Kirsty Newman is a Senior Education Specialist in ADB who is currently on secondment to the Education Commission where she has led the development of the White Paper. In ADB she advises on evidence-informed policy and practice. She was previously Head of Education Policy in the UK Department of International Development and also led teams in DFID focusing on Evidence-informed Policy Making and Higher Education. Before joining DFID Kirsty worked for a number of NGOs and public sector organizations managing and implementing capacity building programs for research, higher education and policymaking. Kirsty originally trained as an immunologist and began her career researching malaria and teaching immunology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.