Professor Dr Ger Graus OBE is a renowned figure in the field of education – described as both “Jean-Jacques Rousseau meets Willy Wonka” and as “standing along Antoine de Saint Exupéry and Gianni Rodari as the best broadcasters of the children’s voice”. He was the first Global Director of Education at KidZania, the founding CEO of the Children’s University, and an Adjunct Fellow at the University of Adelaide, Australia.
In 2019, Ger became a Visiting and Associate Professor at the National Research University in Moscow, Russia. He is also a Professor of Practice at the University of Cumbria, United Kingdom, and a Member of the PhD Advisory Council at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. Ger is a frequent keynote speaker at some of the world’s leading education conferences. Driven by his famous mantra that “Children can only aspire to what they know exists”, Ger champions the cause of equity, progress, purpose, creativity, and innovation in children’s learning and their futures.
Born in the Netherlands, Ger Graus moved to the United Kingdom in 1983 where he began his teaching career, later becoming a Senior Inspector, and Education Director.
Ger is a member of Bett’s Global Education Council, DIDAC India’s Advisory Board, and Junior Achievement’s Worldwide Global Council. He advises the Childbase Partnership’s Board and chairs their International Development Advisory Board, United Kingdom. He also chairs the Beaconhouse School System’s Advisory Board, Pakistan, and advises the Fondazione Reggio Children, Italy. Globally Ger supports a range of education start-ups. In 2018, he was invited to help shape the future of education in Dubai as a member of the Dubai Future Councils and in 2024, Ger was invited onto the Board of Trustees of the Sharjah Education Academy by Sultan bin Mohammed bin Sultan Al Qassimi, Ruler of Sharjah. In 2023, he joined the Global Teacher Prize Judging and the World’s Best School Prize Academies as a judge.
In the 2014 Queen’s Birthday Honours List Ger was made an Honorary Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to children, two years after he received an Honorary Doctorate from Staffordshire University, United Kingdom. In 2018 he received the Global Education Leadership Award at the World Education Congress, India and in 2022, he was granted the award of Iconic Leader Creating A Better World For All by the Women’s Economic Forum (WEF). The following year, in 2023, Ger was made a Companion of the Harry Volker Genootschap in The Netherlands. In 2025 and 2026, Ger was named Education Thought Leader of the Year by Acquisition International.
Ger’s professional autobiography, Through a Different Lens – Lessons from a Life in Education, was published by Routledge in 2025, in hardback, paperback and audio versions.
📩 janet.mccabe@modelbritain.co.uk
