About ACER

Dr Bermingham, responsible for the UK and European regions of the ACER group, was previously the head of education in the UK Department for International Development (DFID); global education director for Save the Children International; and head of the Fast Track Initiative (now the Global Partnership for Education) at the World Bank. His most recent position was Director of Programmes at the Varkey Foundation, a private foundation which awards the annual Global Teacher Prize.

Ben O'Toole started at ACER UK in May 2016. He is Acting Project Director for the Scottish National Standardised Assessments project, working closely with the Scottish Government, ACER’s delivery partners, and ACER teams in the UK and Australia. He has worked as an education consultant and led national government education projects in further education and initial teacher training. He began his career in further education in Queensland.

Helen has worked on the development of national assessments in the UK for over 20 years. During this time she has worked for various assessment organisations, including NFER, QCA, Pearson, ACCA and STA. Content development projects she has led on include the Scottish National Standardised Assessments, KS1 and KS2 National Curriculum mathematics tests (‘SATs’) and the Professional Skills Tests for prospective teachers.

Melina Shah started at ACER UK in October 2017. She is the Finance Manager at ACER UK overseeing all the financial aspects for ACER UK and additionally admin manager of the UK office. Started off her career in an accountancy practice in London, qualified as a chartered accountant in 1994. With 10 years finance experience in the IT industry, she has also worked in a graphic design company as they Finance Associate Director. Gained a wide range of experience with a variety of clients.

Sladana is a Research Fellow, having started at ACER UK in mid-2016. Sladana is an experienced researcher, providing psychometric support on ACER’s various projects, including Scottish National Standardised Assessments. Previously, Sladana worked as a Research Manager for QCDA and as a Project Manager for Ofqual and QCA. Sladana has over 15 years’ experience in research and project management and high stakes assessment policy communications in the education sector. She possesses high-level research skills including quantitative and qualitative methodology, data analysis, sampling designs, and questionnaire development.