The mathematics education research network benefits from several local, national and international connections.

Local connections

The mathematics education research network has strong connections with teachers and schools in the Bristol area.

Local connections include:

• partner schools for the PGCE in secondary mathematics education;
• contributions to the local Avon Branch of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics (ATM);
• local teachers developing their practice through the MEd in mathematics education;
• MERN members attend the Bristol Local Authority 'Mathematics Steering Group'.

National connections

MERN members contribute to mathematics education in the UK through a number of national organisations and other fora, including:

• British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics
• National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics
• Association of Teachers of Mathematics
• Commissions and inquiries
• Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education

Contributions to BSRLM

Rosamund Sutherland has been chair of BSRLM and Laurinda Brown has served on the BSRLM executive and treasurer respectively. Alf Coles is currently book review editor for the journal 'Research in Mathematics Education'.

Laurinda Brown edited the first volume of BSRLM's annual publication of reviewed papers in mathematics education 'Making Meaning in Mathematics'.

MERN members regularly contribute papers at the termly day conferences of BSRLM.

Contributions to ATM

Laurinda Brown is former editor of Mathematics Teaching, a journal published by ATM.

Members of MERN have made regular contributions to the ATM Easter Conference programme, including plenary sessions from Alf Coles and Laurinda Brown.

International connections

The Mathematics Education Research Network benefits from several international connections, with members regularly attending the Annual Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME) as well as other international events.

• Laurinda Brown collaborates with David A Reid in Canada; Laurinda Brown and Alf Coles collaborate with Ceneida Fernandez in Spain; David Santos, Armando Landis, Maria Lozano in Mexico.
• Rosamund Sutherland has a long-standing connection with Teresa Rojano and colleagues in Mexico.  She also works with colleagues from Italy and France, including Nicolas Balacheff, Marie Alessandra Mariotti and Ferdinando Arzarello.
• Participation in the annual conferences of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education.
• Laurinda Brown and Alf Coles participated in the invited ICMI conference, 2013 on task design.
• Laurinda Brown, Alf Coles and Tim Jay will participate in the invited conference Mathematics Education and Contemporary Theory, in Manchester 2013.
• Participation at the first and fourth Global Conference on Story Telling (Laurinda Brown).
• Alf Coles has on-going collaborations with Nathalie Sinclair (Canada), Liz deFrietas (USA), Aurelie Chesnais (France), Julie Horocks (France), Ian Lyons (Canada) and Haiyan Xie (China).