 I'm Alison Buckler. I'm a research fellow in international education. My work focus is on teachers and schools in remote parts of sub-Saharan Africa and the use of technology and open education resources to support learning in these contexts, and I've been nominated for the Early Career Research Award. I think I've been nominated for this award because I've been really busy since I finished my PhD. So while I've tried to be really strategic and tick off the kind of more traditional achievements expected of Early Career Researches, so I've written a book and I've had research council funding, I've also really tried to make space for more creative and exploratory projects, for example working with a media company to pilot participatory video research in Malawi with a group of teachers. And I've also tried to collaborate as much as I can in order to learn from and with the people who really inspire me in the field. And through this I've, even at this stage of my career, I've been able to contribute to research that's being used at some of the highest levels of education planning around the world. And so in summary I think I've been nominated for this award because what I've been trying to do since my PhD is really lay the foundations for a research career that's in step with the Open University's goal to creatively use research to influence policy and practice and to change lives. I think my research is important and topical in three ways. First we are experiencing a global learning crisis, 250 million children leave school each year without being able to read and write and there's a shortage of 69 million teachers worldwide. Understanding how teachers and education support professionals can be trained and supported to help children learn is a critical question that's only going to become more critical as populations and the demand for education grows. Second there are some really powerful debates at the moment that challenge established ideas about what constitutes evidence in education policy and planning and how evidence is used. And there's a growing focus on ideas around the democratisation of knowledge on genuinely collaborative research and cogeneration of knowledge and on research that is more ethical and impactful communities all the way up to policy. And I think these are the kind of approaches that my research builds on and it's a really exciting time to be able to contribute to and to shape these debates. Third I think the Open University is uniquely placed to become a world leader in international teacher education research. Our large scale teaching programmes around the world have had a significant influence on shifting Diffords thinking towards teachers and education and technology at scale and earlier this year they announced a renewed focus on funding in this area. So I don't just think that this is the right time to be researching these issues I think that by being based at the Open University I'm researching them in the right place at the right time.