Keynote Speakers
Julie Dockrell
Julie Dockrell (FRCSLT, FAcSS) is Professor of Psychology and Special Needs at the UCL, Institute of Education and qualified as both a clinical and educational psychologist. Her research interests are in patterns of language development and the ways in which oral language skills impact on children's learning, interaction, and attainments. She is currently PI on a Nuffield funded research programme examining universal language support for nursery aged children in areas of social disadvantage and Co-I for the Education and Cognition stream for UKRI- GCRF Action against stunting hub. She has served on two RAE panels and government committees.
Annamarie Hassall
Annamarie Hassall is Chief Executive of nasen – the national association for special educational needs - a leading membership charity of over 150,000.
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nasen exists to champion, connect and support those working in the education community - from the early years through to all phases of statutory education and post-16. Reaching local authorities, allied professionals in health and social care and wider community settings.
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Annamarie has a career spanning the breadth of education, children’s social care, early years and SEND. Regularly invited to join advisory panels, including chairing the National SEND Reference Group (specialist sector) and adviser to the Inclusion Expert Advisory Group. Awarded an MBE in 2011.
Kenneth Poon
Kenneth Poon is Lien Foundation Chair Professor of Education at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. He serves concurrently as Dean, Education Research, as well as Centre Director of the Centre for Research in Child Development. He currently leads DREAMS, a four-year longitudinal study of 7,000 secondary school students examining their aspirations, identity, relationships, and wellbeing. He also contributes to the community serving as Board member of both a statutory Board as well as a charity.
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Keynote title: Students with SEN in regular schools: They can learn but are they socially included?
Marcela Pozas
Marcela Pozas is a professor for Educational Diversity Management at the University of Luxembourg and a lecturer in the School of Psychology at University of Monterrey in Mexico. Her research focuses on inclusive education, differentiated instruction, student diversity and educational psychology. She is the current editor of the international peer-reviewed Journal of Research on Special Education Needs (JORSEN). She has served as a research expert for the European Union as well as for the German, Netherlands and Serbian Federal Ministries of Education and Research and has developed several international research projects with researchers from Portugal, Belgium, Austria and Australia.
Keynote title: Differentiated Instruction under the spotlight: Exploring the Past, Present and Future of DI
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Jo Van Herwegen
Jo van Herwegen is Professor of Developmental Psychology and Education at UCL Institute of Education and serves as Academic Head of Research for Psychology and Human Development. Her research focuses on improving educational outcomes, especially for students with special educational needs, using evidence from developmental psychology, educational neuroscience, and neurodiverse populations. She examines cognitive development in neurodiverse populations in order to understand what cognitive abilities and strategies relate to successful performance. Jo is an internationally recognised expert on development in Williams syndrome and Down syndrome.
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