Sarah Howie is a Professor in the Faculty of Education, at the University of Pretoria. She is also the Director of the Centre for Evaluation and Assessment in Education and Training, which strives for research excellence within the areas of Evaluation and Assessment. The CEA has undertaken research, evaluations and training for the National Department of Education, various provincial departments of education, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, UNICEF, the Zenex Foundation, World Bank, Umalusi, Shuttleworth Foundation as well as various other nongovernment organisations, private corporations and higher education institutions. Prof Howie was also responsible for establishing a Masters’ degree course in evaluation and assessment in 2003 and now has more than 60 students. She supervises about 30 students at masters and doctoral level in the field of evaluation and assessment research. She has served on several Faculty level committees and serves on a number of university-level committees. Her scientific field of interest and areas of work include monitoring, evaluation and assessment, international comparative research in the fields of science and mathematics education, reading literacy and information and communication technology, and learner achievement. Currently she is the co-National Research Coordinator for Progress in Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2016, and previously 2006 and PIRLS 2011) and was the co-National Research Coordinator for Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES). She has published both internationally and nationally and has presented at numerous international conferences and seminars. She has worked as a consultant to UNESCO, World Bank, Nuffic (Dutch NGO) and CROSS (Dutch Government), and Spencer Foundation, Link community development, Centre for Development and Enterprise, and the National Business Initiative, in Albania, Russia, Mozambique, Mauritius, Thailand, Ethiopia and South Africa. Internationally, she has most recently been a member of the member of UNESCO-Brookings Institute international Learning Metrics Task Force for Post-primary (in preparation for Education for All 2015) and was a member of the Scientific Committee for the IEA International Research Conference for 2010. She currently serves as a member of the OECD’s framework expert group for the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2015); international Questionnaire Development Group for the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study

 As an immunologist one of the major challenges is to understand how the immune system either causes or fails to prevent chronic inflammation. My main interest has been in trying to understand chronic inflammatory disease processes that affect epithelial surfaces where there are varying degrees of 'interface' between the organ and the external environment. My main interest is in how the immune system is involved in chronic inflammatory disease processes. In particular I have been working on disease associated with chronic inflammation in the lungs (allergy, lung cancer, fibrosis and chlamydial infection), skin, gut and reproductive tract – all areas where the immune system interfaces with the external environment. There are both similarities and differences which characterise immunopathology in these body sites