Skip navigation

Who we are

OxEd and Assessment Ltd (OxEd) is a University of Oxford spinout company launched to take the research of Professor Charles Hulme and his team through to practical application in schools.

We create educational assessment apps and interventions which improve educational outcomes for children. Developed by the same research team responsible for the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme.

We’re delighted to have joined forces with Pearson, the world’s leading digital media learning company. Through evidence-backed assessments, proven classroom intervention and a deep understanding of how to support teachers, OxEd and Pearson are committed to working together to improve educational outcomes for children throughout the UK.

The founders

Charles Hulme

Founder and CEO, OxEd and Assessment

Charles is Emeritus Professor of Psychology in Education, University of Oxford and Professor of Psychology, Oxford Brookes University. Formerly Professor of Psychology and Education in the Department of Education and William Golding Senior Research Fellow at Brasenose College, University of Oxford.

Charles is an expert on reading, language and memory processes and their development (see publication list). He has developed a number of effective language and reading interventions. Charles is a Fellow of the British Academy, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, Fellow of Academia Europaea. He has received numerous awards for his research including the Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (2019) and ranked one of the top psychology scientists in the world (2023).

Maggie Snowling

Founding Director of OxEd and Assessment

Maggie is Professor Emerita of Psychology, University of Oxford. Formerly President of St. John’s College, Oxford where she continues as a Research Fellow.

Maggie is a world-renowned expert on children’s reading and language difficulties (see publication list). She served as a member of Sir Jim Rose’s Expert Advisory Group on provision for Dyslexia in 2009. Maggie is a Fellow of the British Academy and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. She was ranked one of the top psychology scientists in the world in 2023. Maggie was appointed CBE for services to science and the understanding of dyslexia in 2016.

Gillian West

Director of OxEd and Assessment

Lecturer in Language Sciences: Development and Disorders at University College London (UCL).

Gillian was a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Education, University of Oxford until Spring 2023. Her research focusses on language and interventions for children of different ages and the development of language assessments. She is currently working on the development and evaluation of an early language enrichment programme for children in nursery schools. She completed her PhD at UCL, investigating the relationship between memory processes and children's reading and language skills.

The OxEd team

George Ulmann

George Ulmann

Managing Director

George's experience working in education spans from running a tutoring agency to being a school governor. As a strategy consultant, he has worked across the public sector and with education providers. In his last role at MedShr, George was COO and part of the founding team, building a medical education platform to 2M members and leading international expansion to >130 markets.

Andrew Mendoza

Board Advisor

Andrew is an experienced adviser to founders, management teams and investors to companies in the digital media and technology space. Over the last few years Andrew has worked with a number of innovative edtech businesses, focused on language and literacy.

Joe Lowe

Chief Operating Officer

Joe has over 2 decades' worth of experience managing multi-scale projects for commercial, domestic and public-sector IT service and support across the UK and beyond. He specialises in data-management, security and compliance, networks and digital infrastructure.

Harley Richardson

Chief Product Officer

Harley has worked for over 20 years in international digital education publishing, developing award-winning primary and secondary school services for companies including Espresso and Discovery Education, with a focus on user experience. He writes regularly on the history of education.

Sue Lowe

Operations Manager

Sue has a BSc (Joint Honours) in Applied Psychology and Sociology. She has worked as project manager for a range of environmental organisations, including the roll-out of biodiversity software and a web-based global database of certified forest products.

James West

Finance Manager

James is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAEW). James has 30 years of post-qualification experience working in Finance Director and Financial Controller roles within a range of corporate and commercial environments.

Sarah Hearne

Sarah Hearne

Research Officer and Project Manager

Sarah holds an MSc in Social Cognition and a BSc (Hons) in Psychology. At the University of Oxford she worked on research into the effectiveness of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) using LanguageScreen, and also supported the rollout of NELI to thousands of schools across England. Sarah now manages and develops online training and supports OxEd's engagement with schools in the UK and internationally.

Mariela Rios Diaz

Research Officer and Project Manager

Mariela holds an MSc in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and a BA in Psychology. She has worked as a teacher and TA for over a decade and in educational research for over 5 years, in Mexico and the UK. At the University of Oxford, she investigated the long-term impact of NELI and the efficacy of NELI-Nursery. She is also a school governor at a local school.

Fiona Undrill

Research Officer and Project Manager

Fiona originally trained as a primary school teacher. She holds an MA in Children’s Literature, and professional qualifications to assess and tutor children with dyslexia. For most of her career, Fiona has worked in educational publishing, developing primary literacy resources for schools.

Fiona Silley

Fiona Silley (née Duff)

Research and Development Officer

Fiona completed her PhD in Psychology at the University of York.  She subsequently worked as a Research Fellow at the University of York, and as a Research Associate at the University of Oxford.  Fiona’s research has focused on reading development, disorders and interventions – with a particular interest in the role of oral language in learning to read.

Kate Humphreys

Research Officer

Kate holds an MSc in Neuroscience and Education from the University of Bristol.  She completed her PGCE over 20 years ago and has worked in the UK education sector ever since.  She’s been a preschool practitioner, class teacher, dyslexia tutor/assessor, SENCo and university lecturer.  She is passionate about the importance of early years education.

Dr Mihaela Duta

Research and Data

Mihaela is a Research Associate & Senior Research Software Engineer at the University of Oxford. Her software development focuses on translational research. She also conducts research in neural network models of language-mediated attention (see full profile).

Ina Skronska

Support Team Operator

Ina has a degree in Speech and Language Therapy and Applied Linguistics with Audiology from the Marie Curie-Sklodowska University and has experience providing Speech Therapy directly to children along with extensive service and support experience.

Kevin Price

Support Team Operator

Kevin has a BA in Journalism and Media from Coventry University. He has more than ten years’ experience in consumer service with a specialist focus in complaints handling, conflict resolution and adjudication.

Welcome to OxEd and Assessment

Please select the appropriate site below to access the content relevant to you

Continue to the Australia and New Zealand site

Continue to the UK site

Continue to the United States site

Continue to the Rest of the World site