David Andrews OBE is an independent consultant and trainer, specialising in careers education and guidance in schools. He leads courses for careers co-ordinators and personal advisers, provides consultancy to careers companies, Connexions partnerships, local authorities and local LSCs, and has spoken at numerous conferences. David’s research interests are in the management of careers work in schools and the place of careers education in the curriculum. David is an Affiliated Lecturer at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education. He has been a teacher, an advisory teacher, a curriculum adviser, a schools inspector and an adviser to the DfES.

Lyn Barham's research has addressed issues relating to the development and delivery of career guidance from school-age students through to workforce development, with a pervasive concern to explore how theory can both inform practice and be further developed through practice. Most recently, Lyn has undertaken a series of studies for learndirect seeking to enhance the quality and comprehensiveness of two major databases which support career choice. Lyn is also Treasurer and Board member of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance.

Ruth Hawthorn's project work focuses on guidance for adults returning to the workplace (from unemployment, or following immigration) but it includes projects on guidance across all sectors (such as the role of ICT in guidance work, or the European dimension of guidance). She has written about quality assurance and also about career choice. Current work includes an ESRC-funded project, Learning Lives, with the University of Leeds; a project funded by the Ufi Charitable Trust on helping older adults with career planning; and a project funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation on careers work with young refugees and asylum-seekers in Leicester.

Dr CharlesJackson is particularly interested in how individuals manage and develop their careers in a rapidly changing labour market. With a background in occupational psychology, he has extensive experience of advising organisations on strategies for career development. Current and recent projects include research for learndirect on employment and training advice for refugees and a European study for CEDEFOP of career guidance provision to support workforce development. Other research interests include the development of self-help career interventions and understanding the skills graduates, professionals and knowledge workers need to manage their careers effectively.

Barbara McGowan is an independent consultant with extensive experience of curriculum and staff development in schools with particular reference to career education and guidance. She has a particular interest in policy issues and their relationship to and impact on practice: she has worked to raise awareness amongst policy makers and practitioners of the need to lay the foundations for this work at primary level. Barbara contributes to the development and management of careers work at national, regional and local levels, and has published work relevant to both primary and secondary education. Current and recent clients include DfES, QCA, LSN, and various Connexions and careers companies.

Dr Judy Alloway joined NICEC in 2006.. Much of her career has been focussed on adult guidance particularly for adults returning to learning and work. She has worked as a teacher, manager, county advisor and development officer at both national and regional levels. She has been involved in quality assurance through inspection, FEFC, ALI and Ofsted and quality standard development. Recent project work has included acting as an external evaluator for an IAG Network and national project development to market learning and access to guidance and core skills. For the last two years she has chaired, on behalf of the DfES, the UK-led EU Joint Actions partnership project on developing a European Guidance Network.

Dr Wendy Hirsh works independently as a researcher and consultant in the fields of strategic human resource planning and employee development. She has a long-standing interest in career development and has advised many leading employers, both public and private sector, in this area. Wendy’s interests include succession management, talent management, graduate development, the careers of professionals and managers, providing career information and self-help tools for employees, the role of line managers in supporting skill and career development. In addition to being a NICEC Fellow, Wendy works closely with several institutes in the UK and is a Visiting Professor at Kingston University.

Dr Bill Law provides freelance support for programme development in careers work. That work is undertaken in the UK and across the globe. Bill holds visiting roles in a number of research and development organisations. In the UK Bill has developed the government’s open-learning pack Careers Work, and provided blue-sky thinking to inform the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority’s reform of the 11-19 curriculum. Bill also provides scheme, team, and network development consultative and training support, for helpers and their managers, working on both face-to-face and curriculum-based careers-work programmes. Ideas and support for all this work can be found, and contact made, at Bill’s website.

Jackie Sadler is a NICEC fellow. Much of her work has focussed on guidance delivered in the further education sector, researching into guidance delivered in the sector, writing publications for organisations such as the LSDA and supporting providers in improving their provision. She has however worked across all sectors of learning and guidance and her research interests include adult guidance; quality and the European dimension of guidance as well as guidance in the learning and skill sector. Current work includes a European study into guidance in the workplace for CEDEFOP, a study into the CPD needs of guidance workers in the learning and skills sector undertaken by NIACE and supporting field work for a project on pastoral care for the LSN.

Prof Tony Watts is a NICEC Founding Fellow. He was a co-founder of CRAC, and was Director of NICEC from 1975 to 2001. His work covers theory, policy and practice in all sectors of career education and guidance, including schools, further and higher education, and adult guidance. In recent years his main interests have been in evaluations of innovative practice and in policy-related studies both nationally and internationally. He has been consultant to a number of international organisations, and worked for OECD from 2001 to 2002. His recent and current work includes a review for the European Training Foundation on career guidance in the Middle East (with Professor Ronald Sultana), a survey of new arrangements for Connexions/careers services for young people in England (with Allister McGowan), and a review of Careers Services in New Zealand.

Gideon Arulmani (PhD) is a NICEC International Fellow. Based in India, he is the Founder and Managing Trustee of The Promise Foundation and a Director of the Consultant Psychologists Group. As a researcher-practitioner, he has focused on the psychological linkages between poverty and development and the role career counselling plays in helping the disadvantaged take control of their life trajectories. His ideas have been presented at numerous conferences, journals and as a handbook on the theory and practice of career counselling. He has also executed assignments on guidance and counselling in Sub Saharan Africa and South East Asia and is a consultant to various international organizations.

Col McCowan OAM, Overseas Fellow is a registered psychologist, teacher and counsellor who is currently Head of Careers & Employment at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). He has authored / co-authored three books, including ‘A guide to career education in Australian schools.’ and ‘Working the Web: career planning via the Internet. His service at QUT won two National Best Practice Awards and he also won the National Award for Excellence in Career Counselling and received the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2006 for services to careers work. His work on Gen Y has been used extensively in a variety of settings including: business, industry, training, sport, statutory authorities, management and education. He is the co-leader of the team leading the successful implementation of a sophisticated e-portfolio system for 40,000 students at QUT.

Peter Plant, PhD is a NICEC International Senior Fellow. He is a professor at the Danish University of Education (DPU), Copenhagen, and director of the Guidance Reseach Unit at DPU. He is a partner in several European Union projects in career guidance and development, specialising in guidance among peers, in the workplace, and in other informal learning settings. He has spoken at numerous conferences, and is Vice-President of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG). He is the editor of the Danish professional guidance journal, and of the IAEVG Newsletter. He is a member of the Danish National Forum for Guidance, and of EU's Lifelong Guidance Expert Group. He has been a careers teacher, a youth guidance worker, and a careers advisor at the Public Employment Service.

James P Sampson, Jr. is a Professor in the Psychological Services in Education Program and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Technology in Counseling and Career Development at Florida State University. He was elected as an Overseas Fellow of the National Institute for Careers Education and Counselling in 1997. He was appointed as a Visiting Professor of Career Development and Management at the University of Derby in 2001 and a Visiting Professor (Docent) of Educational Psychology at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland in 2002. He is a National Certified Counselor (NCC); a National Certified Career Counselor (NCCC); and a Licensed Psychologist in the State of Florida. His areas of interest are computer applications in counseling and human services as well as career decision making and the delivery of career services.

Ronald G Sultana is Professor of Educational Sociology and Comparative Education, and Director of the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Educational Research at the University of Malta. He is the author or editor of 17 volumes, and has published over 80 articles and chapters in refereed journals and books. He received his training in guidance at Reading University, practiced as a guidance counsellor in Maltese schools, and led post-graduate courses in guidance in universities in New Zealand and Malta. He has authored the European Training Foundation report on career guidance in the new EU member states (2003), the Cedefop report on guidance in Europe (2004), and, together with Anthony Watts, the DG Employment review of career guidance in Europe’s Public Employment Services (2005). He is presently a consultant to ETF on a project looking at career guidance in the Middle East and North African region.