Emma Marsden is Professor in Second Language Education in the Department of Education at the University of York. She began her career teaching French and Spanish, and was Head of Spanish, in an 11-18 comprehensive school. Since 2000 she has been undertaking research to inform our understanding about effective teaching and learning of foreign languages. She has worked with colleagues on a range of projects, including a free, digital game (https://www.gaminggrammar.com/). Emma has produced over 60 academic publications, is Journal Editor of ‘Language Learning’, and co-author of ‘Second Language Learning Theories’. She directs two international databases that open up research to a wider audience: IRIS (www.iris-database.org) and OASIS (www.oasis-database.com), and has supervised PhDs and projects on a range of topics, including interaction, motivation, inclusive heritage language pedagogies, learning strategies, and primary language education. Since 2018 she has been the Director of the National Centre for Excellence for Language Pedagogy and was on the panel reviewing the Subject Content for GCSEs in French, Spanish, and German.