The British Educational Research Association (BERA) is a member-led charity to encourage educational research and its application for the improvement of practice and public benefit. It is an association promoting a researching culture within the academic field, and shaping guidance on policy and practice within the field. They provide a forum for academic discussion through holding conferences, disseminating material, publishing current research, and designating awards for research. The association is open to researchers from any discipline. Their publications have become a well known fixture for educational research, and provide an interdisciplinary approach that includes: "reports of experiments and surveys, discussions of conceptual and methodological issues and of underlying assumptions in educational research, accounts of research in progress, and book reviews." It is governed by an elected council with its president serving a two-year term. It is run on a daily basis by a permanent office staff, headed by Nick Johnson. (en)