Jose holds an MSc in Gender and Development from the London School of Economics and a BA in Journalism from the Universidad San Francisco de Quito.

Prior to joining NFER, she held roles at UNESCO, the OECD and Ecuador’s National Institute of Educational Evaluation (INEVAL).