Professor Pauline Dixon, PhD, FAcSS, FRSA,
Pauline is internationally known for her research on education for the marginalised in LMICs and her research around literacy in schools around the world. She has been researching literacy programmes for the last 25 years. She is heavily involved in high impact literacy and teacher training initiatives. Her programs have helped train hundreds of thousands of government teachers across Africa, heavily impacting millions of children. She is passionate about children’s reading and has witnessed how important being able to read in both heritage language and a global language is for children around the world. When children from disadvantages backgrounds are literate their lives can be transformed.
Dr Steve Humble, MBE, FIMA
Steve is a Reader in Global Development at Newcastle University. He is recognised for his advanced statistical research and educational projects in sub-Saharan Africa and India. He has worked in numerous African and Asian countries where his research has been instrumental in changing education policy and practice. Steve was awarded an MBE – Member of the Most Excellent Order – for services to education in the New Year’s Honours List by Queen Elizabeth II in 2016.
Professor Zhu Hua, PhD, FAcSS
Zhu Hua is a global distinguished scholar and a Professor of Language Learning and Intercultural Communication at the IOE at UCL. She is a world leader in exploring how people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds interact, with a special focus on identity, power dynamics, and intercultural living. Her research interests span across multilingualism and intercultural communication and child language. She focuses on how children learn and acquire their languages (first and additional) and how they are socialised into different cultures through language learning, and what role languages and culture play in power dynamics, equity and social justice.
Dr Louise Gittins, Project Director, Universal Learning Solutions
Louise is the Co-Founder and Project Director of Universal Learning Solutions (ULS). ULS was founded in 2013. Her Doctoral thesis carried out at York University was entitled “Our Children Have a Right to Read” with a focus on Nigeria. Louise has worked extensively with governments throughout Africa to improve their national strategies on literacy with a focus on primary education.
Dr Chris Counihan, FHEA, Northumbria University
Chris is an Assistant Professor in Education at Northumbria University and a Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA). His PhD studied the effects of a peer-mediated literacy intervention with children from rural India. Chris has over ten years experience of working and leading on international development and education projects. His primary research interests lie in the field of child development and policy initiatives in education.
Professor Nadia Siddiqui, Phd, FAcSS, Durham University
Nadia Siddiqui, is recognised for her global expertise in education research and equity in education. Her interests are school improvement by equalising opportunities, and overcoming the challenges of access to education in the global south. She has several hundred research publications, including four books. She is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and was nominated and selected in the UPSIGN list of 75 most notable British Pakistani Academics.
Robbie Shaw, Newcastle University
Robbie is a doctoral researcher and an educationalist with a passion for development and language. He has travelled extensively in Asia working in schools in China as well as being an education advisor in India. His doctoral thesis looks at bilingual experiences. Using a social network questionnaire inspired by Navarro and Rossi, Robbie will investigate the sociolinguistic construct and bilingual experiences as revealed by “ego” and “alter” for bilinguals studying in the north East.
Charlotte Brown, Newcastle University
Charlotte is a PhD researcher in Education with an interest in creative learning, equality, and youth empowerment. With a background in geography and experience in development focused volunteering projects, she is passionate about using creative arts based practices to inform behavioural change. Her doctoral thesis considers stigma around Parkinson’s Disease and Epilepsy in Kilifi, Kenya.
Advisory Team
Professor Olanrewaju A. Olaniyan, Vice Chancellor, Emmanuel Alayande Univeristy of Education, Oyo, Nigeria
Professoro Olaniyan is a distinguished economics professor, scholar and university administrator whose career spans over 28 years of teaching, research, consulting and public service. His work has earned him international recognition. He is a member of the High-Level Advisory Committee of the SDG Academy
Professor Li Wei, PhD, FBA, MAE, FAcSS, FRSA Director and Dean, UCL Institute of Education (IOE)
Professor Li Wei is a world renowned linguist. He is best know for his pioneering research in bilingualism, multilingualism and language education policy. His foundational contributions to the field include translanguaging theory. Along with Ofelia Garcia, he popularised the concept which describes how bilinguals flexibly use their entire linguistic repertoire to communicate and learn, rather than keeping their languages separate.
