Dr Barbara Ridley is Director of both the EdD Programme and the PhD programme in Hong Kong. Barbara's original background is in English and Drama and she continues to have an interest in those areas, especially outside the UK. She has also worked with and researched educational provision for children who have been excluded from school or refuse to attend. However, her main research interest is the development of education in Ethiopia where she had extensive experience since 1996. She is currently Co-director of a project building capacity in its higher education system. Barbara teaches qualitative research methodology and predominantly supervises international doctoral students.