As part of BERA’s 50^th anniversary celebrations in 2024, we felt it appropriate to mark the occasion in the pages of Research Intelligence (RI). This publication has existed for much of BERA’s 50 years, starting life as an in-house journal before British Educational Research Journal (BERJ) was established, then undergoing several incarnations over time before becoming a members’ magazine in the 1990s.

As part of the celebrations, we asked several key figures from BERA’s history to pen personal memories and reflections of their time involved in the association. We are very grateful to Sara Delamont, Michael Bassey, Felicity Wikeley, Colin Rogers, Dominic Wyse and Yuwei Xu for taking the time to do this.

I then delved into the archives of RI itself to pick out some pieces that might have contemporary relevance and found myself spoilt for choice! Abbreviated versions of these articles can be found in this special issue, along with links to the full versions.

Alongside this content, I wrote short pieces looking at BERA itself during each period in question. This involved reading through past issues of RI and BERJ, as well as internal BERA documents, and then offering some personal thoughts on the debates and developments of the time. This also supported the creation of a timeline of key issues, publications and events.

There is much more that can be said about BERA’s 50 years and some of this was touched upon at the AGM event we held in November 2024. We hope to announce plans to capture more of this history later in 2025.

Nick Johnson, BERA Chief Executive