He is the Professor of Education and Head of the School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sussex. Currently he is the Chair of the Teacher Education Policy in Europe (TEPE) Network, Council Member and Chair of the Publications Committee of the College of Teachers, Associate Editor of the Journal of Curriculum Studies and represent the Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA) on the Council of the World Education Research Association (WERA). He is also a member of the Research & Innovation Advisory Board of the International Higher Education Teaching and Learning (HETL) Association. From January 2014, he is the main Organiser of the WERA International Research Network on Didactics – Learning and Teaching.

He was the Professor of Education and Associate Dean for Research in the School of Education and Social Work at the University of Dundee from 2009 to 2012. Prior to that, he was Professor for ICT and Learning in the Department of interactive Media and Learning at Umeå University in Sweden and Professor of Education at Sheffield Hallam University. Before entering higher education he was a secondary school teacher of mathematics for fifteen years working in comprehensive schools, including five years as Head of Mathematics in an 11-18 high school.

In 1995 he completed my PhD on ‘Group Work with Multimedia in the Secondary Mathematics Classroom’. He was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2004 and his associated project focus was on ‘Developing a European Open and Flexible Networked Learning Community at Doctoral Level’. This was carried out alongside involvement in the EC funded ‘European Doctorate in Teaching and Teacher Education’ (EUDORA) at that time. In 2006 he led the establishment of the EERA Network on Didactics, Learning and Teaching and was the main convenor until 2012. In 2007 he was a founding member of the TEPE Network, established as the successor to the Thematic Network for Teacher Education in Europe (TNTEE).