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.
Professor Lynn Ang is Professor of Early Childhood Education at University College London (UCL). Lynn has a long standing career of over twenty-five years as a senior academic and distinguished global thought leader in early years and primary education with research expertise in evidence-informed international research, early learning and global educational inequalities, teacher education and professional practice, and the interdisciplinary fields of early childhood and international development. Lynn has led and co-led major funded projects from the British Academy, UNICEF, UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Nuffield Foundation, with an established research grants portfolio of over 30 funded awards worth c£25 million.
Treasurer
Saima Anwer is Principal Consultant and Education Practice Lead at Oxford Policy Management, with over 25 years’ experience in international education and development across the UK, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Her work spans education systems reform, public-sector governance, education financing, research leadership, programme oversight, donor partnerships and strategic policy engagement.
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.
Alison is Executive Director for Education and Youth at Project Everyone, a not for profit communications agency whose mission is to drive change for the Sustainable Development Goals. Alison is the founder of World’s Largest Lesson, a programme run in partnership with UNICEF to promote the teaching of sustainability in schools across the globe.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Emma Sarton is a Principal Education Advisor at Cambridge Education, where she leads transformative initiatives to enhance educational access and quality. With over 20 years of experience in the education sector, Emma has made significant contributions from teaching to managing large-scale education programmes.
Dr Ronda Zelezny-Green is a digital inclusion and capacity development specialist with over twenty years’ experience spanning more than eighty countries. She works at the intersection of AI governance, digital skills, and gender equity. She is also the founder of datocracy, a non-profit advancing Global Majority-led AI governance, and a co-founder of Panoply Digital and BRK Ujima.
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.
Pilar Aramayo-Prudencio (MEd, DipRSA) has worked in the field of education and English language teaching for over 25 years as a teacher, trainer, materials and curriculum designer, policy maker and programme director.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Janice Kim is a Lecturer in Education at the School of Education, University of Glasgow. Her research interests lie at the intersection of education, public policy, and international development, with a particular focus on how education reforms and policies shape child development, learning outcomes, and educational trajectories. Her areas of expertise include early childhood education, foundational learning, teacher professional development, education governance and finance, and policy evaluation.
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.
Dr Laraib Niaz is an Assistant Research Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. She has led and co-led research and evaluation projects for organisations including FCDO, the World Bank, the British Council and Oxford Policy Management. Her work examines questions of equity and inclusion in education with a particular focus on gender, disability and religion.
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).
Fran is Associate Professor in the School of Education, University of Nottingham. She is an interdisciplinary social scientist specializing in climate change education, environmental sociology, and gender studies, with a focus on non-WEIRD contexts.
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.
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).