Dr Jo Beall, Director Education and Society
Dr Jo Beall joined the British Council and the Executive Board in July 2011 as Director Education and Society, reporting to the CEO.
Jo was formerly Deputy Vice Chancellor of University of Cape Town with responsibility for academic matters, social responsiveness and external relations and the University’s internationalisation strategy.
A graduate of the London School of Economics, Jo joined the academic staff of the LSE in the early 1990s, first in the Department of Social Policy and then the Development Studies Institute, which she directed between 2004 and 2007.
During her academic career Jo published or co-published numerous books and articles in the areas of gender and social policy, social development, local governance, cities and conflict and state fragility. Her work in the field of international development spans twenty years and has taken her to Africa, Asia and Latin America, with significant periods of time in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and South Africa.
Jo has worked with a wide range of national, bilateral and multilateral organisations internationally. In the United Kingdom she served on HEFCE’s 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, has sat on a number of editorial boards and research panels and has been a Fellow of Goodenough College since 2000. Jo was a Trustee of ActionAid and is on the Council of the Overseas Development Institute.
