AlphaPlus Core Team

David Budzynski
Quantitative Researcher

David has recently joined AlphaPlus in the role of Quantitative Researcher and is responsible for statistical analyses, research design and evaluation. He previously completed master’s degree by Research in Psychology focused on cutting edge statistical methods and their use in applied settings.


Caylem Cawley-Wilkinson
Project Support Apprentice

Caylem joined AlphaPlus in January 2021 as a Project Support Apprentice.

He provides constant support across a wide range of projects.

Caylem is working towards his Level 3 qualification in Business Administration.  


Clare Dowland

Clare Dowland is a Director of Mindfizz Multimedia and a long-term associate of AlphaPlus Consultancy. She has extensive experience of the development and provision of a range of online and printed materials for clients, having managed the development of materials for a number of organisations in education and training. Beyond education, Clare has experience of managing projects for a wide range of clients – from local companies to charities, government departments and multi-national corporations.


Priya Dutta

Priya’s career has been dedicated to the improvement of education provision. As AlphaPlus’ Assessment Manager, Priya provides high quality assessment outputs to support AlphaPlus’ assessment function. She provides assessment research and development services to AlphaPlus clients across the lifetime of the project, from assessment design, developing assessment instruments, recruiting and managing researchers and assessment specialists, and co-ordinating research and assessment participants, data collection and analysis, and reporting.

Priya’s consultancy work for Assessment Design & Development Ltd and her own consultancy, Adiona Education Ltd, utilise her expertise in the fields of technology and education to offer tailored solutions to commercial and non-profit organisations. A deputy head and teacher for many years, Priya has extensive experience of curriculum design, teaching methodologies and education management. Prior to that, she worked with Pearson Plc in academic publishing when print and digital media were converging. Priya bring insights into how technological advances affect the delivery of education in formal and informal learning environments. Priya holds a BA degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Oxford.


Kath Fanning Senior Consultant

Kath has worked in education management in both Further and Higher Education for many years. She spent 14 years working as a senior manager for an awarding organisation, with strategic responsibility for operations, quality assurance including regulatory compliance, and recruitment and HR.

Kath joined AlphaPlus as a Senior Consultant in May 2014. She currently heads a comprehensive (i.e. end-to-end) bespoke recruitment service for the education sector, which involves drafting the job description, writing the advert, planning the advertising campaign, panel shortlisting, arranging and conducting interviews and assessments, managing all related communications, and finally induction of successful candidates. Kath has led multiple recruitment projects on behalf of AlphaPlus, including the recruitment of the new assessor team for the Association for Project Management’s Chartered Project Professional standard.

Kath also works with organisations to review and develop systems and procedures and to explore options for accreditation, including the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.


Amelia Geoghegan Project Manager

Amelia has recently joined AlphaPlus as a Project Manager. She is currently working on a trio of consecutive projects with British Council India in their move to competency-based assessment, liaising with stakeholders and organising timelines and budgets.

Amelia has recently graduated from the University of Manchester after studying a BSc in Geography, which has provided her with a range of strong communication, planning and research skills.


David Hancock International Business Development Manager

David joined AlphaPlus as International Business Development Manager in October 2018. His role involves working in the field to source and develop potential customers, providing customer support and maximising sales of the company’s services.

Before joining AlphaPlus, David worked in a number of Business Development roles, both in the UK and internationally. As Business Development Manager at Kingswood Learning and Leisure, David was responsible for recruiting students to study at a group of 10 UK-based outdoor education centres from across Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa. He represented the company at workshops and student recruitment events, and visited partners’ offices worldwide to create and maintain strong working relationships with clients.

David has experience managing the full sales process from initial enquiry through to bookings and follow up feedback sessions, as well as creating and implementing strategic sales and marketing plans for key and speculative markets.


Sarah Hardacre Financial Controller

Sarah joined AlphaPlus Consultancy in January 2017, bringing her extensive public-sector experience to work in the education industry. Since qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with the ICAEW in 1992,

Sarah has had a variety of accounting jobs in the public sector, with clients including Cambridge City Council and Addenbrookes Hospital. She also taught the Accountancy module for third year engineering undergraduates at Queen’s University Belfast for three years. As Financial Controller, Sarah is responsible for management accounting, financial reporting, banking, VAT and payroll.


Tom Hooley Project Manager

Tom has worked at AlphaPlus since October 2016. He began as Project Support Apprentice, but is now working within the Project Management team.

He works on projects pertaining to test development, trialling, analysis, reporting, while also assisting with internal duties such as office management and IT support. Tom also oversees the management of over 350 AlphaPlus associates via a cloud-based customer relations management system.


Zak Horrocks Information Systems Officer

Zak Horrocks is a Prince 2 practitioner, who has been working at AlphaPlus since 2013. His current role, Information Systems Officer, has seen Zak support AlphaPlus across the full span of its activities and has enabled him to develop his skills in data analysis, data management and data and systems security. Zak marries excellent technical skills with an ability to provide practical solutions. He currently manages AlphaPlus’ internal and external IT services, including AlphaPlus’ head office IT infrastructure, Office 365 and Dynamics CRM. He led in preparing AlphaPlus Consultancy for Cyber Essentials Plus certification and, as AlphaPlus Data Protection Lead (DPL), led the development of GDPR-compliant processes for the company and continues to ensure AlphaPlus are GDPR compliant.

Zak has Associate status with AEA-Europe and is currently undertaking a part-time combined honours degree in Psychology with Business.


Gerallt Hughes Trials Coordinator

As Trials Coordinator, Gerallt’s role is to coordinate, oversee and manage all activities relating to the administration of trials and pre-tests in schools and other educational settings, as well as to establish and maintain relationships with stakeholders. He joined AlphaPlus in January 2018, having previously worked in a variety of project management and programming roles within the cultural sector.


Luke Kelly Project Manager

Luke joined AlphaPlus in October 2017 and provides continued support across a wide range of projects. As Trainee Project Manager, he led his first project for the company in September 2019. Having finished an apprenticeship in Business Administration and achieved his Level 3 diploma, Luke is currently studying for an honour’s degree in Digital and Technology solutions.


Andy Lewis Field Research Manager

Andy is an experienced manager and business professional, with education, technical and project management expertise.

Since joining AlphaPlus in 2016, Andy has managed projects for clients such as Rising Stars and Virtual College.


Hayley Limmer Senior Researcher

Hayley Limmer is a Senior Researcher at AlphaPlus Consultancy where she works on research projects with the Institute of Physics, Nesta and the Education Endowment Foundation.

She has over 10 years’ experience working on complex quantitative and qualitative research and evaluation projects.

Hayley has worked for several organisations related to education, skills and assessment including AQA, the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and the General Medical Council. She has worked as both a research supplier and commissioner.

She is a mixed methods researcher who can use a variety of software packages including NVivo, R, STATA, SPSS & Tableau. She has a PhD in Social Statistics and an MSc Social Research Methods & Statistics and a BSc Psychology.


Dave Mellor Deputy Director of Assessment

Dave has recently joined AlphaPlus as Deputy Director of Assessment to deputise for the Director of Assessment in leading the assessment research and development function at AlphaPlus. He is passionate about and interested in all aspects of assessment, particularly focussing on practical solutions to design problems. Dave was previously Director of Assessment & Curriculum at AQA and a board member at OxfordAQA, and was responsible for all the assessments at the UK’s largest awarding body.


Roger Murphy Associate Director

Professor Roger Murphy is an acknowledged international expert in the field of educational assessment. He is an Associate Director of AlphaPlus Consultancy, as well as an Emeritus Professor in the School of Education at Nottingham University, a board member of Pearson Education Ltd, an educational advisor to the General Dental Council, and an active educational research and assessment consultant working with several large organisations both within the UK and internationally.

Roger has been very active in many areas of education research, policy, and practice over his career. He is a qualified schoolteacher with specialist interests in the field of educational assessment, evaluation and research. He has directed over 50 major research projects with funding of over £10million, and is the author of over 100 books and journal articles. He is frequently asked to advise educational bodies and ministries and has experience of working in Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Malta, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, Ukraine, Ghana, Lesotho, USA, Turkey and Sweden.


Fiona Myles-Hook Business Development and Tenders Manager

Fiona has worked at AlphaPlus since January 2018.

She supports the production and delivery of sales proposals, as well as other aspects of the AlphaPlus Business Development function including sales, marketing and account management.


Jayne Perdikou Bookkeeper

Jayne joined AlphaPlus in July 2017 as Bookkeeper. Jayne manages and coordinates daily accounts transactions for the company.

Until recently, Jayne was based in Cyprus and spent 15 years as Accounts Team Leader for Middle East IT company STME Limited before moving to The Ariannol Group as Company and Trust Administrator. Jayne is currently studying AAT Level 3 Diploma in Advanced Accounting.


Teresa Richards Project Manager

Teresa joined AlphaPlus in November 2020 as a Project Manager. She has started to work very closely on a contract extension for computer adaptive tests in Wales which includes work organising the timelines and invoicing milestones. Previously, Teresa studied her BSc in Psychology and MSc in Management at The University of Manchester developing transferrable skills in producing reports, highlighting insights, and working collaboratively.


Ben Smith Senior Statistician

Before joining AlphaPlus in February 2018, Ben worked at AQA for several years.

He has a master’s degree in Psychology & Psychological Research from the University of Birmingham, and has presented various pieces of work at international assessment conferences.

As Senior Statistician, Ben provides statistical analysis for various projects.


Shaun Smith Deputy Director of Qualifications and Standards

Shaun joined AlphaPlus in February 2021. Shaun has worked in education for many years after coming from a technical background in electrical engineering. He spent eight years as a senior education manager in Further and Higher Education for the public-sector, having entered the education industry as a teacher before that. Prior to joining AlphaPlus, Shaun was a director of his own education consultancy and has extensive successful experience in supporting the development and delivery of qualifications, assessment and quality assurance for a number of awarding bodies and organisations both in the UK and overseas.


Matthew Turner Statistician and Project Support

Matthew joined AlphaPlus in September 2017.

He provides statistical analysis for different projects for the company along with support for other projects within the company where it is needed.


Gillian Whitehouse Head of Business Development

Gillian is the Head of Business Development for AlphaPlus and is responsible for creation of new business opportunities and the growth and development of existing opportunities. She has worked in qualification and assessment research and development since 1998, having previously had an eight-year career as a teacher.