Riikka Hofmann is Professor of the Learning Sciences at Cambridge University and Fellow of Hughes Hall. She also holds the Title of Docent in Psychology of Education at Helsinki University. As Co-Chair of the Psychology, Education and Learning Sciences research group, and leader of the research strand “Dialogue, Leadership and Professional Change” within the Cambridge Educational Dialogue Research group, she is dedicated to supporting early career researcher development.

Riikka’s research addresses the well-known challenge that changing professional practice through research and education is difficult even when practitioners desire change. Her work contributed to overcoming the paradox between sustainability and effectiveness, investigating why large-scale top-down efforts to effect change are often ineffective, while promising professional learning interventions are resource-intensive. Her research showed that the same scalable change mechanisms apply across education and healthcare, and developed widely utilised close-to-practice implementation guidance supporting practitioner agency.

Riikka is Associate Editor of Learning in Context. She is also highly committed to supporting real-world research impact. As Government Scientific Advisor, she has advised several Whitehall departments. Her work contributed to expanding the Government’s use of evidence from an RCT focus to utilising a range of research, and shaped policy on public sector leadership, workforce development and school evaluation. She has also worked closely with schools, local authorities and DfE regional teams in Eastern England to help close attainment gaps in disadvantaged areas, and with the NHS to support the uptake of effective new practices. She is an award-winning educator with a passion for inclusive learning.