Neil is a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Education, University of London and also manages his own international consultancy company, with specialist interest in international education. He has contributed to a wide range of education and training projects in over 20 countries and has lived and worked in Asia for 20 years, including eight years each in Indonesia and India.

Currently he is a board member of the Council for Education in the Commonwealth, the UK Open University Worldwide and the London School of Commerce. He was recently professional adviser to the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) and was a board member at the Institute for Development Studies, University of Sussex.

He has considerable experience in project management having been responsible for managing and providing consultancy advice on projects for the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, UK-DFID and the EU.

Neil's main interests outside education include coaching athletics, cycling, jazz and blues.  He was awarded an MBE in 1979 and OBE in 1989.