Who Really Cares about Using Education Research in Policy and Practice?

Annex A. List of contributors

Jeroen Backs

Jeroen Backs (Chapter 5) has been the head of the Strategy and Knowledge Division of the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training since 2012. Jeroen has a Masters in History from the University of Ghent and used to work as a teacher and school leader in adult education, an advisor to the former Flemish Minister of Education, a lecturer in higher education and teacher training, and a policy advisor in the domains of lifelong learning and secondary education. Jeroen is also the Flemish representative on the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) Governing Board.

Katrijn Ballet

Katrijn Ballet (Chapter 5) is a senior researcher working for the research team of the Strategy and Knowledge Division of the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training. Her fields of interest are educational research, evidence-informed policy and practice, teachers’ professional development, leadership, and school organisation. She previously worked as a researcher in teacher and school development (Catholic University of Leuven).

Chris Brown

Chris Brown (Chapter 8) is Professor in Education and Director of Research at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. Chris seeks to drive forward the notion of professional learning networks as a means to promote the collaborative learning of teachers. Chris has written/co-edited three books in this area; is co‑editor of the Emerald’s Professional Learning Networks book series (and has also contributed one book to the series); and is co-founder and co-convener of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement’s Professional Learning Networks Network. Alongside his research in professional learning networks, Chris also has a long-standing interest in how research evidence can and should, but often doesn’t, aid the development of education policy and practice. Chris also has extensive experience leading a range of funded projects, many of which seek to help practitioners to identify and scale up best practice.

Elisabeth Buk-Berge

Elisabeth Buk-Berge (Chapter 7) is a Senior Policy Advisor working at the Section for Policy Analysis within the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. Prior to joining the Ministry, she worked as researcher and academic teacher at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo, where she also earned a PhD in Education. Elisabeth has research experience in the field of comparative education, large scale international studies and evidence informed policy and practice.

Amanda Cooper 

Amanda Cooper (Chapter 9) is an Associate Dean of Research and Strategic Initiatives in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University (Canada) and Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy. She founded the Research Informing Policy, Practice, & Leadership in Education (RIPPLE) programme to increase the use of evidence in public service sectors. Amanda’s research on knowledge mobilisation includes four areas of inquiry: research producers (funders and universities), research users (practitioners and policymakers), research brokers, and measuring research impact.

Jonathan D’haese 

Jonathan D’haese (Chapter 5) is a Policy Advisor working for the research team of the Strategy and Knowledge Division of the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training. He was a teacher in mathematics and physics with an IT background. After seven years of teaching, he joined the ministry to help develop the Flemish standardised student tests. He follows up on the organisational impact of the tests in schools.

Elizabeth N. Farley-Ripple

Elizabeth N. Farley-Ripple (Chapter 10) is an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Delaware. She holds a Doctorate in Education Policy and has more than 20 years of experience in education research, where she has worked collaboratively with educators, policy makers and scholars to strengthen the education system.  She has worked on a range of educational and social policy issues, including research use at all levels of the system, administrator mobility, schools’ and teachers’ use of data, teacher quality and effects, and issues of equity in a variety of student outcomes. She is currently an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Delaware’s School of Education and the Director of the Partnership for Public Education.

Bieke de Fraine 

Bieke De Fraine (Chapter 5) is a Policy Advisor working for the research team of the Strategy and Knowledge Division of the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training. She leads the project team for the implementation of the Flemish standardised student tests. She works as a researcher in educational effectiveness research (Catholic University of Leuven) and as a researcher at the Inspectorate of Education.

Toby Greany 

Toby Greany (Chapter 11) is Professor of Education and Convener of the Centre for Research in Education Leadership and Management (CRELM) at the University of Nottingham (United Kingdom). Toby’s research focuses on how policy and practice interact to shape educational opportunities and outcomes, in particular across local systems and through networks, and the nature and role of leadership in these processes. He currently chairs the Greater Manchester Priority Area Partnership Board on behalf of the UK Department for Education. His most recent book, co-authored with Dr Annelies Kamp, University of Canterbury, is titled Leading Educational Networks: Theory, Policy and Practice (Bloomsbury, 2022).

Jordan Hill 

Jordan Hill (Editor, Chapter 3) is an Analyst in the OECD’s Strengthening the Impact of Education Research and the 21st Century Children projects. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Royal Holloway, University of London and a Master of Arts in International Relations from the College of Europe, Bruges. Before joining the OECD, Jordan worked as a Research Manager in a Brussels-based public policy consultancy, delivering a wide range of EU-funded research projects. Previous to this, he worked on higher education policy for a London-based university association.

Quirine van der Hoeven 

Quirine van der Hoeven (Chapter 4) is Head of the Knowledge Relations and Knowledge Economy Unit of the Knowledge Department at the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. She previously worked as Head of Press, Public Diplomacy and Cultural Affairs at the Dutch Consulate in Istanbul and held several positions at the Culture and Media Department of the ministry. She obtained her PhD from the Utrecht School for Public Administration and Organizational Science with a comparative study on cultural policy in the Netherlands and Flanders that was published by the Netherlands Institute for Social Research.

Georgina Hudson 

Georgina Hudson (Chapter 11) is a Research Fellow and Associate Tutor at the Centre for Educational Leadership and Management at the University of Nottingham (United Kingdom). She has an interest in evidence-based school improvement and leadership and the changing role of middle leaders in multi-academy trusts. Georgina’s previous research explored the interplay between accountability structures and school-led research.

Inger Sofie Berge Hurlen 

Inger Sofie Berge Hurlen (Chapter 11) is a Systems Leader and works as Deputy School Director for 49 primary and secondary schools in Stavanger municipality in Norway, where she leads the municipality’s work with quality development of the school area. She also collaborates with the municipalities’ research department and the university sector on research that is relevant to the school sector in her own municipality. Before she became a Deputy School Director, she worked as a competence development leader in six municipalities and collaborated closely with the University of Stavanger to establish school-based partnerships. She previously worked as a school leader and teacher. Inger Sofie holds a Master’s in Educational Leadership from the University of Oslo, Norway. Her master’s thesis was oriented around management and partnership. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Teaching from the University of Stavanger, Norway.

Håkon Kavli

Håkon Kavli (Chapter 7) is a Deputy Director, managing the Section for Policy Analysis within the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. Prior to joining the Ministry, he worked as researcher and analyst on topics within politics, culture and education. Håkon holds a degree in Political Science from the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oslo.

Tiina Kukkonen 

Tiina Kukkonen (Chapter 9) is an Assistant Professor of Visual Arts Education in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University (Canada). The driving force behind her work is the desire to make arts education accessible, relevant and inspiring for all. To that end, her research explores strategic partnerships and intermediaries that support arts education systems. She focuses on playful and artful approaches to knowledge mobilisation to engage diverse research audiences.

Stephen Macgregor 

Stephen MacGregor (Chapter 9) is an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, Policy and Governance at the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary (Canada). His research centres on knowledge mobilisation as a mechanism to promote school improvement and systems change, with an emphasis on leadership practices for increasingly complex educational environments. Mixed methods approaches are a recurring theme in his work, including the use of social network analysis to analyse interaction patterns among diverse research stakeholders.

Aurelija Masiulytė

Aurelija Masiulytė (Editor) is a Project Assistant in the OECD’s Strengthening the Impact of Education Research and Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Skills projects. Prior to joining the OECD, she worked in both the private and public sector in various administrative, event management and client service roles. She was a Personal Assistant to the Ambassador of the Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the UN and other International Organisations in Geneva and event coordinator for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania during the Presidency to the EU Council in 2013. She holds a European Master in Translation studies from Vilnius University and a Bachelor in Public Administration, which she complemented with an Erasmus in Sciences Po de Lyon in 2017. 

Hilary Mead

Hilary Mead (Chapter 10) conducts evaluations of professional learning programmes and contributes qualitative expertise at the University of Delaware’s Center for Research in Education and Social Policy (CRESP). Hilary’s 24 years of experience in education spans sectors and includes positions as a secondary English teacher, an educational non-profit director and a university-based researcher. She holds a Master’s in Public Administration and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Delaware. Hilary has lived on three continents and enjoys working with international educational initiatives.

Huw Morris 

Huw Morris (Chapter 11) is Honorary Professor of Tertiary Education at the Institute of Education, University College London, where he is on secondment from the Welsh government. Between 2013 and 2022, he was Director of Skills, Higher Education and Lifelong Learning within the Welsh government, where he and his colleagues were responsible for the oversight of universities, colleges, apprenticeship providers, Careers Wales, and government-funded education and training programmes for people over the age of 16. Before working in the Welsh government, he held academic posts in a range of universities, moving from Research Assistant to Deputy Vice Chancellor over a 25-year period.

Melissa Mouthaan 

Melissa Mouthaan (Editor, Chapters 1, 2, 7 and 12) is an Analyst in the Strengthening the Impact of Education Research project. Prior to joining the OECD, she worked in the research division of an exam board in the United Kingdom, where her research focused on curriculum and education governance. She has also previously worked on EU benchmarks in education and training at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. She has research experience in the area of education and migration policies. Melissa holds a PhD in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge.

John O’Connor 

John O’Connor (Chapter 11) is Head of Standards and Certification at the Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland. He is an experienced policy maker and educator. He has participated in national advisory bodies on school curriculum and research integrity and is a member of several EU and UNESCO expert policy advisory groups in the areas of education, training and skills.  He has written about the use of educational research in policy making and about the science for policy ecosystem in Ireland. He has a PhD in Education from University College Dublin.

Jørn Pedersen 

Jørn Pedersen (Chapter 11) is the School Director for Stavanger municipality in Norway, a position he has held since 2016. Jørn holds a Masters in Nordic Languages from the University of Bergen, where he specialised in language testing for adult Norwegian as a second language learners. He also studied school leadership at the University of Oslo.

Previously, Jørn held positions as a teacher before going on to different school leadership roles. Preceding his role as School Director, he served as Principal for Johannes Learning Center in Stavanger for three years.

Mauricio Pino-Yancovic 

Mauricio Pino-Yancovic (Chapter 11) is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Education and an Associate Researcher at the Center for Advanced Research in Education of the Universidad de Chile. He has a PhD in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. He is a Board Member of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement. His academic and research experience focuses on educational policy, school networks and evaluation. He is currently researching the functioning and influence of educational networks on teachers’ practices in the new public educational administration, funded by a national grant from the government of Chile. He also leads the evaluation of the School Improvement Networks Strategy in Chile and programmes to support collaborative inquiry capacities. His recent publications include studies about professional learning networks, teachers’ professional development, and critical perspectives on evaluation and assessment.

Cindy Poortman 

Cindy Poortman (Chapter 8) is an Associate Professor at the University of Twente (Netherlands), Department of Teacher Development. She is also the 4TU.CEE (Centre for Engineering Education) leader at the University of Twente. Her research and teaching focus on teacher and school leader professional development in (doing research in) teams and networks. Within this area she focuses, among others, on leadership and sustainability. Cindy has co-founded and is co-ordinating the international network of professional learning networks within the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement. Her papers and books in this area include The Teacher’s Guide to Successful Professional Learning Networks (2023, Open University Press); “Professional learning networks: A conceptual model and research opportunities” (2022, Educational Research); and The Data Team Procedure: A Systematic Approach to School Improvement (2018, Springer International Publishing). She is also co-editor of the Emerald’s Professional Learning Networks book series.

Nóra Révai 

Nóra Révai (Editor, Chapters 1, 6 and 12) is leading the OECD’s Strengthening the Impact of Education Research project. She is also involved in the Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Skills project. Nóra played a key role in developing the OECD’s Teacher Knowledge Survey. Before joining the OECD, she managed EU-funded international projects on school leadership at the Hungarian national agency for European Co-operation Programmes in Education. She also worked as a secondary school teacher. Nóra holds a Master of Science in Mathematics and a Bachelor of Arts in English Teaching from Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary. She also holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Strasbourg, France.

Rien Rouw 

Rien Rouw (Chapter 4) is a Strategic Advisor at the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. He previously worked as a Policy Analyst at the OECD’s Directorate for Education and Skills, where he was involved in research on governing complex education systems. He also worked as a research fellow at the Netherlands School for Public Administration and at the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy, doing research on evidence-based policy making in the Dutch government.

Michelle Searle 

Michelle Searle (Chapter 9) is an Assistant Professor of Educational Evaluation in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University (Canada). She holds a PhD in Curriculum with a focus on assessment and evaluation; she is also an experienced educator and Credentialed Evaluator with the Canadian Evaluation Society. By using mixed and multiple methods in her research that are often infused with arts, she gains a deeper understanding of the phenomena under study and uses this knowledge to inform policy, practice and scholarship.

Kari-Elisabeth Vambeseth Skogen

Kari-Elisabeth Vambeseth Skogen (Chapter 7) is a Senior Advisor working in the Section for Policy Analysis within the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. Kari-Elisabeth is conducting a PhD while employed in the Ministry, funded through the Public Sector PhD-scheme in the Research Council of Norway. The PhD project is about the use of research in policymaking. She is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Social Science, University of Oslo, and is part of the Oslo Institute for Research on the Impact of Science (OSIRIS).

Mykolas Steponavičius 

Mykolas Steponavičius (Chapter 2) is a research assistant in the OECD’s Strengthening the Impact of Education Research and Study of Social and Emotional Skills projects. He has interned at the Government Strategic Analysis Center, focusing on a project on vocational education governance in Lithuania, worked as an assistant to a member of the Lithuanian Parliament, as well as an editor of an online magazine, Europe & Me. Mykolas holds a Bachelor of Science in Politics, Psychology, Law and Economics from the University of Amsterdam and a Masters in Public Policy from Sciences Po (France). As part of his master’s thesis, he analysed Lithuania’s external school evaluation system.

Miekatrien Sterck 

Miekatrien Sterck (Chapter 5) is a Policy Advisor working for the research team of the Strategy and Knowledge Division of the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training. Her fields of interest are sample-based national assessments, educational research, quality of education and evaluation, and assessment and governance. She used to work as a researcher at the Public Management Institute of the Catholic University of Leuven.

Katherine Tilley 

Katherine Tilley (Chapter 10) is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Delaware’s Center for Research in Education and Social Policy (CRESP). She holds a Doctorate in Education with a specialisation in evaluation, measurement and statistics. Her recently completed dissertation research focused on the relationship between problem-framing and evidence use in school decision making using data from the Institute of Education Sciences-funded knowledge utilisation centre, the Center for Research Use in Schools (CRUE).

José Manuel Torres 

José Manuel Torres (Editor, Chapter 3) is a Consultant for the Strengthening the Impact of Education Research project. He holds a Masters in Public Policies from the Pantheon-Sorbonne University (France) and a Bachelors of Science in Economics and Business Administration from the Catholic University of Chile.

Before joining the OECD, he worked as a research assistant in Chile and France on subjects including socio-economic characterisation of territories and sports economics. For three years, he worked on the design, planning and implementation of innovative educational programmes at Fundación Chile.