Meet the team

Dr Brigita Séguis
Head of Impact Evaluation

Dr Brigita Séguis is an impact evaluation specialist and educational researcher with extensive experience in designing, conducting and overseeing research and evaluation projects related to assessment, education, bilingualism and multilingualism, language learning and digital innovations.

Currently she oversees the delivery and implementation of impact evaluation projects across Cambridge English, OET and Cambridge Partnership for Education. This includes collaborating with educational institutions and government organisations on joint evaluation projects, designing and commissioning impact evaluation studies and white papers, situational and policy analysis, fieldwork and data collection, providing mentoring and training, quality assurance, and dissemination of findings across a wide range of audiences and formats. She has conducted impact evaluation projects in Japan, UAE, UK, Vietnam, Spain, Uzbekistan, France and Oman.

Prior to joining the Impact Evaluation team, Brigita worked as a Senior Research Manager and was responsible for conducting research related to assessment development and validation.

She holds a DPhil in Linguistics from Oxford University and is fluent in five languages.

Graeme Harrison
Head of Impact Operations

Graeme Harrison worked for many years in teaching and academic management all over the world, including Japan, Spain and Argentina, before moving into assessment at the University of Glasgow and later, Cambridge English. At Cambridge English, he has been involved in producing exams such as B2 First (formerly Cambridge English: First), IELTS, and the Cambridge English Placement Test.

More recently, Graeme has worked on education reform projects, including a national test of English in Chile (SIMCE Inglés), test development and training with ICFES, Colombia, and a large-scale English language education reform programme in Malaysia. His current work in the Impact Team involves evaluating the impact of Cambridge products on their users, and supporting education reform projects in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Estonia.

Graeme has an MSc in Psychological Studies and an MA in Language Testing. He is also a C2-level Spanish speaker.

Nisreen Ash
Principal Impact Manager

Nisreen has worked on international education reform programmes since 2010 supporting nationwide changes to educational systems covering curricula, teaching, assessment and capacity building. She has worked closely with various stakeholders in ministries and education providers, as well as teachers and learners and within wider communities.

Nisreen has worked in monitoring the implementation of system changes within reform programmes, addressing emerging needs and advising on further action to ensure the success of reform initiatives. 

Nisreen holds an MA in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) from the University of Reading, UK, and a Diploma in Public Service Interpreting in English Law. Nisreen is fluent in Arabic.

Steve Falgate
Portfolio Manager: Education Contracts and Impact programmes

Steve manages a portfolio of education contracts and partnerships with ministries of education and international educational institutions, with responsibility to deliver projects that incorporate standard products with bespoke services such as placement tests, benchmarking, impact studies, curriculum, teacher development, assessment review and endorsement. Steve also supports the development of contract opportunities, delivery of impact projects, manages operational risk and project governance.

A science and business graduate, Steve is Prince 2, Agile Programme, Management of Risk and CELTA qualified. Steve taught secondary level Science in Thailand and English as a foreign language at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, with experience in a variety of roles across Cambridge University Press and Assessment.

Some current partnerships include:; OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in the development of a new PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment)  Foreign Language Assessment in English; Estonia Ministry of Education: C1 Advanced exam offered to school leavers to support academic mobility of students; and France Ministry of Education: delivering the B2 First exam into secondary schools.

Dr Aynur I. Karakoc
Senior Impact Evaluator

Dr. Aynur I. Karakoҫ is a Senior Impact Evaluator, currently involved in supporting the 4-year Impact Evaluation of the Bilingual Programme within the Autonomous Community of Madrid. Her responsibilities encompass data collection, data analysis, and the composition of the research report.

Prior to joining the Impact Evaluation team, Aynur worked as a language assessment developer at the Centre for Research in English Language Learning and Assessment, University of Bedfordshire, where she was responsible for a test validation project.

For her Ph.D. research, Aynur developed an integrated reading-writing test task and rating scale, with the test instruments validated based on the socio-cognitive framework.

Aynur also possesses extensive experience in teaching English. She has taught at private universities in Istanbul and has also worked with refugees and migrant learners of English in New Zealand. Aynur holds a CELTA teaching certificate. 

Aynur has published in the Journal of English for Academic Purposes, the Language Teaching Research journal, and English Teaching Forum.

She holds a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Victoria University of Wellington and is proficient in Azerbaijani, Turkish, and Russian. Aynur is an alumna of the FLEX (Future Leaders Exchange) program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and American Councils for International Education.