Designation: Consultant

Sophia D’Angelo has experience consulting for teacher training projects in Africa (Tanzania and Sierra Leone), Latin America and the Caribbean (Dominican Republic and Haiti), and the Middle East (Syria). Her PhD research at the University of Cambridge focuses on teacher professional development and improving effectiveness. Prior to this, she worked for four years as a teacher and teacher trainer in the Dominican Republic before completing an MPhil in Education, Globalisation, and International Development also at Cambridge’s Faculty of Education. She has also written background papers for the Mastercard Foundation’s flagship report on Secondary Education in Africa, as well as the Overseas Development Institute’s Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) and Adolescence Learning and Innovation on Gender Norms (ALIGN) projects.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Full list of publications available here.

Gill is a cognitive psychologist whose research intersects psychology and education. She has diverse experience researching child development topics such as the role of play for children with typical and atypical development, and the development of thinking skills in young children (e.g. scientific reasoning and executive functions). Her work has also extended to international development research that supports child development and learning opportunities for marginalized children. Some of Gill’s recent experience includes working as research associate with the EdTECH Hub at the University of Cambridge and working as a trained coder on the WorldBank’s TEACH classroom observation tool. She has also been awarded an ESRC postdoctoral research fellowship (2020/2021) with the University of York, where she will further explore the links between play, cognitive development, and genetics.

Teib Assaf is an Associate Consultant with more than five years of experience managing private and public sector innovation programmes in the Middle East and Africa regions. She is currently working with the World Bank on supporting the Government of Kenya to implement a US$ 50 million loan to enhance the productivity of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). She is also working with the World Bank on co-authoring a Chapter for the Office of the Chief Economist, Europe and Central Asia division on how data management systems can build effective, accountable, and transparent public administrations. Previously, she worked at UNICEF Jordan and led the scale-up of a social innovation labs programme from benefitting 30,000 to 120,00 young people in less than 18 months. Teib is passionate about innovation for inclusive development, user-centered technology design, and the interplay of the two. She holds a Master in Public Policy from the University of Oxford.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Full list of publications available here.

Irina is a Data Scientist and Machine Learning engineer, currently working at Gower Street Analytics. She works with the AI (Artificial Intelligence) team at Open Development & Education. She is also a co-organiser of the CodeYourFuture Scotland community, which offers free training courses and mentorship to people from marginalised communities that are trying to break into tech. She has a Masters in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh and is a published researcher. Some of her research interests include open access, education, explainable AI, computational creativity, and applications of machine learning in cognitive science. Publications available here.

Zeina works with the AI (Artificial Intelligence) team in Open Development & Education. Besides her work with the ODE team, she teaches for Code For Palestine (C4P), a uniquely designed programme for the top-scoring students in the West Bank and Gaza, where students are given access to world-class groundbreaking skills in technology, design thinking, coding, and leadership. This programme reaches out to the younger generations of Palestine and works to improve the STEM curriculum and education in the West Bank and Gaza. In 2014, she graduated with a bachelor degree in computer engineering from An-Najah National University in Palestine, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in computer science.

Gesine Haseloff works as a researcher and project coordinator in the field of technical vocational pedagogy at the Technical University of Dresden and at the University of Siegen (Germany). She has experience in teacher education for technical vocational education and training (TVET) and has been involved in several international research and development projects in Subsaharan Africa and Europe. Her research interests include the development of action-oriented teaching and learning situations and the linking of informal and formal vocational education and training. In her doctoral thesis, Gesine has developed models that can be effective for the further education of teachers with very different requirements.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Full list of publications available here.

Dr Inka Stock is a sociologist with many years of field experience in Colombia, Morocco, Kenya and South Sudan. Inka is an expert in mixed methods sociological research focussing on migration. Inka lives in the Republic of the Congo.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Full list of publications available here.

Dr Jens Schaffer is currently supporting the ramp-up of a component manufacturing plant for a German automotive supplier in the USA as a launch manager.  Before that he worked on numerous technical and educational projects as a Professor for Technical Logistics and Supply Chain Management at the SRH Hamm University of Applied Sciences for Logistics and Economics, visiting professor in the subjects of project management in automotive development and logistics at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica (PUC, Rio de Janeiro), administrative Professor for Production Management and Logistics at the University of Applied Sciences Emden as well as Freelance consulting engineer. His interests include process and resource planning, supply chain strategies, supply chain coordination, traffic and transshipment systems, data collection, and identification. In his teaching, Dr. Schaffer attaches great importance to vivid and active learning, e.g.

• “The Fresh Connection”, a comprehensive web-based supply chain simulation by the Dutch consultancy Inchainge or
• “MIT Beer Game”, a worldwide well-known simulation of the flow of information and materials in supply chains, which can also be produced for minimal effort,
• with the self-developed SkaiLab simulation game (push and pull strategies, box, and series production).

At Open Development & Education, Jens supports industry links, professional education, as well as the development of innovative pedagogical approaches for higher education.

Zoé is a consultant at Open Development & Education who completed an MPhil Education and International Development at the University of Cambridge in 2019. Zoé has several years of experience as an educator, including working for an international school in Switzerland, training to become a primary school teacher in England and teaching Economics to sixth-form students in India. Prior to joining the team, she worked as a research assistant for the EdTech Hub where she was involved in conducting a systematic review of the literature on educational technology in middle- and low-income countries. She also managed a team of 14 volunteers and led the international teaching program of Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project, an NGO located in rural India.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Full list of publications available here.

Reyam is a data scientist and machine learning engineer, with an MSc in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Strathclyde. She is an active volunteer within the CodeYourFuture Scotland community, which offers free training courses and mentorship to people from marginalised communities that are trying to break into tech: she is a member of their education team, teaching and helping students with modules on databases. She has a passion for robotics and data, and is known to her colleagues and classmates as the Queen of Data!