About Us

Professor Karin Saskia Murris
Karin is director of DialogueWorks and Visiting Professor of Practical Philosophy and Ethics at the School of Education, University of Wales, Newport.
Trained as a youth-librarian and academic philosopher (Universities of Leiden/London), Karin has been working as a dialogue consultant to business and public services. She has also been teaching thinking- skills and ‘philosophy for children/communities’ (P4C) to formal and informal teachers, children, and teacher educators since 1989. Moreover, Karin teaches and supports graduate, post-graduate and PhD students, carries out academic research and is involved in the Continuing Professional Development of the university staff in learning and teaching methods.

Karin is a national and international P4C pioneer in the use of picture books for teaching thinking, philosophy and ethics. She has trained under Professor Matthew Lipman at the I.A.P.C. in the USA and is one of few qualified mentors of new P4C trainers. She helped to set up the British training programme in P4C for the charity S.A.P.E.R.E. (www.sapere.org.uk) between 1992 and 2006. Karin is also an accredited socratic dialogue facilitator, philosophical counselor and is currently introducing, in collaboration with Dr Joanna Haynes, Dilemma Training  - a method of ethical decision making - in primary, secondary schools, detached youth work and higher education after working with the method in business and public service contexts. She was trained by the European Institute for Business Ethics (EIBE) at the University of Nijenrode (NL). Since 2005, commissioned by the Higher Education Academy’s ESCalate, Karin and Joanna have been conducting Dilemma Training with directors of education departments and CETLs (Centres of Excellence in Teaching and Learning) at UK universities, and others in leadership positions in Higher Education.

She is the author of Metaphors of the Child's Mind, Philosophy with Picture Books and Storywise: Thinking through Stories and numerous articles and learned papers. 
Her pioneering work has been featured in the national and international media, including (Dutch) The Telegraaf, The Guardian, Times Educational Supplement, The Independent, The Times, Times Higher Educational Supplement and The Financial Times, as well as Channel Four television's Class Action, Belgian TV (Canvas) and BBC Radio Four .

Karin has been member of the Executive Board of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain, and she is on the editorial board of the magazine Teaching Thinking & Creativity and the US refereed journal Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children.

Research
Karin’s empirical PhD research included an analysis of the language adults use when they evaluate children’s thinking. Her educational resource Teaching Philosophy with Picture Books was evaluated positively as improving reading standards in a research project involving 16 schools in Dyfed (1993/4). Since 2005, Karin is on the advisory board and lead trainer of a large scale Thinking Village research project near York sponsored by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. A small scale 2 year collaborative project focusing on the creation of an ethical meeting point for university staff and students starts in January 2008.  A proposal for large-scale research into teacher attitudes towards children as thinkers in the Foundation Phase in Wales, is waiting approval.

Dialogue Works Consultants

Roger Sutcliffe
Roger Sutcliffe is former President of SAPERE, the UK charity for promoting P4C, and also of ICPIC, the International Council for Philosophical Inquiry with Children. Having graduated in Philosophy and Modern Languages at Oxford in the early 70’s, he taught first at primary level and then at secondary level until 1990, when he trained in P4C under Professor Lipman. He also trained in Rogerian (!) counselling back in the UK, before embarking on a freelance career, introducing P4C to teachers and others throughout the UK and, occasionally, abroad. He is the author of The Philosophy Club, and of Newswise, a current affairs resource, and has written for many journals. He has also done consultancy work for a variety of organisations, including Antidote: Campaign for Emotional Literacy, The Geographical Association, and the Cambridge International Exam board, for whom he recently designed an International GCSE, titled ‘Global Perspectives’.

Dr Joanna Haynes
Joanna Haynes is a senior lecturer in Education Studies at the College of St Mark and St John, Plymouth. She studied philosophy at University of Kent, Canterbury, and qualified as a primary teacher in 1976. She spent 16 years teaching in nursery and primary schools, first in Glasgow and then in inner city Bristol. She completed a Masters degree in education at University of Bristol before moving to Devon in 1992 to work in teacher education.

Joanna, a recognised SAPERE teacher trainer, has led many workshops and courses for teachers and student teachers on philosophy with children. Joanna has been involving primary school children in philosophical enquiry for the last eight years and this teaching provides the basis for her PhD studies, her co-authorship of the DialogueWorks teachers' resource, Storywise; Thinking through Stories, and her book Children as Philosophers, published by Routledge Falmer.

Jos Delnoij MA
Dutch philosopher Jos Delnoij has been director of dialogue consultancy Leids Dialoog Centrum in Leiden since 1997. She studied at Leiden and Amsterdam universities specialising in social and cultural philosophy, and completed training in practical philosophy in 1990, as a Socratic Dialogue facilitator in 1995, and as a dilemma trainer in Spring 2003 (Certificated by Nyenrode University). At present, Jos is member of a team responsible for the dilemma training of Amsterdam's civil servants.

Alongside her post as part time lecturer at the Tilburg University law faculty, she conducts courses, talks and workshops, and organises Socratic dialogues on various issues. As guest lecturer she trained staff and students at Leiden University, the ethics departments at Utrecht Polytechnic and the Ichtus Polytechnic Rotterdam. In 1993 she conducted research for Philips in Eindhoven in training in philosophy in business. Jos has facilitated Socratic dialogues at numerous organisations in the Netherlands, Germany, South Africa, the US and Britain, and has brought philosophy with children into various primary schools in the Netherlands and to gifted and talented children in Switzerland. For several years she chaired the Dutch association for philosophical practice (VFP), and acted as organiser and trainer for the International Training Socratic Dialogue.

Jos Delnoy's publications include editing and contributing to: Meedenkers deel I, Filosofisch Consulentschap; Meedenkers II, het socratisch gesprek; Het Gesprek, profiel van de socratische methode.

Steve Williams
Steve Williams taught English and Media Studies for 14 years in secondary schools and served for five years as head of an English department. He helped to found SAPERE, the Philosophy for Children network in the UK, and was the first person in Britain to introduce P4C as curriculum subject in a secondary school. Over the years, he has worked with children of all ages in a wide variety of schools. He has helped many teachers to start Philosophy for Children through the courses and support he provides. He is also very interested in Readers Theatre, writing for learning and online education. He has been involved with national and international projects in these fields. He has worked for five years as a full-time senior editor for an educational publishing company, editing books and magazines including 'Teaching Thinking and Creativity', a well-respected publication with a world-wide reputation. He now works as a freelance teacher, writer, and editor and he’s returned to education part-time to work for a Master's degree in philosophy.

Graeme Tiffany
Graeme Tiffany has a background in environmental, outdoor and adventure education, youth work, community education and community development, principally in areas of high social disadvantage. Since 2000 he has been a freelance researcher, trainer, lecturer, education consultant and advisor on project development. Graeme has particular interests in youth social policy, democratic education, collaborative learning, participation and the use of philosophical tools to support learning; this led to him designing and now advising the Joseph Rowntree Foundation sponsored New Earswick Community Philosophy Project in York. Graeme is Vice-Chair of the Federation for Detached Youth Work and a director of a large voluntary sector community development organisation, Barca-Leeds. He is the author of Reconnecting Detached Youth Work (2007) and a number of articles and papers on youth work and education. He is a regular contributor at conferences and training events both at home and abroad.

As an Associate, Graeme has worked on the development and delivery of Dialogue Works' Mind & Muscle programme that uses the outdoors as a stimulus for dialogue. He is also involved in the promotion of Philosophy for Communities to support wider community learning, Community Cohesion and the democratisation of community involvement structures.

Martin Pollard
Martin Pollard is the Education Officer for CEWC-Cymru (Council for Education in World Citizenship – Cymru), a registered charity based in Cardiff. He is a trained secondary teacher and since 2004 has promoted links between Philosophy for Children, Personal and Social Education, and Education for Global Citizenship and Sustainable Development. This work has seen him deliver both in-service training and demonstration community of enquiry work in many different settings. Martin is particularly interested in how the P4C methodology can be applied to the curriculum in Wales, and how it can be maintained in the transition between primary and secondary education.

Roy van den Brink-Budgen
Roy van den Brink-Budgen has been involved in many aspects of Critical Thinking for over twenty years. He was Chief Examiner in the subject for most of the time that the subject has been assessed in Britain. He has taught Critical Thinking for many years, including working with a very wide range of students in schools and colleges around the country. These include students from Years 8-13, those on AS, A2, and AEA courses in Critical Thinking, and Aim Higher groups. He also ran the education programme in a juvenile offenders’ unit described by ‘The Daily Mail’ as a place that housed ‘the most dangerous young men in the country’. He introduced Critical Thinking to these young men, with considerable success. His major contribution to the development of the subject as one of growing importance in the curriculum is very well-known. He works with teachers throughout Britain and has delivered more INSETs in the subject than anyone else. His books and other media (CD-Roms and online course) are very widely used and commended by both teachers and students. He is a consultant to the University of Brunel’s Able Children’s Education Centre.

Communications

Simon Geschwindt
Simon, Head of Communications and director of DW Publications, holds a BA (Hons) in humanities majoring in aesthetics and ethics, and has undertaken postgraduate study in ethics and eastern philosophies. He is also an Associate of the Institute of Linguists. He worked for many years as Benelux correspondent for Financial Times Business Information (FTBI) before moving to Britain as energy markets editor for La Tribune and l'Agence Economique et Financière (AGEFI) in Paris. From 1989 to 2001 he was managing editor of the international publication, Environment Matters, before joining DialogueWorks,. He has travelled widely to research the ethics of corporate behaviour on issues such as the environment and overseas aid. Simon, married with five children, is author of Am I Right? Or Am I Right? An Introduction to Ethical Decision Making (www.amiright.co.uk).

Simon will deal with your enquiries relating to:
Press and public relations;
DialogueWorks' Dilemma Training consultancy.
Purchase of publications.

James Lewis - IT Manager
James, director of Evolvement Internet Solutions, holds qualifications in website design & development, and professional web development & e-commerce. He has managed numerous web site projects including secure payment processing systems and content management solutions, and has considerable experience in online marketing. James handles Dialogue Works' e-marketing and website management.