What is the central focus of your current research?

I mainly do research on mathematics education, but approach this from several perspectives. One uses international comparative data to compare mathematics education is numerous countries. I also focus on classroom research, especially technology use. I enjoy using innovative methodologies in my research. I did make a recent outing towards research on Ofsted inspections using such innovative methodologies.

How did you come to choose this particular area of study?

I have been a secondary mathematics teacher for fourteen years, and therefore have always been interested in how best to teach and learn mathematics.

Can you describe a typical day in your research work

Like most professions, I start my day with e-mails. I then might spend several hours on completing a research manuscript. This requires several hours of mental concentration. I engage in networking often, because these provide opportunities for collaborations in my research. This might involve a plenary talk either online or during a conference.  Many collaborations for me include (mathematics) teachers as well, so my work also includes school visits.

What initially sparked your interest and was there a specific moment or experience that inspired your research path?

When still a secondary maths teachers, I always wondered how I could improve my learning and teaching practices. I have had the opportunity to turn this practical question into my research interest. As countries differ a lot, I have especially been interested in learning from different country contexts: what are best practices and how can we best study these. As a school teacher I never felt there was enough time to systematically query your practices. For that reason, I have tried to create opportunities to do research. My current role is the culmination of all of this.

What methodologies do you typically use in your research, and why?

I formulate what research question I want to answer, and then choose the best method I can find to answer this question. I use most methodologies (mixed methods, qualitative, quantitative), but the majority probably uses secondary data from International Large-scale Assessments. These studies are quite suitable for international comparisons. Note, though that rich data like that in videos in classroom observations can be studied better and better through the use of technology. I recently have been using a lot of computational research methods as well.

What do you hope your research will contribute to your field or to society? How do you measure the impact or success of your work?

I mainly observe important mathematics education players that I hope are impacted by my work: teachers, policymakers and other researchers across the world. Note that I of course hope that their improved teaching and learning processes for mathematics classrooms will ultimately benefit the students as well. I hope that my work ultimately improves the teaching and learning processes in mathematics classrooms across the world.

Are there any emerging trends or technologies that you think will shape your field?

Although I am bit sick to death by the mentions of generative AI, I can see many applications of it that will both shape the substantive field, as well as the methodologies we will use for our research. This also carries a very big risk, that in my opinion, requires careful reform of academic systems and structures as well. We need to produce less research of higher quality, rather than more and more. Unfortunately research incentives in our academic systems and structures still prioritise ‘publish or perish’.

If resources were unlimited, what project would you pursue?

I would make sure that all 11-18 year old students who sit mathematics classrooms would receive a free mathematics textbook, and I would want to research the impact of such an initiative.