Biografisk notat

Since establishing Independent Thinking 25 years ago, Ian Gilbert has made a name for himself across the world as a highly original writer, editor, speaker, practitioner and thinker and is someone who the IB World magazine has referred to as one of the world's leading educational visionaries.The author of several books, and the editor of many more, Ian is known by thousands of teachers and young people across the world for his award-winning Thunks books. Thunks grew out of Ian's work with Philosophy for Children (P4C), and are beguiling yet deceptively powerful little philosophical questions that he has created to make children's - as well as their teachers' - brains hurt.Ian's growing collection of bestselling books has a more serious side too, without ever losing sight of his trademark wit and straight-talking style. The Little Book of Bereavement for Schools, born from personal family experience, is finding a home in schools across the world, and The Working Class - a massive collaborative effort he instigated and edited - is making a genuine difference to the lives of young people from some of the poorest backgrounds.A unique writer and editor, there is no other voice like Ian Gilbert's in education today. Dr Andrew Curran is a practising paediatric neurologist and neurobiologist who is also committed to using his extraordinary knowledge of the workings of the human brain to make a difference in the educational experience of all young people. He has been involved with Manchester University's Department of Education, developing research ideas looking at the use of emotional literacy in our classrooms. More recently he has conducted work exploring the processing of reward in the human brain. He believes passionately in the importance of understanding the individual, connecting with them emotionally and leading them into self directed learning. His book, the Little Book of Big Stuff about the Brain (published by Crown House Publishing) is recognised as one of the leading books about understanding brain based learning and the importance of emotional literacy in our classrooms and in our lives. His latest book, Get Off the Sofa is a general health book aimed at anyone from 5 - 85 who wants to understand their health more. He is a talented and internationally recognised presenter both to live audiences and on television where he was a main presenter on BBC3's Make My Body Younger. He is an associate of Independent Thinking Ltd. Although Michael Supple has experience in business he is very much an educationalist. Drawing on his talent as a successful drama teacher he helps people see their world with new eyes and identify solutions to the problems and challenges they face by taking a fresh, more creative look.'The answers to problems generally lie with the individuals and groups who face them on a daily basis. My role is simply to open up people to these solutions and then make sense of the possibilities that then arise.'Previous clients include Abbey National, Corby Borough Council, Creative Partnerships, Immigration and Nationality Department.What's more, his experience in drama means all his sessions are active and practical, are conducted