And finally, ‘Research News’ includes conferencing information and details of recent publications. In his article, ‘The Cambridge Assessment Network’, Andrew Watts outlines the way in which the Research Division and Cambridge Assessment Network work together to enhance professional development in the assessment community.

The two articles from The Financial Times, reprinted with their permission, describe what happened when four Financial Times’ columnists agreed to sit some of the 2005 papers. These articles are followed by an evaluation of the Cambridge Assessment/Oxford University automatic marking system by Nicholas Raikes. The first four articles describe research presented at conferences. In this issue we report on a wide range of research topics from vocational assessment to new technologies. Research Matters: A Cambridge Assessment publication, 2, 1. The aim of this publication is to share assessment research in a range of fields with colleagues within Cambridge Assessment and in the wider assessment community and to comment on prominent research issues.

Welcome to the second issue of Research Matters, a biannual publication from Cambridge Assessment.

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