Dr. Irene Psifidou is an expert on European education and training policy and has been working since 2004 at Cedefop, the Thessaloniki-based European Agency for the development of Vocational Education and Training in Europe. She supports the implementation of Education and Training 2020 strategic framework for European Cooperation (“ET 2020”) in close collaboration with the European Commission, stakeholders and networks at national and European levels. Before Joining Cedefop, Irene worked as an education consultant on secondary education policy for developing countries at the World Bank H.Q. (Washington DC). Managing research projects on curriculum policy and teachers’ training in transitional Balkan countries, she has supported the World Bank’s work on “Education for the Knowledge Economy”.

She has published in the field of curriculum development, learning outcomes, education reform and teacher education and professional development and has contributed to numerous European and international conferences and symposiums.

Irene holds a PhD in Comparative Education Policy from the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) in Spain, and two master degrees one in International Studies and Developmental Cooperation for the Alleviation of Poverty and a second in Applied Linguistics in Medicine.