Curriculum and Assessment Review Conference

Nic is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Salford and was previously Vice-Principal at the University of St Andrews, Provost of Dundee University and Vice-Chancellor of Middlesex University. He is Chair of the Quality Council for UK Higher Education and Treasurer and on the Board of Universities UK. He was previously Treasurer and on the Board of the Academy of Social Sciences and Chair of Access HE. Nic is currently a member of the Secretary of State’s Curriculum and Assessment Review panel for England. 

Nic’s academic field is business and management and his research focused on identity, change and educational leadership. His awards from Learned Societies include, at a national level, the Lifetime Achievement in Research Award and at an international level, the Exceptional Service to the Field of Management Worldwide Award. He was the longest-serving president of the British Academy of Management.  

Zongyi Deng is Professor of Curriculum and Pedagogy at the IOE – Faculty of Education and Society, University College London. He is also an executive editor of the Journal of Curriculum Studies (JCS) and a panel member of the Curriculum and Assessment Review in England. He has held faculty positions at Nanyang Technological University and the University of Hong Kong. His areas of interest include curriculum content (subject matter), curriculum theory, Didaktik, curriculum policy and reform, and comparative and international education. His publications have appeared in JCS, Curriculum Inquiry, Comparative Education, Teaching and Teacher Education, British Educational Research Journal, Cambridge Journal of Education, Science Education, and other international journals.

Hannah Boag is a highly experienced educator with a career spanning primary and secondary settings. She trained in primary education, teaching in KS2, before joining a secondary school in a deprived area of Norwich, where she initially focused on supporting the critical transition between Year 6 and Year 7. She went on to lead the English faculty and played a pivotal role in developing a whole-school approach to literacy. She later became Assistant Head Teacher for Teaching and Learning, leading on Pupil Premium, literacy, transition, and staff professional development. After 16 years working within the secondary sector, she was offered the exciting opportunity become a Head Teacher at a rural Primary school. She is currently Executive Head Teacher of two primary schools in Norfolk.

Hannah is an Education Lead for the Norwich Research School, specializing in literacy, disadvantage, and transitions from primary to secondary education. Her work focuses on fostering robust collaboration between primary and secondary schools and ensuring smooth transitions for all learners, with a particular emphasis on supporting disadvantaged pupils to thrive.

Ceri was educated at a comprehensive in Bradford and read History at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He has been Headmaster at Caterham since 2015 and was previously Principal of The Marsh Academy, a large non-selective academy in Kent.  He has established a number of unique and successful Independent-State School Partnerships and wider collaborations and co-founded an educational charity, the Accelerate and Access Foundation, supporting pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds to apply to top ranking universities. Ceri was also instrumental in the creation of Sphinx AI, and EdTech company driven by the twin purposes of creating edtech products made by teachers for teachers and using emerging technologies to close the attainment and disadvantage gap in the UK.

Ceri is a Governor of the London Academy of Excellence and a number of local primary and prep schools. He writes and speaks regularly on the topics of school leadership, school partnerships, social mobility, AI in education and Digital Literacy. Ceri currently sits on the HMC Public Benefit and Partnerships Committee.