Christian is a highly sought-after executive coach, researcher, educational consultant and keynote speaker, with significant leadership experience in the public sector.

Christian has a richly diverse career background. He has held senior marketing and business development roles in a number of organisations within the hospitality and fast moving consumer goods sectors abroad before moving to the UK in 1997. Since then, he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s marketing department before taking up senior management roles with educational services in two highly rated local authorities. In all of his roles, Christian has maintained a focus on bringing together the best elements from the worlds of education, commerce and the public sector.

He currently divides his professional time between three engaging and rewarding roles:

• As a senior lecturer with UEL’s School of Psychology, Christian’s particular area of expertise is in the impact of coaching and mentoring within the education sector. Christian is module leader for Coaching and Mentoring in Education, Evidence-based Coaching Theory and Practice, and Leadership and Organisational Coaching. He is co-author of Coaching in Education (in press) and is interested in the role of “mental toughness” in schools and colleges.
• Christian is a well-respected educational consultant working across schools and colleges in the UK and internationally.
• Christian is an executive coach working with senior leaders in the public sector through the West Midlands Coaching Pool.

Passionate about creativity and the arts, Christian studied English literature and Shakespeare studies to a postgraduate level at the American University of Beirut. While completing his studies, he taught English literature at both secondary school and university level. Christian maintained his interest in drama and literature after moving to the UK and completed a PhD in English at the University of Birmingham in 2007.

Christian believes that:

• coaching is a powerful conversational intervention which supports coachees to achieve better results for themselves and their organisations;
• sustainable success at work depends on a healthy life–work balance which recognises an individual’s value and worth;
• coaching, mentoring and working in the public sector should always be a rewarding experience; and
• more research is needed into the positive impact of coaching within education.

• Module leader for Coaching and Mentoring in Education
• Module leader for Evidence-based Coaching Theory and Practice
• Module leader for Leadership and Organisational Coaching
• Admissions tutor for coaching psychology programmes
• Research into coaching and mentoring
• Supervision of coaches
• Supervision of dissertations

• Coaching and mentoring within the public sector and within education
• Coaching interventions with young people (in and out of school)
• Creative leadership in the public sector and within education
• Using story-telling and the theatre paradigm for change management
• Coaching for mental toughness
• Cross-cultural coaching

• The impact of coaching training and coaching practice on the emotional intelligence and examination results of secondary school students
• The efficacy of secondary students coaching other students on examination performance
• The creation of “coaching cultures for learning” within schools
• The impact of coaching on the development and career progression of aspiring school leaders from BME backgrounds

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

1. van Nieuwerburgh, C., & Tong, C. (2013). Exploring the benefits of being a student coach in educational settings: a mixed-method study. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Practice and Research, 6(1), 5–24. doi:10.1080/17521882.2012.734318
2. Knight, J., & van Nieuwerburgh, C. (2012). Instructional coaching: a focus on practice. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 5(2), 100–112. doi:10.1080/17521882.2012.707668
3. van Nieuwerburgh, C., & Tong, C. (2012). Exploring the benefits of being a student coach in educational settings: a mixed-method study. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Practice and Research. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/17521882.2012.734318
4. Briggs, M., & van Nieuwerburgh, C. (2011). Coaching cultures: the child’s perspective. ICERI2011 Proceedings, 5076–5083.
5. Briggs, M., & van Nieuwerburgh, C. (2011). Ways of working. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 4(2), 163–167. doi:10.1080/17521882.2011.598177
6. Briggs, M., & van Nieuwerburgh, C. (2010). The development of peer coaching skills in primary school children in years 5 and 6. Procedia — Social and Behavioral Sciences, 9, 1415–1422. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.12.343
7. van Nieuwerburgh, C. (2010). A commentary on ‘Holism in sports coaching: beyond humanistic psychology’ International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, 5(4), 463–464.

Edited Books

1. van Nieuwerburgh, C. (Ed.). (2012). Coaching in education: getting better results for students, educators and parents. London: Karnac.

Book Chapters

1. Law, H., & van Nieuwerburgh, C. (2013). Coaching and coaching psychology. In R. Bayne & G. Jinks (Eds.), Applied psychology: research, training and practice (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
2. van Nieuwerburgh, C. (2012). Coaching for mental toughness. In P. Clough & D. Strycharczyk (Ed.), Developing mental toughness: Improving performance, wellbeing and positive behaviour in others. London: Kogan Page.
3. Briggs, M., & van Nieuwerburgh, C. (2011). The use of coaching to support educational leadership in primary and secondary schools in the UK. In I. Kocabaş & R. Yirci (Eds.), Öğretmen ve Yönetici Yetiştirmede Mentorluk [Mentoring Practices around the World]. Turkey: Anı Yayıncılık.

Conference Papers

1. van Nieuwerburgh, C. (2010, 30 October). The development of peer coaching skills in primary school children. Paper presented at the World Conference on Learning, Teaching and Administration, Cairo, Egypt.