TIRF Trustee Barry O’Sullivan Receives Cambridge/ILTA Distinguished Achievement Award

February 26, 2026
Dr. Barry O’Sullivan

Editor’s note: This piece is based on an announcement distributed by the International Language Testing Association (ILTA).

In a message sent earlier this month, the International Language Testing Association (ILTA) announced that Dr. Barry O’Sullivan has been honored with the 2025 Cambridge/ILTA Distinguished Achievement Award. Given annually, this important award “recognizes individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the field of language testing through scholarship, professional leadership, and service to the global language assessment community.”

Barry is the Director of English Language Research at the British Council. He has served as a Trustee of TIRF since 2018. The ILTA announcement noted that he met the four criteria for this honor through the following:

  • Extensive academic and professional leadership: Serving as President of UKALTA and as a Trustee of both ALTE (the Association of Language Testers in Europe) and TIRF, he has influenced policy and practice globally.
  • Impactful scholarship: Author and editor of 11 books and almost 150 publications including journal articles, book chapters, and research reports, with seminal works on validity, technology-mediated assessment, and CEFR alignment.
  • Innovation in test development: Led major projects such as Aptis and AI-driven assessment initiatives, setting new standards for fairness and accessibility in testing.
  • Mentorship and capacity building: Supervised and examined numerous PhDs, and delivered over 150 plenary talks worldwide, inspiring generations of language assessment professionals.

Dr. Nick Saville, Director of Thought Leadership at Cambridge University Press & Assessment (and also a TIRF Trustee), had this to say about the 2025 award recipient: “The collaboration between Cambridge and ILTA on the Distinguished Award Achievement dates back nearly 25 years, and this year we are pleased to be presenting the award to Barry as the 20th recipient at the Language Testing Research Colloquium in Montreal. He joins a diverse group of distinguished professionals, all of whom have made their own unique contribution to the field of language assessment.”

The TIRF community extends its congratulations to Barry and its gratitude for his years of service.