National Project Manager (NPM) for PISA 2021, Grace Grima, will lead the core team at the National Centre, executing the work, monitoring progress and communicating within the Operational board. Grace will have overall responsibility for the within-country implementation of PISA in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, following international standards and procedures. Grace will sit on the Operational Board and the Research Advisory Board.

Grace is Director of Research at Pearson UK. In her role at Pearson, she is responsible for research on academic and vocational qualifications and learning services for schools and also international assessments. Grace was the NRC for England for PIRLS 2016 and TIMSS 2019. Previously, in her role as Director-General in the Ministry of Education and Employment in Malta, she was responsible for all international assessments in Malta including PISA. Prior to that, in New Zealand, she had the opportunity to work on NEMP (the National Educational Monitoring Project) in both primary and secondary schools at the Educational Assessment Research Unit, the University of Otago.