Our Leadership
About GAVE’s Executive & Steering Committees
The Executive Committee comprises of the Past Chair, Current Chair, and Chair-Elect of our GAVE organisation.
Members of the Executive Committee serve (up to) a three-year term, occupying one year in each role, for the facilitation of continuity, collaboration, and communication in our leadership structures.
Our Steering Committee is made up of the Executive Committee and the Chair from each of the seven Standing Committee (see below). We strive to meet on a regular basis (i.e., monthly or bi-monthly) to advance values and values-based education through GAVE’s global networks and platforms.
Thomas W. Nielsen
Past GAVE Chair (2025)
Thomas is an Associate Professor in Education at the University of Canberra, Australia. He has served in several of the Australian Government funded values and
wellbeing education projects (395 schools) from 2004 to 2010. He currently also serves as a Director of the International Beliefs and Values Institute (IBAVI) Australian branch.
Charles Fowler
Current GAVE Chair (2026)
Charles chairs the Human Values Foundation, which uses positive values to promote young people’s social and emotional development, is a Director of the UK Values Alliance, and a project partner of the Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice for Health and Social Care at Oxford University. He is also a delegate at the Values20 Group which engages G20 leaders in values-based policy-making, and is the Global Coordinator of World Values Day.
About GAVE’s Standing Committees
Here at GAVE we respect, study, and engage with all manner of values-based systems and structures from around the world in a non-partisan, secular manner.
Our work is achieved through seven Standing Committees for: Research, Education, Advancement, Policy, Communication, Membership, and Conference.
Together, we endeavour to ensure that what we do is carried out with credibility, objectivity, integrity, quality, and excellence when it comes to bringing our organisational mission, vision, and values to life.
Any member of GAVE may volunteer to participate in one or more of our Standing Committees by contacting the current Chair of said Committee/s. Please see below for further information on the exciting work carried out by each of our different Committees and don’t hesitate to contact us if you’d like to become involved!
Research Committee
The GAVE Research Committee aims to support and coordinate the development, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of high-quality values-based education research globally.
The Committee endeavours to do so in a way that is multidisciplinary, culturally and ecologically valid, and reflexive.
Research activities may include, but are not restricted to:
- Research development, facilitation, and review;
- Grant development and support;
- Assessment and measurement;
- Contributing to peer-review processes and open-access journals
… as they relate to investigating the impact of values-based education and its processes on learning, development, caregiving, collaboration, and wellbeing across diverse populations.
One major project of the Research Committee is a blog series that disseminates VbE research to a wide audience of scholars, practitioners, and policy makers. Visit the blog here
Dr. Kris Acheson-Clair
GAVE Research Committee Chair
Kris Acheson-Clair (PhD, 2008, Arizona State University in Intercultural Communication) is former faculty at Georgia State University and US Fulbright Scholar to Honduras. For the past decade she directed Purdue’s Center for Intercultural Learning, Mentorship, Assessment and Research, creator of the Intercultural Learning Hub (hubicl.com) science gateway of educational resources. She is currently serving as director of Purdue’s Leadership and Professional Development Department. Publishing under the name Kris Acheson, she is a global thought leader in the assessment of intercultural competence, transformative learning, and leadership skills.
Education Committee
The Education Committee aims to develop, initiate, support, evaluate, and summarise various educational courses, programs, and initiatives that are designed to illustrate, exemplify, and/or advance values-based education as a paradigm, model, and method.
The Committee is also tasked with overseeing any professional development, certification, or curricular / program review processes that GAVE may wish to provide.
Currently, the Education and Policy Committees hold joint meetings to advance GAVE’s mission, vision, and values across both of these vital portfolios.
Bridget Knight
GAVE Education Committee Chair (Acting)
Bridget has enjoyed diverse roles in primary education. She returned to her third (teaching) headship after a significant period in advisory work. As a local, regional and UK national advisor for school improvement and the curriculum, she supported schools in all sectors. This advisory work continues with Global Neighbours and other national organisations.
Bridget has written a number of books, resources and articles on education. The latest of these is On the Subject of Values and the Value of Subjects. She is CEO of the educational charity Values-based Education International.
Advancement Committee
The GAVE Advancement Committee investigates and secures the funding, partnerships, and resources needed to advance values-based education research globally. The committee identifies strategic funding opportunities, supports international grant development, and builds research partnerships to ensure that values and wellbeing become central to how disciplines like STEM are taught and experienced.
Dr Julia Hill
GAVE Advancement Committee Chair
Dr Julia Hill is a lecturer at RMIT University, Australia, and trained as a secondary physics teacher and school psychologist with a PhD in STEM Education and a Master of Educational Psychology.
She developed values-based wellbeing frameworks specific to mathematics and science education, which are now used by researchers internationally and cited in more than 15 countries. Her research responds to OECD and UNESCO calls for values and wellbeing to be central aims of education, not merely outcomes.
STEM disciplines are reshaping every aspect of human life, yet are routinely treated as value-neutral, leaving students without the ethical, relational, and affective foundations needed to use STEM in ways that serve people, communities, and the planet. Her work explores how values such as care, empathy, and equity can be explicitly and intentionally embedded into STEM pedagogy, curriculum content, and classroom practice.
As Chair of the Advancement Committee for GAVE, Julia is committed to building the funding partnerships and institutional relationships that enable values-based education research to flourish at scale.
Policy Committee
The purpose of GAVE’s Policy Committee is to identify, develop, promote, and coordinate policies to advance values-based education, nationally, regionally and/or globally, working to connect with policy makers and/or relevant organisations, groups, and initiatives towards shared goals.
David Rowse
GAVE Policy Committee Chair
David Rowse, MEd; PGCRinE; Cert.Ed; ATD; NDD, is Founder President of the registered UK charity Values Education for Life and Editor of Ethos magazine. He has extensive experience in teaching values, both in secondary schools and later as a lecturer at the University of Birmingham. This interest in values was initially inspired by working with Professor L. Kohlberg at a High School in the Bronx.
David has spoken at a number of International Conferences and is currently writing a book, “From a Different Perspective” which describes his experience and work within the field of human development and moral agency. He lives in the UK
Membership Committee
The GAVE Membership Committee is dedicated to cultivating an internationally diverse community of individuals and organisations (e.g., scholars, educators, practitioners, students, leaders, policy-makers, and citizens) committed to upholding GAVE’s mission and vision to advance high quality research, programs, curricula, convenings, policies, trainings, and partnerships related to values-based education around the world.
Through ongoing engagement and consultation with GAVE members, leaders, and committees, the GAVE Membership Committee helps develop and facilitate a range of activities (e.g., strategic planning, committee membership, organizational initiatives, membership surveys, external collaboration, targeted outreach). In this way, the Membership Committee helps create and sustain a cohesive, dynamic, and global network that exemplifies and expresses GAVE values of “credibility, care, communication, depth, and awareness.”
Dr. Craig Shealy
GAVE Membership Committee Chair
Craig Shealy, Ph.D. is a Nehru Chair Professor at M.S. Baroda University and Executive Director of the nonprofit International Beliefs and Values Institute (IBAVI). Dr. Shealy’s research on the Beliefs, Events, and Values Inventory (BEVI) has been featured in multiple publications. A licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Shealy is a Fulbright Specialist in Japan, Fellow of the American Psychological Association, and Past President of APA’s Division of International Psychology.
Communication Committee
The Communication Committee supports the Global Alliance for Values-based Education by providing relevant information from GAVE’s leaders, committees, members, and the wider communities and stakeholders GAVE serves. Through the GAVE website and other forums, the Communication Committee promotes awareness of GAVE opportunities, activities, initiatives, events, and accomplishments that may be of interest. It does so both internally with GAVE leaders and members, and externally with partners, educators, researchers, organizations, and interested communities, across a wide array of countries, cultures, and contexts. By strengthening communication across diverse audiences, the Communication Committee helps increase GAVE’s visibility, encourage participation, and foster collaboration in support of values-based education worldwide. Its work ensures that organizational stakeholders remain informed, connected, and engaged in advancing GAVE’s mission and shared values.
Dr. Devi Bhuyan
GAVE Communication Committee Chair
Dr. Devi Bhuyan is the Director of Psychology at Sheppard Pratt. She previously served as Senior Psychologist at The Menninger Clinic and Assistant Professor at the Baylor College of Medicine. Her professional experiences include addressing domestic violence and sexual abuse in India as well as organizational capacity building. She has published and presented on a range of values-based topics, including depth-based evaluation of the etiology and impact of beliefs and values in clinical populations as well as values-based research, assessment, and programs in higher education.
Conference Committee
The GAVE Conference Committee is committed to the design and provision of high quality, inclusive, intellectually stimulating conferences to support the GAVE mission and vision of fostering values-based education in diverse global contexts. The Committee is dedicated to establishing engaging and productive avenues for scholars, teachers, practitioners, students, leaders, policymakers and community members to connect, share and cooperate. The GAVE Conference Committee creates conference settings where the critical reflection, interdisciplinary conversation, and co-production of knowledge between cultures and contexts are fostered, through its focus on academic excellence, global inclusivity, and meaningful engagement. The Committee supports the development of a rich and active international community for research, policy, practice, and transformative action in values-based education via respectful exchange, voices from a variety of perspectives, and collaborations beyond the conference. In this way, the Conference Committee contributes to sustaining GAVE as a globally connected platform that embodies its core values of credibility, care, communication, depth, and awareness.
Subair Kalathil
GAVE Conference Committee Chair
Subair Kalathil holds a Ph.D. and an M.Phil. in Science, Society, and Development from the Central University of Gujarat, India, along with a Master’s degree in Women’s Studies. Since November 2022, he has been serving as an Assistant Professor at Parul University, India. Prior to joining Parul University, he served as a Program Officer at the Women’s Studies Research Centre, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India where he contributed to interdisciplinary research, academic programmes, and initiatives on gender and social development.