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Organising committee members
Chris Brandwood
Chris Brandwood is Director English for the British Council’s South Asia region and is
based in the New Delhi office. Chris has held teaching and management positions with
the British Council in Naples, Rome, Sofia, Bilbao and Barcelona, before joining the South
Asia team in August 2010. Chris is a graduate of University College London and holds
teaching and management qualifications from Leicester University and Henley
Management College.
Michael Connolly
Michael Connolly has been Assistant Director English Partnerships for the British Council
in India since September 2013.
Michael began his career in ELT in 1998 in Japan, working as a language assistant in
local high schools. He has since worked in a variety of teaching, teacher training and
academic management roles in Spain, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories
and in India since 2011.
As Assistant Director English Partnerships India, Michael is responsible for the strategic
direction, leadership and management of the English Partnerships project which since
2007 has reached more than 840,000 English teachers in twelve Indian states, working
directly with over 8,000 Teacher Educators selected and trained by the British Council.
Michael has Cambridge CELTA and DELTA qualifications in English language teaching as
well as a BA and an MA from the University of Leeds in the UK.
Debanjan Chakrabarti
Dr Debanjan Chakrabarti is Head, English Language Policy Research and Publications for
British Council India. He has led on a number of large-scale partnership projects, both
nationally and internationally, which include working in Bihar, West Bengal and Assam,
some of the largest English programmes in the country. Projects he currently leads
include the Survey of ELT Research in India (with EFL University Hyderabad and Warwick
University as partners), the Language and Development Conference 2015 and a
multilateral research on multilingual education in Indian schools, led by the University of
Reading. He has a PhD in English and media studies from the University of Reading, UK,
and is the author of several international peer-reviewed publications. He writes
occasionally for national and international media on education, culture and sports.
George Pickering
George is a coach, trainer and consultant, who has delivered talks and consultancies in
over 60 different countries for the British Council and other organisations. He is the
academic director of the English UK Diploma in English Language Teaching Management
and a tutor on the International Diploma in Language Teaching Management. He is an
inspector of language schools for the British Council in the UK (Accreditation UK).
George was the co-ordinator of the IATEFL Leadership & Management Special Interest
Group for many years and is currently the SIG representative on the IATEFL Board of
Directors. He has degrees in Philosophy & Politics and Psychology & Anthropology, a
PGCE and a Masters in Second Language Learning & Teaching.
Amy Lightfoot
Amy Lightfoot is the English Language Advisor for the British Council’s English
Partnerships team, leading on the academic management and quality assurance of our
large-scale teacher education projects across India. She has worked in English language
teaching and teacher education for over fifteen years. Amy has special interests in
monitoring and evaluation and digital learning for teachers and students through online
and mobile platforms. She has worked in India for six years and on projects in
Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and the UK. She has the
Cambridge DELTA, an MA in English Language Teaching and is currently pursuing an MA
in Education and International Development from University College London.
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