The team

National Research Co-ordinator for TIMSS 2027
Director, International Large-Scale Assessments, Pearson Assessment Services

Role: Grace leads the ILSA team at Pearson. She has overall responsibility for the delivery of TIMSS 2027 in Wales, ensuring that all TIMSS tasks are carried out on schedule and in accordance with the specified international standards.

Background: In her role at Pearson, Grace leads on other assessment studies in her role as NRC (National Research Coordinator) for PIRLS 2026 in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, TIMSS 2023 in England, and as National Project Manager for PISA 2025 in Wales, England and Northern Ireland. In her previous role as Director of Research in Pearson UK (2014 - 2023) she was strategically responsible for research on academic and vocational qualifications and learning services for schools, as well as the implementation of the efficacy agenda in the UK. Grace started her career as a teacher, teacher trainer and principal research officer at the examination board of the University of Malta. She completed her post-graduate studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand, as a Commonwealth student, and worked on the National Educational Monitoring Project (NEMP) at the Educational Assessment Research Unit for her doctorate. Grace was Director- General for Quality and Standards at the Ministry of Education in Malta (2007-2013) before moving to Pearson in the UK.

Adaptation Coordinator and Coding Manager
Delivery Lead, Pearson

Role: Sarah coordinates adaptation of materials and manages scoring of responses.

Background: Sarah has over 15 years’ experience within Pearson in the end-to-end operational delivery of a range of high-stakes qualifications and assessment instruments. This included four years leading the GCSE Religious Studies team delivering the accurate marking of over 250,000 examination scripts and managing a team of 1000 markers each Summer examination series. Sarah managed or will manage coding for PIRLS21, TIMSS23, PIRLS26 and TIMSS27.

Project Manager for TIMSS 2027
Project Manager, Pearson

Role: Project Manager, responsible for the management of the contract deliverables.

Background: PRINCE2 Practitioner qualified, Emmanuel has over 8 years experience delivering future technologies in construction, and educational institutions such as London Southbank University. Over the past three years he has managed International GCSE high-stake assessments, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and Integration technology projects for Pearson. He now brings this knowledge and experience to the TIMSS 2027 study and the PIRLS 2026 study in Wales.

National Data and Sampling Manager
Delivery Lead, Pearson

Role: Mish oversees activities relating to sampling, data handling and assessment delivery systems.

Background: Mish has over fifteen years’ experience within Pearson, in Customer Service, Operations and IT development roles. He was Data Manager for PIRLS16 and TIMSS19, delivering a successful sampling strategy, sampling frame and data submission. He is currently working on PISA25 (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) and PIRLS26 in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Recruitment Manager and Deputy Data Manager
Delivery Lead, Pearson

Role: Alistair coordinates activities relating to recruitment and retention of schools and will supports with data management.

Background: Alistair has been working for Pearson for over 10 years. He was Data Manager for PIRLS21, Recruitment Manager for TIMSS23 and PISA25, and is currently doing the same role for PIRLS26 in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. He has worked in many different aspects of international studies including sampling, data management, translation/adaptations, school recruitment and retention, School Coordinator and Test Administrator recruitment as well as training, and coding.

Test Administrator Manager
Delivery Lead, Pearson

Role: Lucian coordinates recruitment, training and management of Test Administrators.

Background: Lucian has over 18 years’ experience within Pearson, in the delivery and assessment of high-stakes qualifications, including as Head of Assessment for GCE and GCSE humanities subjects at Pearson for nine years. Lucian has experience of recruitment, training and management of Test Administrators for PISA22, PISA25, TIMSS2023 and PIRLS26 in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Professor of mathematics policy and practice

Role: Jennie will be Principal Investigator (PI) for TIMSS 2027 Wales, leading all aspects of analysis, reporting and dissemination.

Background: Jennie’s research is focused on the mathematics education policy-practice interface, centralising teacher and learner voices and drawing on her considerable teaching experience with learners aged 5-18 and beyond. She has wide influence in national and international education policy development, aiming to catalyse evidence-based mathematics education policy that supports all young people to thrive mathematically. She serves in several national and international education fora and is former President of the UK Mathematical Association; her international work in mathematics, teacher education and doctoral supervision has received several awards. Jennie has contributed to multiple international large-scale studies, including several iterations of each of TIMSS and PISA, for example leading the analysis and reporting of TIMSS 2023 for England.

UCL Associate Professor of mathematics UCL Institute of Education

Role: Rachel will be Co-PI for TIMSS 2027 Wales, supporting all leadership of analysis, reporting and dissemination and acting as primary and mathematics education expert.

Background: Previously a primary school teacher in both inner-city and rural schools, Rachel moved into Initial Teacher Education in 2013, and has subsequently developed a strong research portfolio in primary mathematics (and beyond), joining UCL in 2024. She leads the IOE MA in Mathematics Education. Rachel has extensive experience of conducting research across mathematics education, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches and conducting large-scale literature reviews. She was joint Principal Investigator for the Education Endowment Foundation Funded project "Effective approaches to teaching mathematics in Key Stages 3 and 4: A systematic review and meta-analysis".

Research Fellow in UCL Institute of Education’s Centre for Teacher and Teaching Research

Role: Hettie will lead on all aspects of data analysis and representation.

Background: Hettie is an expert in quantitative methodologies for education research including RCTs and quasi-experimental approaches. After completing her PhD in Economics in June 2025, Hettie has contributed to or led the impact analyses for the Education Endowment Foundation funded “Student Grouping Study” as well as the Youth Endowment Fund funded evaluation of “Grassroots: Evaluation of an anti-conflict intervention by cluster randomised controlled trial”. She is experienced in using administrative and survey data to explore the drivers of inequalities in outcomes for children and young people, including research on teacher grading biases, early years pedagogies, and school suspensions and absences. With an academic background at Oxford and Harvard, Hettie taught secondary school maths in England and Wales for five years, and now delivers policy and economics training to UK government departments alongside her academic work.

UCL Institute of Education Associate

Role: Christina will project manage the analysis, reporting and dissemination stages of TIMSS 2027 Wales, contributing also to writing.

Background: Christina Swensson is an experienced analyst with an academic background in economics and twenty five years’ experience working in education research and analysis. She has considerable experience in effective organisation and management of project teams. She also brings expertise in communication of complex research findings and analysis to policy makers, and the management and delivery of user-friendly and accessible analytical reports that draw together contributions from statisticians, social researchers and economists. Christina has experience in managing and delivering research reports for large-scale longitudinal studies, having previously worked on TIMSS2015, TIMSS2019 and TIMSS2023 for England in similar roles.

UCL Institute of Education Associate

Role: Lead report writer

Background: Iain has extensive experience of educational research and writing at a national level. Between his two primary headships, he worked in the National College for School Leadership’s research and policy group, in which role he was engaged with a wide range of national school leadership research projects. He has substantial experience in qualitative research in schools through commissioned projects, many of them at a national level. Iain also has experience of quantitative analysis and national report writing as a co-author of the TIMSS national reports for England in 2015, 2019 and 2023, supporting the breadth of associated writing and analysis.