Professor Tony Kelly specialises in education and schooling theory, in particular as it relates to school improvement / effectiveness, innovative practice in educational management, governance and policy analysis, adapting economic theory (capability and game theoretic concepts) to education and developing innovative quantitative methods. His most recent books are on benchmarking in education (Routledge Falmer), the use of game theory in decision-making (Cambridge University Press), conceptualising a theory of intellectual capital for use in not-for-profit organisations like schools (Kluwer Academic Press) and adapting Sen's theory of capability to school choice (Palgrave Macmillan).

Professor Tony Kelly came to Southampton in 2001 from the University of Cambridge and before that from a school headship in Ireland. His background is in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and he holds degrees from Dublin (where he studied under Ernest Walton), Edinburgh and Cambridge (where he studied Physics under George Batchelor and Education under Mel West). He is not unusual in the fact that his initial academic training was outside the social sciences:

"One of the great strengths of education as an academic discipline is the fact that it offers so many opportunities for inter-disciplinary research. And the best educational research reflects that, drawing on knowledge from other disciplines in a way that is both robust and accessible."

Professor Tony Kelly believes that the importance of research in education / schooling to individual and societal well-being (both economic and otherwise) has increased with the passing of old-style production economies.

"Educational research now has a greater ‘urgency’ about it. It’s an exciting field, if at times a little pressurised!"

Tony’s headship in Ireland coincided with some of the worst periods of political upheaval there. He was one of the leading figures in the movement to integrate and rationalise education in the border region and he developed new governance structures there which have since become models for a number of schools. Additionally, he initiated and led the first school in Ireland to be built and managed by a public-private finance partnership.

He was the educational representative on the Committee for Peace and Reconciliation, which was set up by the European Union to oversee the distribution of funds to projects which developed / encouraged cross-community reconciliation. Currently, he is involved with the British-Irish Association, a forum of leading politicians, diplomats and academics founded in 1972 with the aim of improving understanding of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

Tony is currently a member of the Senate of the university and is Director for Research Degrees. He teaches on a variety of courses, including the Institutional Management and Leadership MA and the Research Degrees Training Programme, and supervises PhD and EdD students researching in his areas of interest. He is editor of the journal ‘Education, Knowledge and Economy’ (Taylor & Francis / Routledge).

He is an invited lecturer at Harvard University and the National University of Singapore, and serves on several national (UK) steering groups and approval panels at the Institute of Physics and the Institute of Mathematics. In his spare time, he plays Bridge and follows his interest in football, rowing and cricket from the comfort of his armchair!