Professor Colleen McLaughlin is Director of Education Innovation and leader of the Educational Reform and Innovation team, She has held various leadership roles: Head of Department at the University of Sussex and Deputy Head of Faculty at the University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education. She taught in secondary schools and worked as an advisor in a local education authority before coming to the then Institute of Education in 1985. Her recent research has focused on wellbeing in schools (for the Welsh Government and the Nuffield Foundation); relationships in schools; sexuality and HIV related education in Africa (for the Commonwealth Centre for Education); bullying and pupils with special educational needs and disabilities; counseling in schools; and aspects of personal, social and emotional development in schools. Support for international educational reform is now a major area of work. She has been involved as an advisor to governments and NGOs on the personal and social dimensions of schooling.