Brian has been a teacher and senior leader in UK schools for more than 35 years, as an English and Drama teacher, pastoral head, curriculum manager and vice principal.

Brian’s passion for international partnerships began with a visit to China as part of a British Council delegation of head teachers to Suzhou, near Shanghai, in 2009. This led to the formation of the Bath-Suzhou partnership of 16 schools in China and 8 schools in Bath, leading student and teacher exchanges, developing joint programmes and leading the management of the programme.

Brian’s work as Vice Principal of a British Council accredited international college in the UNESCO city of Bath provided him with detailed insights into the needs of international students wishing to study overseas, assessing learning gaps and methodologies for developing key skills in critical thinking, academic writing and developing a coherent thesis.

In recent years, Brian’s work has developed to address the huge global challenges facing young people today. As an Irishman living in the UK, Brian comes from a family deeply affected by the Troubles in Northern Ireland and this has led to an interest in post-conflict solutions to apparently wicked problems.

Brian is working with academics at Oxford and Cambridge universities at the Cambridge Peace and Education Research Group to develop a positive peace curriculum for schools. Positive Peace Education is an academic discipline based on systems thinking, which takes a systematic approach to peace-building and peace-making.

Brian’s mission is to bring together young people from across the world to address the key issues facing the future of the planet and to work together on solutions. As part of this mission, Brian is working with a UK-based charity, Edukid, which supports education programmes in some of the most deprived communities across the world, including post-conflict zones in Cambodia and Uganda, and providing access to education for the Awajun people in Imacita, Peru

In 2021, Brian secured funding from the UK Turing Scheme to support UK students to travel internationally as a part of their education. This funding has enabled more than 300 UK students to travel to Cambodia, Uganda and Peru as part of the development of key international partnerships in promoting peace education.

Brian works closely with Wychwood School in the centre of Oxford, a school with peace at the heart of its philosophy, which has welcomed students from Peru in partnership with Global Skills.

As a trustee of Bath Welcomes Refugees and Chair of Trustees of Mind of the Student, Brian’s pro bono work reflects his philosophy of global outreach and the wellbeing of young people.