Tom Burns, always interested in theatre and the arts and their role in teaching and learning, led the Hainault Action Group setting up adventure playgrounds and devising Community Events and Festivals for the local community. Whilst still a student Tom set up and ran the first International Dario Fo Festival – with symposium, theatre workshops for students and local people and full dramatic performances by the Fo-Rame theatre troupe of The Tiger’s Tale and The Boss’s Funeral.

Tom Burns is a Senior Lecturer in Education and Learning Development actively involved in the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (www.aldinhe.ac.uk). Some time ago he, along with Sandra Sinfield, developed the student-facing Study Hub (www.londonmet.ac.uk/studyhub) and the staff-facing Take5 website and blog (http://learning.londonmet.ac.uk/epacks/take5/), the latter offering engaging and innovative learning, teaching and assessment practices to support staff with learning development work.

Working in the Centre for Professional and Educational Development at London Metropolitan University, she continues to develop learning, teaching and assessment innovations with a special focus on engaging praxes that ignite student curiosity and develop power and voice.