Professor James Tooley (Director)

James has been working in the area of educational development for over 25 years when he first moved to Zimbabwe after leaving university to become a maths teacher. Having been a researcher at Oxford University and a senior researcher at Manchester he moved to his current post as Professor of Education Policy at Newcastle University in 1998. Private schools for low-income families are Tooley's passion. He works to assist in improving entrepreneurs' access to loans and improvement of the curriculum for budget private schools. Tooley strives to bring private schools for low income families to the top of the agenda when discussing "Education for All".

Professor Sugata Mitra

Having worked in the private sector with NIIT, Delhi for many years Sugata moved to Newcastle University to become Professor of Educational Technology in 2006. Mitra is well known for the "Hole in the Wall" experiment. Mitra is working on how technology can be implemented in private schools in slum areas in India. His projects now also included looking at the use of technology and its impact in North East of England schools. Professor Mitra is also a visiting Professor at MIT in Boston, USA.

Dr Pauline Dixon (Director of Research)

Pauline was one of the founder members of the E.G. West Centre in 2002. She gained her PhD at Newcastle University researching private schools in the low-income areas of Hyderabad, India in 2003. Since then she has been instrumental in the research carried out by the E.G. West Centre in Asia, Africa and South America and a crucial part of the award winning team at the Centre. Currently Dixon is working on improving English in private and government schools in a slum in Delhi as well as advising and researching the implementation of education vouchers in developing countries. She is also the Degree Programme Director and leading academic on modules offered on the MA (International Development and Education).

James B Stanfield (Director of Development)

James Stanfield was one of the founder members of the EG West Centre in 2002 and his PhD research has focused on the growth of private schools for the poor across Africa and how this corresponds or comes into conflict with the concept of the right to eduation. James's other research interests include: inclusive business models in education; market based solutions in education; entrepreneurship in education; the history of education without the state and finally the hidden costs and unintended consequences of government intervention in education in the UK and abroad. He has written numerous publications on education and writes a quarterly column for Economics Affairs, the journal of the IEA.

Rene Koglbauer

René, born in Austria, joined Newcastle University in September 2010 and is currently MEd Pathway Leader for Pedagogy and Learning, Deputy Director of Secondary Initial Teacher Training as well as Regional Manager for Network for Languages.  Rene started out his research career on aspects of language learning and testing but due to his management, leadership and governance roles at primary and secondary level, René’s research interest include many aspects of educational leadership. At the forefront of his interest is: leadership and its effect it has on learners, the learning and the teaching in the classroom. Apart from being a member of the EG West Centre, René is also an active member of CfLAT and Trustee and Honorary Finance Officer of the Association for Language Learning.