Val Poultney is an experienced teacher educator who has worked in partnership with a number of schools, specialising in evidence-based teaching. She is particularly interested in school leadership and school governance, with a focus on how to develop leadership to support teachers as researchers. Currently a senior lecturer at the University of Derby, she teaches on both initial teacher education and postgraduate programmes. 

Alison Fox is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies at the Open University. After training as a secondary school science teacher, Alison moved into initial teacher training and research about and for the support of beginning teachers, including their emergent development as school leaders. Over the last 15 years she has been involved in Teaching and Learning Research Programme, Department for Education, and National College for Teaching and Leadership funded projects related to teachers' professional development. She supports practitioner enquiry through her Masters and Doctoral supervision.