Chairperson – Diane Dalby (UK)
Diane is a retired Assistant Professor from the School of Education, University of Nottingham. She worked in Further Education colleges in England for over 20 years, in various management and teaching roles, before completing a doctorate at the university and then working as a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Research in Mathematics Education. Her doctoral study focused on the experiences of vocational students learning functional mathematics in Further Education colleges. Diane has since worked on various national and international mathematics research projects including Mathematics and Science for Life (Mascil); Mathematics in Further Education Colleges (MiFEC); the Whole College Approach (WCA); Mathematics in Technical Education for 16-19 year olds and Teaching for Mastery. Her research interests include the teaching of mathematics in post-16 education for disaffected and low-attaining students, the post-16 mathematics curriculum, the enactment of policy in Further Education and the positioning of mathematics within vocational education. Diane has also been active for many years as an educational consultant, trainer and external examiner, taking a special interest in mathematics teaching and FE management.
Trustee – Rosa Alberto (Netherlands)
Rosa Alberto has worked as a researcher within the HU Lectorate of Mathematical and Analytical Competence of Professionals in Utrecht since September 2022. She works on awareness and tools for numeracy, both at a local and European level. Numeracy is an essential but underexposed basic skill in 21st-century societies. Rosa’s interests and experiences focus on what and how people learn. She studied psychology (specialization: cognitive neuroscience) at Leiden University, researching analogical reasoning and math skills, among other things. Her PhD research at Utrecht University focuses on the development and implementation of embodied design applications for mathematical reasoning.
Trustee and Secretary – Catherine Byrne (Ireland)
Catherine Byrne has been a teacher of mathematics and basic skills in Irish Prisons for many years. She teaches all levels of mathematics to prisoners, teaching accredited and non-accredited courses. She has an interest in assessment, motivation for starting mathematics in this context, mathematical self-efficacy, mathematical resilience, affective aspects of learning mathematics, and the impact of learning on identity in this context. She is also a PhD student in Dublin Institute of Technology, researching mathematics in prison education. Catherine leads the ALM topic group “Maths in Prisons” which provides an informal discussion space for anyone involved in teaching or researching maths learning in the prison context.
Trustee – Javier Díez-Palomar (Spain)
Javier Díez-Palomar is a professor of mathematics education at the Department of Linguistic and Literary Education and the Teaching and Learning of Experimental Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Barcelona. He is vice-president of CIEAEM, the Commission for the Study and Improvement of Mathematics Teaching. He is also a member of the Numeracy Expert Group (OECD) working on the PIAAC survey (2018-2025). He is a former chief editor for the Adults Learning Mathematics International Journal, and a current member of the Editorial Board. He has been working with adult learners as a volunteer since 1999, learning and promoting the dialogic learning approach. He has been working on numeracy as a member of the Erasmus+ projects Common European Numeracy Framework and Numeracy in Practice (NiP), and a member of the Working Group on Adult Mathematics Education for the next CERME in Bratislava (2027), as well as the Topic Study Group 5.6: Mathematics education in and for work; lifelong mathematics education including adult education, at ICME 2028 (Czech Republic). He has also participated as an expert in the elaboration of the framework for the new educational Law of Adult Education in Spain.
Trustee – Brooke Istas
Trustee – Niamh O’Meara (Ireland)
Niamh O’Meara is an Associate Professor in Mathematics Education at the School of Education in the University of Limerick. She is also the Deputy Director of EPISTEM, Ireland’s only national centre for STEM Education. Her research interests include teacher knowledge, curricular issues in mathematics education, improving attitudes and performance in mathematics and numeracy education for all learners. She has been involved in a number of different funded projects, including two Erasmus+ projects, exploring adults learning mathematics. As part of these projects, Niamh has worked with colleagues across Europe to develop the Common European Numeracy Framework, a framework designed to identify key factors in improving the quality of numerate behaviour of adults (see www.cenf.eu) . She has also worked closely with Ireland’s National Adult Literacy Agency [NALA] and produced a series of guidelines for good practice in integrated and standalone numeracy provision for adult learners. Additionally, Niamh was lead author on a report, commissioned by NALA which sought to investigate adult learners’ understanding and conceptualisation of numeracy and is currently involved in developing, designing, delivering and evaluating a series of Numeracy-Meets for tutors of adult learners (see www.adultliteracyforlife.ie).
Trustee – Monique Pijls (Netherlands)
Monique Pijls is the research leader of the Practoraat ‘Gecijferdheid in het mbo’ (= Numeracy in vocational education), a Dutch vocational center of expertise for numeracy in vocational education. The core activity of this practoraat is practitioners’ research conducted by math teachers in VET-institutions, experimenting with educational practices in collaboration with colleagues. Research themes consist of: didactical approaches for numeracy education, math and language, dealing with math anxiety, assessment in numeracy education and professional development. Monique has worked as a researcher, educational designer and teacher trainer. Her PhD research focused on collaborative mathematical learning. She participated and lead research projects on hands-on minds-on science learning, maker education and arts-science integration.
Trustee – Kathy Safford-Ramus
Kathy Safford began teaching mathematics to adults in 1984 at a community college where she taught both on campus and in workplace settings. She received her doctorate in mathematics education in 1996 based on research conducted in an experimental algebra course for adult students in the university adult college. For 22 years she taught courses ranging from developmental mathematics to the department capstone course at Saint Peter’s University. Kathy has continued her research in retirement, focusing on professional development for elementary school teachers and interventions for elementary school parents perplexed by current methods of mathematics instruction. She is the author of Unlatching the Gate: Helping Adult Students Learn Mathematics and is one editor of the ALM publication Celebrating 25 years: A lot done, a lot more yet to do.
Treasurer and Membership Secretary – Trude Sundtjønn (Norway)
Trude Sundtjønn is an associate professor at OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University. She works as a teacher educator, mainly in primary teacher education. She is especially interested in mathematics for vocational education for youths. Her doctoral study focused on the experiences of vocational students when they worked on vocationally connected mathematics tasks.
Honorary Trustees
- Prof Diana Coben, National Centre of Literacy and Numeracy for Adults and University of Waikato, New Zealand
- Dr Gail FitzSimons, Melbourne University, Australia
- Dr Marj Horne, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia
- Lisbeth Lindberg, Göteborg University, Sweden
- Prof Juergen Maasz, University of Linz, Austria
- Dr Terry Maguire, Director National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
- Prof John O’Donoghue, University of Limerick, Ireland
- Dr Katherine Safford-Ramus, Saint Peter’s College, Jersey City, New Jersey, USA
- Dr Alison Tomlin, King’s College London, UK
- Dr Mieke van Groenestijn, Utrecht University of Professional Education, Utrecht,
The Netherlands