Experience

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  Institute of Biomedical Science

  • United Kingdom
  • Hospitals and Health Care
  • 100 - 200 Employee

  • Executive Head of Education

    • Jun 2022 - Present

    As Executive Head of Education I am responsible for delivering the Institute’s corporate strategy for education and professional standards of practice.As a member of the Executive team I provide leadership, support and expert advice on education and professional qualification matters to IBMS Council, Advisory Panels and other Institute staff to help advance the aims, objectives and values of the Institute. I work with colleagues through the Education and Professional Standards Committee to deliver the Terms of Reference and education components of Institute’s strategy. I am also the lead person for degree accreditation and engagement with academic providers of IBMS accredited degrees in biomedical science and will ensure the IBMS professional learning opportunities are appropriate to the needs of the profession.I am passionate about high quality education and training and increasing the profile of laboratory training across the UK. I am working hard to clarify the routes to registration to support recruitment and progression of all colleagues in practice.

  • Accreditation Panel Member and CPD Module leader

    • Jan 2013 - Present

    Nationally and internationally, I have enhanced pedagogical practice at 13 institutions, through my active contributions in re-validation / re-accreditation panels in addition to external examining duties. During visits as a Programme Leader (Singapore, 2012) and external examiner (Sri Lanka, 2016 and Malaysia 2018 onwards) I led pedagogical discussions with colleagues on delivery of teaching and quality assurance / enhancement in learning and teaching. I shaped assessment and feedback strategies and implemented expanded feedback / annotation to provide “feed-forward” to improve students’ academic achievement. I have developed learning and teaching strategies with approximately 240 practitioners (since 2015). I design and lead a module for the national Certificate in Expert Practice in Training for the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS), the professional body for Biomedical Scientists in the UK. The participants are senior scientists in NHS laboratories from across the UK who are responsible for training new staff and placement students, but have not necessarily been trained themselves on successful ways to teach, or understand different ways of learning. This training directly benefits placement students from my subject discipline nationally, by improving the teaching quality during their compulsory training. The course also supports the training of graduates throughout the UK to meet the future Healthcare needs of various NHS Trusts, in a co-ordinated and consistent way.I also assess degrees for graduates from non-IBMS accredited programmes across the UK and EU to determine what supplementary education they should undertake to meet the criteria required by the IBMS to work in the profession.

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  York St. John University

  • United Kingdom
  • Higher Education
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Associate Head of School : Biosciences

    • Nov 2019 - Present

    In this role to date I have expanded our undergraduate provision to include 3 routes through Applied Biosciences degree programmes with a unique specialism. I have successfully led the accreditation of all programmes from the Royal Society of Biology in 2020/21. Our Biomedical Science programme now has dual accreditation (RSB & IBMS). I have also developed, validated and coordinated the IBMS accreditation of our Healthcare Science Practitioner degree apprenticeship for local NHS colleagues.I have organised the extension of our Biosciences laboratories to include research specific space for the academic team and our students.

  • Public Engagement

    • Jan 2014 - Present

    During my career I have delivered over 50 public engagement sessions. Since 2014, I have facilitated the engagement of approximately 350 students (children from 8 – 17 years) in laboratory-based outreach activities.This year, I have developed a Science Club with a local Primary School. Our practical sessions directly address the issue raised by Ofsted’s Chief Inspector: that science is being “squeezed out” of the curriculum as teachers concentrate on Maths and English SATs. I am directly addressing this problem by providing inspiring science sessions for Year 5 and 6 children. This Science Club represents my ongoing commitment to motivate young children to study science and raise aspirations to go to University. Working with older pupils through Aim Higher, Compact Scheme, Green Apples and Higher York, I have delivered approximately 30 widening participation activities.I have further broadened access to HE through curricula development. As a subject expert, I have critically reviewed the learning, teaching and assessment strategies for two level 3 qualifications: Access to HE Health Diploma (Calderdale College) and the national AQA Level 3 Applied Science. Both courses were developed to enhance widening participation and commenced following my approval. To date, approximately 213 students have completed the Access to HE Health Diploma, with 95% progressing to HE (personal communication with OneAwards.org). Approximately 120 schools delivered the AQA Applied Science Extended Certificate to 1000 students in 2018 (AQA Education Department). Therefore, the direct impact of my work is that >1200 students were able to access HE in 2018, through these level 3 programmes.

  • Head of Learning and Teaching Enhancement (secondment)

    • Nov 2021 - Jun 2022

    In my seconded role as Head of Teaching and Learning Enhancement, I am responsible for leading and coordinating the delivery of the Learning, Teaching and Student Experience Strategy, via the 2021/22 action plan. In conjunction with the PVC for Learning and Teaching I am working closely and in partnership with key stakeholders including Student Union Officers, Heads of School, Learning and Teaching Leads, academic colleagues and Professional Services colleagues to support the delivery of the three key areas of the action plan. I am responsible for delivering the successful implementation, communication, analysis and evaluation of the strategic learning and teaching enhancement action plan initiatives. Through several steering groups we are developing specific and targeted approaches to underpin positive student engagement, a sense of belonging, and improved retention, attainment, progression and graduate outcomes. Further steering group activity is focussed on student partnership, the student voice and celebrating success through the new YSJ Awards and Strategic Student Survey Group. Progress and implementation of key policies and strategies are reported to Education Committee and supported by the Learning and Teaching Leads Forum discussions. These are then analysed with colleagues at Quality and Standards Committee, with final scrutiny and ratification at Academic Board.

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  Heads of University Biosciences (HUBS)

  • Co Organizer of HUBS Biosciences Educators’ Network

    • Aug 2021 - Present

    I have established and maintain this national mentoring network with colleagues David Smith (Sheffield Hallam University) and Katharine Hubbard (University of Hull) to support colleagues in Biosciences at different stages of their career. Supported by HUBS, we have delivered several workshops and catch up sessions for colleagues across the UK to provide peer support and mentoring from more experienced colleagues. Our aim is to create more consistent and effective support for all L&T focussed colleagues applying for academic promotion or national awards including NTF, HE Bioscience Teacher of the Year and different categories of fellowship of Advance-HE.Our first cohort started their mentoring partnerships in February 2021 and cohort 2 in September 2021. We are now actively supporting 66 colleagues across 35 institutions in the UK and Ireland.

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  Capstone Experience

  • Capstone Experience team member

    • Aug 2021 - Present

    Working with Dave Lewis (University of Leeds) and Michelle Payne (University of Sunderland) we have delivered a series of national online workshops in 2020 and 2021 on broadening the Capstone Experience for final year students in Biosciences, broader STEM subjects and are now expanding this to more subject areas and disseminating our approach globally. We have created several open access resources to support colleagues to understand different capstone experiences and “How to” guides to provide practical advice on how to set up different types of projects and support students. We are now setting up a community of practice around Capstones.We won a CATE Award in 2021 based on the work initiated at the University of Leeds that we are disseminating (inter)nationally.

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  University of Bradford and York st John University

  • Bradford, United Kingdom

  • Training for Trainers

    • Sep 2009 - Present
    • Bradford, United Kingdom

    I have established “Training for Trainers” events across 2 institutions to develop the pedagogy of practitioners and develop their understanding of successful approaches to support trainees to complete the IBMS Portfolio of Competence. In 2009, I developed, with a practitioner colleague, a programme of training in understanding / developing LTA practices in the workplace. This course has been attended by 20-30 participants per year (at UoB) from 2009-2018, producing approximately 200 trained practitioners in the Yorkshire and Humber region. I also established a similar “Training for Trainers” day as part of the YSJ CPD offer (from 2018).

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  HUCBMS Constitution

  • Heads of University Centres for Biomedical Science (HUCBMS) Executive Committee

    • Sep 2015 - Aug 2021

    The Heads of University Centres for Biomedical Science (HUCBMS) represent approximately 50 Universities nationally. HUCBMS work closely with other national bodies – the Institute for Biomedical Science (IBMS), Heads of University Biosciences (HUBS) and is a member organisation of the Royal Society of Biology (RSB).I have been on the Executive Committee of this organisation since 2015 and was re-elected in 2018. I recently wrote the Equality and Diversity statement for HUCBMS. My Equality and Diversity statement is on HUCBMS web pages and through my work, Equality and Diversity matters are now a standing item on the HUCBMS executive committee agenda and are discussed at the AGM. I am the RSB Member Organisation Diversity and Inclusion representative for HUCBMS and attend and influence RSB hosted events.

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  York St. John University

  • United Kingdom
  • Higher Education
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Learning and Teaching Leader (Health Sciences)

    • Nov 2017 - Nov 2019

    I was selected to be one of 9 School Learning and Teaching (L&T) Leaders at YSJ. I was part of a cross-discipline and cross-institutional network of L&T Leaders who support each other and academic colleagues in disseminating information and implementing policies. We were responsible for promoting on-going quality enhancement in learning, teaching and assessment (LTA).In addition to supporting colleagues to deliver high quality teaching and learning, I was also responsible for sharing the outcomes and evaluating the impact of new learning, teaching and assessment practices against the “Inspiring Learning” strategic priority. This is translated from School level, through institutional Learning and Teaching Committee and Quality and Standards Committee into cross-institutional policy changes, which support academic colleagues to provide a better quality experience for students.

  • Director of Biomedical Sciences

    • Oct 2014 - Nov 2019

    I have designed 3 Biomedical Science degree programmes, curriculum and assessment strategies across 2 institutions. I am also involved in the current development of new STEM provision at York St John University and I have worked closely with both the IBMS and HCPC for many years and have a detailed understanding of how to work with PSRBs.I have an extensive external network to share best practice in learning, teaching and assessment in Biosciences. I presented at the IBMS Congress on “Academic Research and Careers” (2015) and led a discussion on assessment strategies at the IBMS Accreditation Training Event (2016). I have acted as: a programme advisor for the BSc programmes and for the AQA Level 3 Applied Science and Access to HE Diploma (2015); external panel member for periodic reviews / validation events at the UCLan, UWS, Aston University, Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) and Ulster University (2012-2018). I have also been an IBMS accreditation panel member for 13 institutions (both BSc and MSc) across the UK, Europe and International (2015-2019). I lead a distance-learning module for the IBMS for the Certificate of Expert Practice in Training qualification (2016 - 2019). I am regularly invited to lead cross-institutional and national committees and/or working groups beyond my academic role to enhance pedagogical practice. I have worked with colleagues at over 20 institutions through external roles since 2012 to: improve their understanding of diverse student cohorts; directly impact upon student learning; transform outcomes. I am a member of the Heads of University Centres for Biomedical Science (HUCBMS) Executive Committee and am the Equality and Diversity Champion for the committee.I have recently been a member of the Trailblazer Group for the level 7 Research Scientist apprenticeship. We successfully produced the standard and I wrote the EPA assessment descriptors for the distinction grade that have been approved by the OfA.

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  University of Bradford

  • Bradford, United Kingdom

  • Deputy Head of School, Medical Sciences

    • Apr 2005 - Oct 2012
    • Bradford, United Kingdom

    I have worked closely with both the IBMS and HCPC for many years and have a detailed understanding of how to work with PRSBs to support Biomedical Science and Healthcare (Life Sciences) programmes. I have been involved in many administrative, educational, quality assurance and external activities as Deputy Head of School for Medical Sciences and Course Tutor for Biomedical Science at the University of Bradford.I co-ordinated the organisation of the new stage 3 of the Bradford Biomedical Science programme for 2010/11. I led the development, implementation and triple accreditation the new Healthcare Science (all Life Sciences routes) programmes in 2011 and 2012 and I was a panel member for the internal academic review of the School of Health (University of Bradford) in January 2012. I subsequently led the periodic review for Biomedical Science, the re-accreditation of the Biomedical Science BSc and the Proportionate Touch Review for the Healthcare Science programmes in 2013 at Bradford. Finally, I was selected to meet with the QAA panel during the Institutional Review in April 2014 as part of the programme approval and review session.I chaired Staff Student Liaison Committee and BSc Academic Committee meetings plus assessment committees and exam boards. I was also a member of the School of Life Sciences Learning and Teaching committee (and all sub-committees) and was a member of the Course Approval and Review Team committee for the School of Health and the University Course Approval and Review Panel. I have completed the following management training courses (New managers briefing, Managing People and Performance, Recruitment and Selection, Disability Issues Training, Diversity in the Workplace, Managing Work Related Stress and Managing Change).