Mathias Urban, PhD, is Desmond Chair of Early Childhood Education, and Director of the Early Childhood Research Centre (ECRC) at Dublin City University, Ireland (DCU). He works on questions of policy related to diversity and equality, social justice, evaluation and professionalism in education and care systems for young children, families and communities in diverse socio-cultural contexts. Before joining DCU Mathias held the position of Froebel Professor of Early Childhood Studies and Director of the Early Childhood Research Centre at the University of Roehampton, London, United Kingdom.

Mathias is Professor of Pedagogy (professor II) at the University of Stavanger, Norway, and Affiliate Professor and Fellow at EDPolicyFORWARD: The Center for Educational Policy at George Mason University, VA, USA.

Mathias has 20 years experience in designing and leading international collaborative research projects. He has a well-established track record of publications in international peer-reviewed journals; his work has been classified as ‘world leading’ and ‘internationally excellent’ in the context of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) of the United Kingdom.

Mathias is the lead author of the 2018 (Argentina), 2019 (Japan), 2020 (Saudi Arabia), 2021 (Italy), and 2022 (Indonesia) G20/T20 early childhood development, education and care policy briefs, and a member of the European Commission expert working group on Early Childhood Education and Care.