Dr. Nigel Brown

Nigel is British, having lived mostly in northern England, spending almost a decade in London, but he has also spent time working in Brazil, Saudi Arabia, USA, France and Switzerland. Nigel studied for a BSc in Physics at the University of Leeds, completed his Master’s degree in Environmental Technology at Imperial College, London and finished his Doctorate in Transport and Environment at the University of Leeds. As a teacher, he has taught in both the independent and state sectors, starting his career at Friesland School in Derbyshire, then moving to Derby High School as Head of Sixth Form and latterly to the North London Collegiate School in Jeju, South Korea. Nigel was also a Fulbright Exchange Teacher to Upper Merion High School in Pennsylvania. Before becoming a teacher he worked as a Transport Management Consultant for British Rail and as an Environmental Engineer at the Centre for Alternative Technology. Nigel is passionate about two things in school: relationships and academic aspirations. He supports teachers in being curious, innovative and reflective practitioners, knowing that students taught by such teachers become equally skilled.

Outside of work, Nigel is a very keen cyclist and is now focussing on longer distance rides as his legs don’t go round as fast as they used to! He rode to Ljubljana a couple of summers ago, managed 320km in one day and, with his 16 year old son, took up extreme downhill mountain biking last year – against the advice of all the sensible people in his life. He enjoys family holidays with a difference such as off-roading in Iceland and Scandinavia, rail tours to Eastern Europe, paragliding in the Alps or dog sledding in Sweden. Despite studying Czech moderately intensively, he is making painfully slow progress but Nigel feels strongly that working hard is more important than the ease of success.

Two of his four children have graduated from the ECP. His eldest daughter is a doctor of medicine and his youngest son is at a residential college in the UK. Despite living here alone, Nigel travels regularly to the UK to see his grown-up kids and in particular to take his youngest (but not so young now) son mountain biking. However, when that’s not possible he tries to spend time in the Czech mountains and has a particular affection for the timeless beauty of Šumava, especially a quiet, remote valley on the German border, where he has a small apartment to occasionally escape the hustle and bustle of life in Prague.