Language Assessment Conference 2023 - Speakers

John Pill is a Lecturer in Language Testing in the Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University (UK). He is currently director of studies for postgraduate programmes in Language Testing. His research interests include specific-purpose language testing, particularly in healthcare and academic contexts, the scope and definition of language constructs, assessing speaking, and teaching and communicating about language assessment.

John's background is in teaching English as a foreign language. He taught and trained teachers in Italy, Hong Kong and Australia. He completed his doctoral studies at the University of Melbourne and has worked in academic roles in Australia, Lebanon and the UK. He serves as an ordinary member of the executive committee of the UK Association for Language Testing and Assessment.

At the conference

Dr. Pill will be delivering a plenary session on 'Making sense of specific-purpose language assessment', on 8 May 2023.

Dr Ardeshir Geranpayeh is the Founder and Director of Cambridge Computational Psychometrics, Cambridge-United Kingdom. Ardeshir holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Edinburgh on the comparability of language proficiency testing. He has over 30 years’ experience of test validation and for the last two decades has contributed to the design, development, validation, revision and evaluation of several internationally recognised language proficiency tests developed by the University of Cambridge, including IELTS. Dr Geranpayeh has run numerous workshops on Basic Statistics, Item Response Theory, Test Equating, Structural Equation Modelling, Differentiating Item Functioning, Test of Listening and Test Security in several international educational conferences and has published extensively on language proficiency testing, cheating detection and automated assessment. His current interest includes the application of computational psychometrics in language learning and assessment.

At the conference

'Robots have no intelligence; they’re here to help us. Let’s welcome them' is the session that Dr. Geranpayeh will be delivering on 8 May 2023.

Saima Satti is currently the Director of Business Improvement at the British Council, based in London but working China to Chile in a days work. Having been at the helm of one of the largest high stakes English Proficiency tests, IELTS, for over 10 years she has been at the centre of evolution and transformation of the product, global delivery, security, integrity and validity that have ensured IELTS is delivered and accepted worldwide. With a robust background in teaching and assessment, she has been a business leader of Exams products and services, leading teams to deliver ‘mission impossible’ pivots globally.  As an Agile coach and leader of Scaled Agile delivery for technological and non- technological value streams, she currently leads teams that develop and maintain technology solutions, identify technologies that enable assessment, deliver process efficiency and ensure change is implemented and embedded for every user and customer.

At the conference

Ms. Satti will be co-delivering with Andriani Papapericleous the plenary session on 8 May 2023: 'In a world of Metaverse, AI and Cyber security – Let’s not forget the human at the heart of Change!'

Andriani Papapericleous is the Head of Technology Enabled Assessment which is one of strands of the Global Business Improvement Team which is part of the Global Exams Delivery team in the British Council. She has been with the British Council for 23 years during this period she has held various positions in Exams at country and global level. She has vast experience in Exams Operations and knowledge of wide range of products. She has also been involved in transformation and change initiatives as part of which she was responsible for rolling out processes, systems and new products. Andriani is passionate about technology and assessment while thinking customer first.

At the conference

Andriani will be co-delivering with Saima Satti the plenary session on 8 May 2023: 'In a world of Metaverse, AI and Cyber security – Let’s not forget the human at the heart of Change!'

Johanna is the Manager, Integrated Learning and Assessment in the Global Assessments team at the British Council. She works with specialist Exams Teams across the British Council to develop, deliver, and validate language assessments for different purposes. Her recent projects include test adaptation for the WPLN assessment suite, BCT-S validation studies with researchers from Tokyo University of Foreign studies, and new assessment development for graduate recruitment in India. Prior to joining Global Assessments, Johanna worked in the ELICOS industry in Australia, and in universities in Australia and Singapore, teaching Applied Linguistics and English for Specific Purposes. Her research centres on exams, candidates, and candidate performances, and she shares her work in publications and conferences. 

Fundamental to her work is providing a bridge between academic and practical concerns to deliver quality assessments which solve policy problems: this unique standpoint means her case studies are useful for theoreticians and practitioners alike.

At the conference

Dr Motteram will be presenting two case studies, respectively on 8 and 9 May 2023:

• British Council Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Test of Speaking for Japanese universities (BCT-S)
• Workplace Literacy and Numeracy (WPLN)

Olena Rossi has an MA and a PhD in Language Testing from Lancaster University, UK. Her main research interests lie in the areas of test development, item writing, and assessment literacy for test stakeholders. Olena’s doctoral thesis looked into the nature of item-writing skills and their development. Olena has worked as an associate lecturer at Lancaster University for a number of years teaching on the MA in Language Testing programme. Olena also has a lot of practical language testing experience as an examiner, item writer, item quality reviewer, and item-writer trainer. Currently, Olena works as an independent assessment consultant, conducting research into language assessment and consulting companies and educational institutions on assessment-related issues.

At the conference

Dr. Rossi will be delivering a session on 'Test item writing: Current trends and future directions' on 9 May 2023.

Paul Muir is Chief Strategy and Partnership Officer at Surpass Assessment where he is responsible for the strategic direction, innovation, and partnership strategy.
Paul has worked in the assessment industry for over 20 years, in roles delivering education reform projects across the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, to transformational roles at Awarding Bodies and Regulators in the UK.
Prior to joining Surpass Assessment, Paul spent 7 years at the British Council and was responsible in leading their transition from a predominantly Pen and Paper assessment business to one led by technology enabled assessment.
Paul has a passion for enhancing access to education using technology, especially in parts of the world where this is not always the ‘easy’ path and where innovative ways of working can be rewarded. 
A regular conference speaker, webinar panellist and blog writer, Paul has also served on the e-Assessment Association (EAA) board since 2021 and is also a member of the Association of Test Publishers (ATP) Security Committee.

At the conference

Mr. Muir will deliver a plenary session on 9 May 2023 around 'Technology in Assessment: Then, Now and the Future.'