The Forum is governed by two bodies. The first is the Board of Trustees which has the accountability for ensuring effective governance on behalf of the Members. The Executive Committee is entrusted to work at the direction of the Board of Trustees to deliver UKFIET’s portfolio of activities.
Meetings
An annual general meeting (AGM) is held once a year. The AGM is held at the Biennial Conference or at the BAICE Conference. The Board of Trustees meet twice a year and the Executive Committee meets on a quarterly basis.
Chair of Trustees
Caine Rolleston is Professor of Education and International Development at UCL. His research interests focus on educational access, equity and outcomes in low and middle income countries. Caine was the Lead Education Researcher on the Young Lives Project at the University of Oxford and has worked on many large international projects including RISE (Research on Improving Systems of Education) in countries including Ghana, Ethiopia, India and Vietnam.Read More
Stephen is an Education Researcher at the International Rescue Committee’s Airbel Impact Lab, supporting its work to advance children’s learning in contexts affected by conflict and disaster. In particular, he works on the PlayMatters project funded by the LEGO Foundation and the Pathways for Learning study, part of the FCDO-funded Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crisis (ERICC) programme.Read More
Chris Berry is a senior education adviser who works for the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). He is currently the policy lead for Education in Emergencies and Protracted Crises.Read More
Debnam has a decade of experience across the nonprofit sector including managing large development contracts and grants for education, health, agriculture, energy, and community engagement projects overseas. She has experience in implementing development strategies as well as organizing new initiatives for projects funded by USAID, MCC, and DFID. She has worked extensively with multilateral funding organizations.
Read More
Deputy Chair of Trustees
Khadijah Fancy is the Technical Director of Cambridge Education. In this role, she leads Cambridge Education’s team of experts across multiple projects and countries, including in South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, amongst others. She brings over 25 years’ experience in education and social development, with a focus on inclusion of marginalised children, safeguarding, children’s rights, and delivery of quality solutions for learning.
Read More
Hannah is currently Head of Policy at Sightsavers, where she leads a team to influence policy and practice on inclusive education, health, and disability inclusion. She has a particular focus on engaging with bilateral and multilateral donors to ensure development policies and processes promote inclusion. Before joining Sightsavers, she worked on a range of social policy issues at the Department for International Development and within NGOs.
Joel is Director of Analytic Learning, a specialist consultancy focused on education and skills policy and research. He works mainly on education planning and financing; TVET and school-to-work transitions; and edtech. Recent clients include UNICEF, the ILO and EdTech Hub. He previously worked on skills policy development for the Mayor of London, was Head of Policy at Global Schools Forum and the edtech agency Jisc, and worked in Liberia for the INGO Street Child.
Aanya Niaz is a seasoned international education advisor (12+ years) with a focus on underserved contexts. She is the founder of The Maple Advisory Group, a global network of education leaders bridging the gap between research and practice, and leads social impact across Europe, Middle East & Africa with Amazon Web Services. She has a specialized focus on digital skills, female careers in technology and leveraging technology as an enabler of widespread learning, especially for marginalized and vulnerable populations.Read More
Sally Rosscornes is an education and gender specialist for the Gender at the Centre Initiative at the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP-UNESCO), focussing on technical support to Ministries of Education in Sub-Saharan Africa and delivering training in gender responsive education sector planning and budgeting.Read More
Nidhi is Professor of Disability and Inclusive Education at the University of Cambridge. Her research interests are broadly focused on understanding processes of inclusion and exclusion in educational settings in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Read More
Leon is UNESCO Chair in Inclusive, Good Quality Education and Global Chair in Education at the University of Bristol, alongside co-directing the Centre for International and Comparative Education (CIRE) in the School of Education. His key focus is education in low income countries and in particular, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa.
Read More
Chair of Executive Committee
Purna Kumar Shrestha is Global Technical Lead for Resilient and Inclusive Education Practice Area at VSO International where he leads a team of technical experts and volunteers to design resilient and inclusive education in low income countries in Asia and Africa.
Read More
Jamie Franco Cipriani is a Senior Lecturer in Business and Programme Lead for Food Production and Supply Chain Management (FPSM) at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) Qingdao Agricultural University (QAU) Joint Institute in China. A dedicated educator and RAU alumnus, he oversees a large portfolio of six modules for over 500 students and brings valuable strategic perspective from his prior career in finance and business services.
Read More
Barbara Crossouard is Professor of Theory of Education and Director of the Centre for International Education at the University of Sussex, UK. Much of her research addresses education and social inequalities related to intersecting identity structures (such as gender, sexuality, race, religion, nation) particularly in postcolonial contexts.
Read More
Rachael has ten years’ experience in education and social care, and is currently a senior researcher at Education Development Trust. Her research interests are in climate change, school to work transitions (particularly for girls) and community engagement in education. Rachael also supports largescale programmes across multiple regions in monitoring, evaluation, research and learning.Read More
Deputy Chair of Executive Committee
Javeria Hashmi is the Deputy CEO of READ Foundation and has over 24 years of experience in the charity sector. Throughout her career she has established a reputation as a transformational leader in global humanitarian efforts and sustainable development programmes.
Read More
Early Career Representative
Daniel Hawkins Iddrisu is a doctoral student at the University of Oxford. With experience in research and education, Daniel has held research assistant roles at institutions like the REAL Centre, University of Cambridge, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and the University of Ghana.
Read More
Katarzyna (Kaśka) is the Head of International Development at NFER, where she leads the research and evaluation portfolio in international education and development. Before joining NFER, she worked on UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, in 2016-19. There she led the work related to teacher policies and (socio-emotional) skill development and co-led the conceptual framework for Inclusion in Education report.
Read More
Dr. Alexandra Okada is an Associate Professor and Senior Researcher in Global Education and Digital Transformation at The Open University, UK. She is a member of the UNESCO Global Education Coalition (GEC) and the Inclusive Policy Lab Expert Group (IPL).
Read More
Dr Yuwei Xu is an Associate Professor in Education and MA Education course leader at the University of Nottingham, UK. Previously, he has held academic positions at University College London (where he remains an honorary lecturer) and the University of Portsmouth. Yuwei is editor for Children & Society journal and associate editor for Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice. He is also a British Educational Research Association (BERA) council member and membership lead for Gender and Education Association.Read More
Zehra Zaidi is Senior Director at DAI, where she leads the organisation’s global Human Development practice, spanning education, health, governance, and innovation portfolios. A strategic advisor and programme leader, Zehra brings over 18 years’ experience delivering large-scale public sector reform programmes across South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East. Her work focuses on education systems strengthening, institutional governance, and evidence-informed policy design.
Read More
Programme Manager
Sarah is UKFIET’s Programme Manager. She is a freelance conference manager and project co-ordinator, with a wealth of experience as she has managed the past thirteen UKFIET biennial conferences. Sarah previously worked with CfBT Education Trust (now Education Development Trust).
Engagement Fellow
Sandra Baxter is the Engagement Fellow for The Education Development Forum (UKFIET) and is also a Research Associate (Research Uptake) at the REAL Centre at the University of Cambridge. She previously worked at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS),
Read More