Presentation of the editors
Patricia K. Kuhl
Dr. Patricia K. Kuhl, Ph.D, is Co-Director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences and directs the National Science Foundation (NSF) Science of Learning Center (LIFE) at the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. Kuhl holds the Bezos Family Foundation Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Learning and is Professor of Speech and Hearing Sciences. She is internationally recognized for her research on early language learning and bilingual brain development, for pioneering brain measures on young children, and for studies that show how young children learn. Dr. Kuhl presented her work at the Clinton White House, the Bush White House, and the Obama White House. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences USA, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Rodin Academy, and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. She is a Fellow of the AAAS, the Acoustical Society of America, the American Psychological Society, and the Cognitive Science Society. Dr. Kuhl was awarded the Gold Medal of the Acoustical Society, the IPSEN Foundation’s Jean-Louis Signoret Neuropsychology Prize, the William James Lifetime Achievement award, the George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience, and the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award.
Soo-Siang Lim
Soo-Siang Lim, Ph.D, is the Program Director for the Science of Learning Program in the Social, Behavioral and Economic Science Directorate at the US National Science Foundation (NSF). She has served as the Lead Program Director and Chair of the Coordinating Committee for the Science of Learning Centers (SLC) Program since 2004, when the first SLCs were established to provide intellectual, organizational infrastructure for addressing large-scale, complex problems about learning in humans, other animals and machines. Prior to her leadership of the SLC Program, Dr. Lim served as the Cluster Leader for the six Neuroscience programmes in the Biological Sciences Directorate at the NSF. Before joining the NSF, she was an Associate Professor at Indiana University, School of Medicine.
Sonia Guerriero
Sonia Guerriero, Ph.D, is a Senior Education Specialist at UNESCO Headquarters. She leads research, strategic development, and implementation of international projects that support countries to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 on Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education. Prior to joining UNESCO, she led the OECD/CERI Innovative Teaching for Effective Learning programme, where she became involved with the Science of Learning project that resulted in this publication. She conceptualised the original OECD Teacher Knowledge Survey that aimed to explore the relationship between teacher motivation, pedagogical knowledge, and learning opportunities in teacher education. She is a founding partner of the Directions Evidence and Policy Research Group, a Canadian consultancy firm that specializes in decision-oriented research, evaluation, and policy analysis. She has published on a range of educational and social policy issues, such as teacher recruitment and retention, adult learning, social inclusion and economic opportunities, gender differences in educational attainment, math anxiety, and child and youth well-being. She holds a Ph.D. from McGill University specializing in learning, cognition, and developmental psychology.
Dirk Van Damme
Dirk Van Damme, PhD, is Senior Counsellor in the Directorate for Education and Skills at the OECD in Paris. He holds a PhD in educational sciences from Ghent University and is also professor of educational sciences in the same university (since 1995). He held academic positions at the Free University of Brussels (1997-2000) and at Seton Hall University, NJ, United States (2001-2008). His main academic work focused on the history of education, comparative education, lifelong learning and international higher education. He also served in various positions in the field of education policy in the Flemish Community of Belgium, among others deputy and chief of staff of various Flemish education ministers. He joined the OECD in 2008 as Head of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI). His current interests are innovation in education, the science of learning, comparative analyses of educational systems, and open education.