Hugh Burkhardt has been at the Shell Centre for Mathematical Education at the University of Nottingham since 1976, as Director until 1992. Since then he has led a series of international projects in the UK and the US, including Balanced Assessment, the Mathematical Assessment Resource Service (MARS), and its development of a Toolkit for Change Agents.

He takes an 'engineering' view of educational research and development - that it is about systematic design and development to make a complex system work better, with theory as a guide and empirical evidence the ultimate arbiter. His core interest is in the dynamics of curriculum change. He sees assessment as one important 'tool for change' among the many that are needed to help achieve some resemblance between goals of policy and outcomes in practice. His other interests include making mathematics more functional for everyone through teaching real problem solving and mathematical modeling, computer-aided math education, software interface design and human-computer interaction.
He graduated from Oxford University and the University of Birmingham where, alongside research in theoretical physics and undergraduate teaching, he first developed his work on teaching the uses of mathematics to help solve everyday life problems. He remains occasionally active in elementary particle physics.

He founded and is Executive Chair of ISDDE and Chair of the Advisory Board for Educational Designer.

Susan McKenney is associate Professor in the Learning & Cognition Group of the Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies (CELSTEC) at the Open University of the Netherlands and in the Department of Instructional Technology within the Faculty of Behavioral Sciences at Twente University. She also holds a visiting professorship in the Learning Sciences & Policy Group at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. McKenney’s current research and teaching focus on curriculum development, teacher professional development and, often, the supportive role of computers in those processes. Careful design, evaluation and revision of educational improvement initiatives is a recurring theme in her consultancy and research endeavours, most of which are situated in the Netherlands, India or southern Africa. She is a member of the ISDDE executive board and editor of Educational Designer. Among other publications, she co-edited the book, Educational Design Research and, together with Tom Reeves, wrote the book, Conducting Educational Design Research.

She is a member of the ISDDE executive board and editor of Educational Designer.

Daniel Pead is Technical Director of the Shell Centre and MARS, leading all the ICT work of the team. Senior Research Fellow in the University of Nottingham, he managed the work of the problem solving team for the UK Qualifications and Curriculum Authority World Class Tests/Arena project as well as designing its computer-based tasks and learning materials. Currently he is researching a range of options for the computer-based assessment of Mathematics. Earlier he helped design and programmed the videodisc-based World of Number materials for the UK National Curriculum Council. More recently he has contributed to the design and develoment of video-rich professional development materials and interactive learning applets for the Bowland Maths initiative which is now being distributed to schools in England.

He is Secretary of ISDDE and Design Editor of Educational Designer.