Nicholas Burnett is a recognized leader in global education for development, with more than 40 years of experience. He founded and led the global education practice at Results for Development (R4D) in 2010, following senior roles at UNESCO and the World Bank. He retired from R4D in 2017 but remains active in the field — as a senior fellow at R4D, a senior research fellow at the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), an advisor and board member to several organizations, and a visiting professor at the universities of Nottingham, Kobe and Hiroshima.
Dr. Burnett’s career highlights include serving as assistant director-general for education at UNESCO (2007–09), director of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report (2004–07), principal at Burnett International (2001–03), and human development sector manager for West and Central Africa at the World Bank (1997–2000).
He holds a Bachelor of Arts in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University, was a Henry Fellow at Harvard, and earned a master’s degree and doctorate from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
