Dr Feyisa Demie is an honorary fellow at Durham University School of Education and also head of research and adviser for school self-evaluation at Lambeth local authority. He has worked extensively with local authorities, government departments, schools and school governors for over 25 years in the use of data and research to raise achievement. As an education adviser he works with schools covering all phases of assessment, from foundation stage, key stages 1 and 2 to GCSE. He also runs school-focussed training programmes and the annual national school improvement conference at UCL Institute of Education to support school self-evaluation for headteachers, teachers, governors and policymakers.

With longstanding research interests on what works in raising achievement in schools and equity issues in education, he has written a number of research reports, books and articles on school improvement, ethnicity, English as an additional language and disadvantaged students.