Keynote Speakers

Ed Watson

The Science of Learning & The Latest and Greatest in Education Research

Edward Watson read Chemistry at Oxford University before serving seven years in the army. After completing an MBA at London Business School, he worked as a strategic management consultant and then in the computer games industry.

In 2006 he founded InnerDrive a teaching and learning coaching company that helps illuminate educational cognitive science research to aid evidence informed teaching. Edward has designed and delivered student workshops, parent workshops and teacher CPD for hundreds of schools in the UK and around the world. 

He is the co-author of “The Science of Learning- 99 Studies Every Teacher Needs to Know", "Release your Inner Drive" and "Teaching and Learning Illuminated”.

Jade Pearce

The Importance of becoming Evidence-Informed

Formerly an assistant headteacher for teaching and learning in a secondary school in Staffordshire, Jade Pearce now leads professional development across a large trust of 37 schools. 

An Evidence Lead in Education for the Research Schools Network, Jade is a regular speaker and presenter at education conferences. She is the author of the best-selling book 'What Every Teacher Needs to Know: How to embed evidence-informed teaching and learning in your school and she regularly writes articles for a range of education media.

You can follow Jade on Twitter @PearceMrs.

Peps Mccrea

The Science of Motivation

Peps Mccrea is an award-winning teacher educator, designer, and author. He is Director of Education at Steplab and author of the ultra-concise High Impact Teaching series.

Peps has three Masters degrees, Fellowships from the Young Academy and University of Brighton and has been both Lead Practitioner and Head of Department for Maths at his previous schools. He is now an advisor to the Department for Education, Dean of Learning Design at Ambition Institute and Founder of the incredible weekly education series ‘Evidence Snacks’.

Peps' Publications

  • Developing Expert Teaching: What expertise is, and how to develop it (in ourselves and in others) [book, 2023]
  • The Beginner’s Guide to Instructional Coaching [paper, 2022]
  • Motivated Teaching: Harnessing the science of motivation to boost attention and effort in the classroom [book, 2020]
  • Learning: What is it, and how might we catalyse it? [paper, 2018]
  • Expert Teaching: What is it, and how might we develop it? [paper, 2018]
  • Memorable Teaching: Leveraging memory to build deep and durable learning in the classroom [book, 2017]
  • Lean Lesson Planning: A practical guide to doing less and achieving more in the classroom [book, 2015]

Rich Hudson

The Zen Athlete

Rich Hudson is Chief Executive of Bucks Cricket. Bucks Cricket is responsible for County teams and pathway programmes from U11 to Men’s and Women’s 1st XIs, Club Development and Junior Competitions, Schools and Community Programmes, with 13 full-time staff and a team of part-time coaches.

Rich is an ECB Level 4 Coach, having previously been Bucks’ Player Pathway Head Coach, and continues to be Bucks Boys U15s Lead Coach. Rich has a Master’s degree in Sport Psychology and has been a consultant performance psychologist in professional and academy cricket, at Northants CCC and Central Sparks women.

Rich has written two books on performance, mindset and pressure which have sold over 2,500 copies on Amazon – Pressure Myths (2018) and Perform Beyond Pressure (2020).

Jamie Taylor

Enhancing Learning In and Through Sport

Dr Jamie Taylor is an Assistant Professor at Dublin City University and Senior Coach Developer at Grey Matters Performance. He spends his professional life working with coaches and professionals across high performance sport to enhance evidence informed practice.

Jamie has over 30 peer reviewed publications and book chapters in the field of learning in sport and continues to coach academy rugby union. Former roles include the coaching and curriculum lead at the English Institute of Sport, academy head coach at Leicester Tigers, teacher at King Edwards Birmingham and Denstone College.