Eaquals International Conference

Abeer Ali Okaz

Abeer is the DoS and educational consultant at PUA, a freelance trainer, CELTA tutor and NILE and TransformELT consultant. She has 24 years of experience, ten of which focused on organizational management & training. She has published and done training internationally. Her professional special interests are teacher training, materials development, management, ICT and working closely with teachers.

Aidan O Shea

Aidan O’Shea is a teacher, trainer and Director of Operations at The Linguaviva Centre. He is a Board Member of MEI with responsibility for QA of the International Education Mark in Ireland.

Alan Mackenzie

An ELT professional since 1989, Alan has worked in language schools and the tertiary sector in Japan, designed and taught Masters level courses in Developing Autonomy for Teachers College Columbia University and NILE, been a project manager for British Council across East and South Asia, and is now an international consultant and Director of TransfomELT.

Ania Kolbuszewska

Ania Kolbuszewska has worked internationally as a trainer, manager and educational consultant. She is also a certified mediator and conflict management trainer. A former Director of Eaquals Accreditation, she continues to work as an Eaquals inspector. Author of the “Eaquals Self-help Guide to Teacher Development” and co-author of Eaquals Academic Management Competency Framework.

Anna Król

Anna Król has worked as an English teacher at the WUT Foreign Language Centre, Poland (SJO PW) since 2020. There she has conducted English courses at all levels (A1-C1), including general English courses, ESP courses and courses for academic teachers and administrative staff. Since 2020, Anna has been head of one English sections and this academic year she is also Deputy Director for English.

Ayesha Mushtaq

Dr. Mushtaq is a language and higher education practitioner with a strong interest in internationalization of curriculum in Higher education as pertains to global competency development, classroom diversity, inclusion, equity and differentiated learning. She is currently the Associate Director of ELS Dept. at Dalhousie University, Faculty of Open Learning & Career Development, Halifax, Canada.

Ayşegül Karaman

Ayşegül Karaman works as a team leader at ScOLa (School of Languages). She received her BA degree in English Language and Literature from Hacettepe University; her MA in English Language Teaching at Bahçeşehir University. She holds a DELTA certificate from the University of Cambridge. Prior to Özyeğin University, she worked as an English instructor at different universities in Turkey.

Beata Schmid

After 30+ years at EF, Beata’s passions are still teacher training, curriculum development and pronunciation.

Ben Knight

Ben Knight is Head of Pedagogy Research at Oxford University Press.  He is responsible for making sure there is a clear research-informed pedagogical approach underpinning Oxford ELT courses and learning materials.  He is particularly focused on using data-driven digital learning materials to help teachers and learners be more successful in their language learning.  He works with innovative thinkers in language pedagogy and research, and uses that to support professional development and educational reform projects around the world.

He studied Linguistics at the University of York and Applied Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh. He then became a teacher, trainer and lecturer, in schools, universities and the British Council, in various countries around the world – Kenya, India, Sri Lanka, Japan, Italy and the UK.  For a number of years he specialised in assessment, developing new exams at Cambridge Assessment and managing vocational qualifications at City & Guilds, and now combines his expertise in assessment and learning to provide a holistic and evidence-based approach to education. 

Burcu Cubukcu

Burcu Cubukcu is the ELT Academic Specialist at a K12 institution. She graduated from Bogazici University and holds a master’s degree in Educational Management and Leadership.

Charlotte Murphy

Charlotte Murphy is a DELTA qualified ELT Teacher, with over 7 years of teaching experience. She has taught in South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia and the UK, teaching Young Learners, Teenagers, and Adults across all levels, from beginner to proficiency. She has experience in delivering courses for General English, Business English, and Exam Preparation (IELTS, Trinity GESE and Cambridge First Certificate). Charlotte has written and delivered many teacher training workshops, both face-to-face and online, with her specialities focused on General English for Adults and Teenagers. She likes nothing more than to engage and motivate the people she works with, and help them reach their full potential.

Chris Brandwood

Chris Brandwood is the British Council’s Director for Teaching Excellence, responsible for teaching quality in our global network of teaching centres in 44 countries.
Chris has worked in ELT for over 30 years, as British Council Director English Europe, Director English South Asia, and in numerous teaching and management roles in Portugal, Italy, Bulgaria, UK and Spain.

Chris Farrell

Chris Farrell is Head of Training and Development at Centre of English Studies. He is a member of the Eaquals Board of Trustees and Chairs the EUK PD Advisory Group. Chris has collaborated with organizations such as NILE, OUP, Cengage, Trinity College London, and UCD. Chris has a particular interest in the field of Organisational Learning and Development.

Damla Sahin

I was born in 1990 and completed high school in 2007. I got my master degree in ELT and have been working as a preparatory school coordinator in Ankara Social Sciences University in Northern Cyprus Campus.

Deniz Kurtoglu Eken

Deniz Kurtoğlu Eken (PhD) is Projects, Development and Research Coordinator at Sabancı University, School of Languages where she also worked as the director of the school for 10 years. For long years, Deniz has been involved in school development and research, teacher and trainer training activities with different schools and institutions and with UCLES, the British Council, and the U.S. Embassy.

Dimitris Primalis

Dimitris Primalis (M.A. in Education: Leadership and Management) EFL teacher and Microsoft IE Fellow. Primary school and Kindergarten EFL coordinator, project manager for the “Innovation and Best Practices Days” .

Donald Staub

Donald Staub, Director of the School of Foreign Languages at Izmir University of Economics (IUE), has a doctorate in Educational Leadership, is an Eaquals inspector, and edited the book “Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Foreign Language Education” (2019).

Dr Amina Douidi

Dr Amina Douidi is a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) and Intercultural Communication consultant in ELT. She holds a PhD in Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics from the University of Southampton, UK, where she investigated ways to promote diversity and intercultural learning in textbooks and language classrooms in the context of Algeria. She is a DEI reviewer for publishers and teaches pre-sessional EAP in UK Higher Education. She also acts as co-editor of the TESOL ICIS newsletter championing contributions from teachers and researchers from the Global Majority.

Duygu Erdogan

Duygu is an English language teacher with an MA degree in English Language Teaching as well as holding an ICELT, DELTA, Teacher Training Certificate from various institutions. She works as Key account Sales manager at Macmillan Education.

Emma Walton

 As Director of Academic Affairs, Emma’s focus is on raising standards for the student experience at both operational and strategic levels.

Erkan Arkin

Erkan ARKIN is the coordinator of the Institutional Effectiveness, Quality Improvement and Accreditation Unit of Foreign Languages and English Prep School (FLEPS), Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus. He holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics and EFL Teacher Education. He previously worked as the academic affairs coordinator at the Rector’s Office and as head of the PD unit at FLEPS.

Evelyn Soidla

Evelyn Soidla (MA in Education)-lecturer, trainer, mentor, advisor, entrepreneur, professional supervisor and coach with more than 25 years of experience (member of the board of the ESCY and level 6 supervisor, member of ICF and ANSE), partner for leaders, teams and organisations. The author of several personal and professional development programmes and trainings for educational staff and leader.

Gitte Alstrup

I am the Erasmus+ coordinator at a secondary school in Denmark with a strong focus on internationalization. I have been teaching English at various levels for 20 years.

Hatice Asvaroglu

Currently, Hatice works as the Director of the English Preparatory School, ARUCAD. She has an undergraduate Diploma in English Language Teaching, MA in Applied Linguistics and Ph. D in English Language Teaching (in progress). She worked as English language teacher at public secondary schools, as English language inspector and she
Director of three different English Preparatory Schools in Cyprus

Hebatallah Morsy

Hebatallah is an 18-years ELT professional who is fond of teaching, training and helping in developing personal skills. She is doing her MA in Tefl. Her motto is “know everything about one thing and know one thing about everything”. That empowered her to be flexible and adaptable with experimenting different tools or tech techniques in teaching and training.

Ian Brangan

Ian Brangan is a teacher, trainer, and Director of Education at The Linguaviva Centre in Dublin. He is a Schools Inspector with ACELS/ Eaquals and a materials writer.

Jacqueline Douglas

Jacqueline Douglas is a NILE Senior Trainer with 25 years in ELT and a Cambridge CELTA, DELTA, Trinity CertPT and NILE MA tutor, interested in materials writing and learner autonomy.

Joanna Paolinelli

Joanna Paolinelli is a Director of economic development and innovations at the British School Pisa srl and is the AISLi ( Associazione Italiana di Lingue) academic coordinator. She is particularly interested in using her experience, technology and new ideas to ensure that learning and teaching English are accessible to all. Her teaching combines digital technology and innovative methodologies in order to make the classroom a place where everyone can learn.

Joanna has an MSC in psychological research methods, a Masters in Educational Psychology and is also a qualified Italian dyslexia association (AID) tutor. She is a teacher trainer and speaker on inclusive teaching. She regularly collaborates with book publishers and exam boards on the problems that dyslexia can cause in language learning. Joanna divides her time between working with students with special needs, creating methodology courses, training teachers and travelling all over Italy to work with Italian state school teachers on teaching methodologies and students with dyslexia. Her training sessions on innovations and methodologies are aimed at making education more inclusive, flexible and exciting.

Joel David Compton

I am the Associate Director for Faculty English at MEF University in Istanbul, Turkey. We are a foundation (private) university and the world’s first fully flipped university. I have worked at the university since its inception in 2014. I enjoy writing and thinking about culture in the classroom and as well as ways to create a learning environment which is high on rapport and respect.

Julie Wallis

Julie Wallis is a director of The London School, Italy and a NILE teacher trainer. She is AISLi President, a Trustee of IH London and Eaquals, and is also an inspector for both Eaquals and AISLi.  

Koray Tunc

Koray Tunç has been running the Foreign Languages Department of Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakif University as the director since March 2019. In addition to his current role, he is a member of the Quality Committee and the Distant Education Center of FSMVU. He has been delivering induction programs and teacher training courses with a special focus on integrating technology into language teaching.

Liam Brown

Liam is a manager, trainer, writer and consultant focusing on business communication, collaborative learning, people management and decision making at work.
Based in Portugal, he works independently as Liam Brown Training with ELT and education institutions around the world. Hedesigns and delivers intensive soft skills learning programmes and “Awaydays”.

Linda Egnatz

Linda Egnatz is the Global Seal of Biliteracy Executive Director and President of the Joint National Committee for Languages. Egnatz taught at DePaul and Purdue Universities and has published in Foreign Language Annals, Hispania, The Language Educator, Education Weekly and co-authored Foreign Language Education in America: Perspectives from K-12, University, Government and International Learning.

Lou McLaughlin

Executive Director, Eaquals

Lou is the Executive Director of Eaquals. She was one of the founding members of ELT Ireland, and served on the IATEFL Board of Trustees as the Associates Representative until 2021. Lou holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics, Masters in ELT, DELTA, TESOL Cert. in Leadership & Management and Trinity TESOL Cert. Her special interests are Young Learner teacher training, teacher cognition and management in ELT and she was the co-editor of Children Learning English: From Research to Practice (2015).

Lucy Coppinger

Lucy is Assistant Director of Studies at Apollo Language Centre, Dublin. She completed a Masters in Applied Linguistics in Trinity College Dublin and her research interests include speech production and learner psychology. She has experience as a language educator and TESOL teacher trainer.

Lucy Griffin

Lucy Griffin is the Director of Foreign Languages at a historic foundation school. She holds a BA Degree from the University of Leicester, an MA from the University of York and has Qualified Teacher Status in the UK.

Ly Leedu

I am Estonian (as a foreign language) teacher. From 1999 I have been teaching adult students in Multilingua Language Center. I have 8 years of experience as a teachers’ trainer. My favourite topics, both as a teacher and an educator, are playful learning methods, level- and topic-based use of board games in language lessons, and learning outside the classroom.

Marc Anderson

Marc Anderson is a co-founder and CEO of Comas LLC which provides language training solutions for businesses in Japan. He has worked for some of Japan’s largest IT companies both as a language trainer and as a manager where he was able to develop specialised language training programs. . It is now his mission to create a Japan where language and culture are not barriers to global success.

Maria Philippi

Maria Philippi (MBA, MSc. ICT in Education), Head of Informatics & Digital Education in Doukas School with extensive experience in digital transformation projects, and innovation.

Marija Pejatovic

Marija Pejatovic is a teacher and teacher trainer from Serbia. She is the president of the National Association of Language Schools of Serbia, YALS, and coordinator of the National Association of English language teachers in Serbia, ELTA. She is the co-author of accredited programmes for the Ministry of Education of Serbia and co-author of the Skills Booster handbook for Serbian Civil Servants.

Mary Grennan

Mary took up her current role as Head of International Education at Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), the state agency responsible for the promotion of quality, integrity and reputation of further and higher education in Ireland, in 2021.

Before she started working with QQI, she worked for many years in English language teaching and teacher training and throughout this time, she has been connected to Eaquals and International House. She is on the International House World Organisation Board. She has the opportunity to spend some time in language centres and in classrooms, and to meet with teachers, admin staff and students.

Mike Mayor

Mike Mayor is Senior Director of English Learning Research & Design at Pearson. On leaving university, Mike worked as an English teacher in France before entering the world of publishing as a lexicographer. Mike joined Pearson in 2003 and moved to Learning Research & Design in 2013. Mike has a BA in French, a Dip. TEFLA and an MPhil in English and Applied Linguistics from Cambridge University.

Mike Riley

Mike Riley is Deputy Director at NILE. He joined NILE in 2020 after spending four years at Macmillan Education. He started his teaching career in 2001 working with refugees in his native Manchester. He then worked as a teacher, director of studies and director at IH Milan.

Nergis Uyan

Nergis Uyan graduated from the Middle East Technical University’s Foreign Language Education Department and she received her MA in Management in Education from Bilkent University. She completed Cambridge University DTEFLA (Diploma in Teaching of English as a Foreign Language to Adults) and Bilkent University ADEM (Advanced Diploma in English Language Teaching Management).

She worked in several positions at Bilkent University School of English Language (BUSEL) including English Language Instructor, Head of Teaching Unit, Teacher Development Coordinator, Teacher Trainer and Member of BUSEL Directorate. She has been working as the director of the Ozyegin University School of Languages (ScOLa) since February 2010. Nergis Uyan has been working in Eaquals (European Association for Quality Language Services) initial and re-accreditation process of Özyeğin School of Languages (PREP Program, Undergraduate English Program and Modern Languages Program) since 2016. She has also joined the EQUALS Board as a trustee in 2018 April.

Nicholas Gossett

Nick Gossett, PhD, is the Higher Education Specialist and Regional Director for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East at Avant Assessment. He has worked for over a decade in the field of language assessment. Nick spent nearly two decades in higher education teaching philology and training language teachers. Currently, he works with language programs on best practices in language assessment.

Nuria Vaquero

Graduate in Hispanic Philology, Postgraduate in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language, in Quality in Education, and in Administration and Management of Organisations. She is currently researching the development of ELE centres. She has worked as a teacher, coordinator and academic director of ELE programmes. Head of the Accredited Centres Unit at the Instituto Cervantes.

Ozan S. Inamlik

Ozan is a senior-instructor at the Eastern Mediterranean University, Foreign Languages and English Preparatory School. He is a member of Institutional Effectiveness, Quality Improvement and Accreditation Unit. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Linguistics. He has Med, MA, and MS degrees in, respectively, Educational Sciences, Marketing Management, and Finance. He is a PhD candidate in marketing.

Özge Coşkun Aysal

Özge Coşkun Aysal is the Assistant Director of the School of Foreign Languages at Izmir University of Economics. She is a PhD Candidate in Educational Administration. She is a founding member of the TESOL Turkey LAMSIG Executive Board and currently serves as a co-coordinator of the SIG.  She is also a founding member of the TESOL Turkey Executive Board. She is also a trained reviewer for DEDAK, Turkey’s language program accrediting body. Her primary research interests are Educational Leadership and Administration, Psychological Safety, Quality Assurance and Accreditation, and Learning Organizations.

Ozgen Bagci Cervo

Ozgen Bagci Cervo, originally trained as an English teacher, I currently work as an educational consultant, teacher trainer, and ETS workshop facilitator for the TOEFL Young Students Series in the Netherlands.

Özlem Baykan

Özlem Baykan works as a Team Leader at Özyegin University, School of Languages. She received her B.A. and M.A. degrees in English Teacher Education from Bilkent University in 2010. She holds DELTA from Cambridge University, and she is currently pursuing her M.S. in Educational Administration and Planning at Middle East Technical University.

During her 13-year long experience at School of Languages, Özlem has adopted different roles and responsibilities. Initially, she worked as a Level Coordinator and since 2015, she has been running her managerial responsibilities as a line-manager.

Özlem also attaches great importance to contributing to the ELT community in wider contexts and does so as a CELTA Trainer as well as serving as a member of The Standards Professional Council at TESOL International Association, and as an Executive Committee Member at TESOL Turkey Leadership and Management Special Interest Group.

Her current areas of interest include educational leadership, total quality management, performance management, motivation and well-being.

Richard Chinn

Richard Chinn is an experienced teacher and teacher educator based in the UK. He works at International House London, where he trains teachers on initial and in-service teacher development courses; he is also a teaching associate at King’s College London, where he works on MA and BA courses. His main professional interests are in classroom interaction, teacher education and teacher development.

Rita Dourado

Rita Dourado has been teaching Portuguese as a foreign language for 20 years in higher education context.
She helped setting up EF´s first Portuguese language campus in Lisbon as Director of Studies and later as School Director. She is now working at Instituto Camões in Lisbon.

Sedef Guzelyurt

Sedef Guzelyurt works as an Instructor at ScOLa. She received her BA degree in English Language and Literature from Mersin Çağ University in 2010. She received her Ph.D. in English Literature from İstanbul Aydın University in 2018. Prior to Ozyeğin University, she worked at İstanbul Aydın University in Translation and Interpreting Department and at İstanbul Altınbaş University in ML department.

Selen Sirin Dulger

Selen Şirin Dülger works as a Team Leader in the Preparatory Program at Özyeğin University School of Languages. She received her BA and MA degrees from English Teacher Education Department at Bilkent University in 2009 and holds DELTA from Cambridge University. Before her current role as a Team Leader, she worked as an Instructor and a Level Specialist at ScOLa. She is also a CELTA Trainer.

Semih İrfaner

Semih is an English language teacher and holds a doctorate degree in Educational Management, Inspection, Planning and Economics. He works as Key account Sales manager at Macmillan Education.

Sena Icuz

Sena Elibal İçuz is the ELT Coordinator in ETS Global B.V. in Istanbul. She is responsible for outreach to the ELT community, creating content, offering expertise in TOEFL IBT, and delivering teacher training sessions. Previously, Sena worked as a university EAP teacher along with her other academic and administrative duties. She has degrees in ELL and credentials in ELT. She is passionate about teacher professional development and increasing quality in ELT.

Serkan Aras

Serkan Aras works as the Undergraduate English Program Coordinator in the School of Languages, Özyeğin University. He received his combined BA and MA degree in English Teacher Education from Bilkent University in 2008 and his PhD in Gender Studies from Kadir Has University in 2018. He holds a DELTA from Cambridge University and he is a CELTA trainer. Serkan is also the Coordinator of IATEFL Teacher Development SIG (TDSIG).

Stefanie Smith

With a background in publishing, Stefanie has produced multiple courses, including one nominated for a British Council ELTons.

Stephanie Jane Holme

Stephanie Holme has worked in the EFL/ESOL sector all of her professional life. She is both a teacher and the Head Teacher Trainer. Her experience encompasses a wide range of levels, ages and teaching/learning contexts.
As a language teacher and trainer, she is deeply interested in helping learners to develop to the best of their ability in a safe and inclusive learning environment.

Tetiana Myronova

A teacher trainer, materials writer and passionate ESL teacher from Ukraine. She’s been teaching groups of adults for more than 10 years and has also designed her own course “English for Fashion Industry”. She’s particularly interested in the ways how Professional Development can be integrated into different teaching contexts.

Wioleta Antecka

I come from Poland and work for Avant Assessment as an European Operations Coordinator. I have been teaching English for 15 years. ICT plays an important role in my work. I am a successful teacher with a lot of experience in running international collaborative projects. I have conducted a number of successful eTwinning projects receiving National and European quality labels.

Zeynep Ogul

Zeynep Oğul received her BA in ELT and MA in Educational Administration, Supervision, Planning and Economics. She has 28 years of ELT experience, 19 of which includes administrative expertise at 3 universities in Turkey. She has gained strong experience in curriculum design, curriculum-based assessment, and leadership and management in these 28 years. Zeynep also successfully directed the international accreditation scheme of the Preparatory Program at Acıbadem University. Currently, she is the Academic Programs and ELT Manager in ETS Global B.V.