Chris is Deputy Director of the Observatory for Mathematics Education, and Associate Professor of Statistics in the School of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Nottingham where he is Head of Mathematics Education and Scholarship. His research interests focus on national trends of participation and attainment in mathematics; pedagogical approaches and student engagement in higher education mathematics and statistics teaching; as well as interdisciplinary science education and education for sustainable development. He has over 20 years of experience of teaching statistics at undergraduate and postgraduate level. He co-wrote QAA’s subject benchmark statement for Mathematics, Statistics and Operations Research. He is on the Executive Committee for the National Academy for PhD Training in Statistics and the Teaching Statistics committee of the Royal Statistical Society. He is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and a Senior Fellow of Advance HE.  

Jeremy Hodgen is a Professor of Mathematics Education.  He has extensive expertise all aspects of mathematics education and has published widely on mathematics education, teacher education, assessment, international comparisons and standards over time and the design and evaluation of educational interventions. His current research projects include a systematic review of effective ways of teaching mathematics in secondary education for the Education Endowment Foundation and a comparison of different approaches to grouping students for secondary mathematics lessons in England. His Nuffield Foundation funded reports examining participation in post-16 mathematics have been highly influential in policy on studying mathematics to age 18. He has been a member of the Royal Society’s Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (ACME) and Chair of the British Society for Research into the Learning of Mathematics (BSRLM) and is currently a member of ACME’s Post-16 Contact Group. He served on the then Prime Minister’s Expert Advisory Group on Maths to 18. Currently, he also holds professorial positions at University College London and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and was previously a Professor of Mathematics Education at King’s College London. Before becoming an academic, he taught mathematics in primary and secondary schools.

Balbir Kaur is an Assistant Professor of Education at the University of Nottingham where she leads on the primary maths programme and is an academic tutor on the primary PGCE programme.  Balbir’s research interests are closely aligned with her professional practice that centre on social justice and equity.  Her research interests include investigating socially just approaches to learning and teaching of mathematics that explore curriculum design and content formation.  She has worked with beginning primary school teachers to address some of the myths and misconceptions about the nature of who can and cannot do maths.  In addition, Balbir’s research aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Goals and primary STEM related concepts to address social justice. 

More broadly Balbir has been involved in several small projects that have examined anti-racism, equity and diversity in a range of educational settings.  Previously, Balbir has worked as a Director of Equity and Diversity in Education and Senior Lecturer in Initial Teacher Education.  Her foundational knowledge base stems from her experiences as a primary school teacher in diverse schools and a lead mathematics teacher for a local authority.

Gabriel is a Research Fellow at the Observatory for Mathematical Education. His research interests include mathematical argumentation and proof, mathematics teacher education, teacher beliefs and practices, and the use of language in mathematics classrooms. He works closely with schoolteachers and pre-service teachers in his research and applies design research methodology, advanced quantitative models, and mixed research methods to the investigation of research questions in mathematics education. Gabriel actively engages in research projects, for example, ‘Centres for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching for Mastery Randomised Controlled Trial’ led by Prof Geoff Wake and Prof Andrew Noyes (University of Nottingham) and ‘PISA 2022 National Reports (for England, Northern Ireland and Wales)’ led by Prof Jenni Ingram (University of Oxford). Having started as a secondary mathematics teacher in Hong Kong, Gabriel obtained his DPhil in Education at Oxford (2017-2022). Gabriel is also a Fellow of Advance HE.

 Jennifer is a Research Associate at the Observatory for Mathematical Education. Alongside this, she is an ESRC funded doctoral student in the School of Education, working within the Centre for Research in Mathematics Education (CRME). Her doctoral research looks at the ways in which quantitative skills are developed across subjects in the post-16 curriculum in England, and how these skills are (or are not) transferred to the university setting. Having started her career as a secondary mathematics teacher, Jennifer moved on to work in mathematics support in a wide range of settings, including state and independent schools and alternative provision. Most recently, she worked in mathematics support for 16-19 year olds and adults in a Further Education college, and taught academic study skills to STEM students at the University of Bristol.

 

Andy is the founding Director of the Observatory for Mathematical Education (2023-). He is the Chair of the Joint Mathematical Council of the UK (2018-24), and a current member - and previous vice-chair - of the Royal Society's Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education. He chairs the RS/ACME Expert Panel on post-16 mathematics, sits on the Mathematical Futures Programme Board, has been closely involved in the development of the Academy for the Mathematical Sciences. Andy is a member of the advisory boards of several major research projects and intervention programmes.

Andy's research interests are focused on mathematics education and 14-19 learner participation, pathways and policy. He is particularly interested in systems thinking, systemic change and implementation science. Andy is involved in a range of consultancy and advisory work including to the qualifications regulator, Ofqual. He joined the University in 2001, after teaching mathematics in a Nottinghamshire secondary school for nine years. He was Head of the School of Education from 2014-18 and Associate Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange (Social Science) from 2018-20.

 

  

Jake has undergraduate and PhD degrees in mathematics from the University of Warwick and Nottingham, respectively.

He has experience analysing data in a variety of university departments, including the Schools of Mathematics, Education, and Psychology at Nottingham and the Botanic Garden at the University of Cambridge. In particular, Jake led the secondary analysis of the NPD and HESA data in ‘The mathematics pipeline in England’ report led by Prof Andrew Noyes and Dr Chris Brignell.

 

 Katie has been an Assistant Professor in the School of Mathematical Sciences since 2019, before this she completed her PhD in statistics here. Katie has experience applying statistical and machine learning methods to analyse large datasets, with past projects ranging from statistical analysis of text data to using maternity data to help improve the rights and health of women in Tanzania. Katie currently lectures first to final year university students in statistics and is active in creating inclusive learning environments. She is also passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and has led many EDI initiatives, particularly in encouraging and celebrating diversity within maths. She was a co-writer for the University of Nottingham’s gold, gender equality, Athena Swan award and sits on the London Mathematical Society's Women and Diversity committee. She is particularly excited to work in the Observatory where she can make maths a more inclusive subject for everyone.  

Geoff is a Professor of Mathematics Education and has a long-established track record of research and design in and of curriculum, assessment, teacher professional learning and engagement with and learning of mathematics quite widely. His work has often had a post-16 and out of subject domain learning such as mathematics in other subject areas and workplaces. He has much experience of working with researchers internationally including in Japan, the United States and Europe. He is Chair of Trustees of the educational charity Collaborative Lesson Research and supports close-to-practice research that attempts to provide insights into classroom teaching and learning.

Most recently Geoff has led a number of large-scale randomised controlled trials and designs of interventions that aim to improve classroom teaching. These have primarily focused on outcomes at GCSE and GCSE resits (in post-16 settings). He continues to be active in European and international organisations supporting mathematics education research.

 Emily has been at the University of Nottingham since 2018 when she started her undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences. She then completed a master’s degree in Microbiology and Immunology, before working for the Faculty of Science. Emily has worked in roles within Education and Student Experience and Widening Participation and Outreach. She brings her experience in these teams to join the Observatory for Mathematical Education as a Senior Operations Officer.