Contact
Biography
I am the University Digital Learning Director Coordinator, the Digital Learning Director (Faculty of Science) and Professor of Chemistry and Digital Learning. I am both a National Teaching Fellow (2021) and Senior Fellow (2021) of Advance HE, and a Chartered Chemist and Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry. I have received three University of Nottingham Lord Dearing Awards for excellence in teaching and learning (two team awards and one individual award).
As University Digital Learning Director Coordinator, I coordinate the Digital Learning Director (DLD) team. The team comprises DLDs for all five faculties at the University, and consists of ten academic colleagues, including me. The DLD team provides strategic leadership in digital learning at the University. I represent the DLD team at the University Teaching and Learning Committee. I chair the University Learning Environment Steering Group.
As the Faculty of Science Digital Learning Director (DLD), I lead the development and implementation of the digital learning strategy for the Faculty, whilst contributing to digital learning leadership across the University in partnership with fellow DLDs. For example, I chair the Faculty of Science Digital Learning Committee, and co-chair the University Lecture Capture Board. I work in close partnership with academics, professional service colleagues, and students, to facilitate productive working between individuals and groups, based on understanding and sharing of user-experiences in digital learning.
In autumn 2018, the DLDs collectively wrote the Vision for Digitally Enhanced Teaching and Learning at the University of Nottingham. This articulates a set of high-level principles, with a focus on pedagogy rather than technology, which the DLDs have used to develop a framework and approach for leading and supporting digital learning across the institution.
I am a computational chemist and an educator, where I use my scientific discipline to guide and develop my teaching and learning practice. For example, from the start of my teaching career, I have incorporated digital learning and computer generated images into my practice and gathered quantitative data from students about their experiences. I have used the power of the visual image to enhance my students understanding of chemistry, an approach that I have taken to schoolchildren and the public, by creating exhibitions and short films. I use evidence as a key tool in my professional practice, to understand both my students' experiences of my teaching and their experiences of their learning.
I am a Chemist by training and obtained both my BSc and PhD from the University of London. My postgraduate research was in the area of electroorganic synthesis, after which I moved into structural organic chemistry, utilizing primarily computational approaches, supported as required by experimental data. I have a wide range of experience in structural chemistry, involving systems varying from small organic molecules, including studies of nitrogen geometry in anilines, to micelle structure in drug delivery systems, stationary phases in separation science and protein/ligand interactions.
I have worked as a consultant in visual science communication, with a variety of organizations including the BBC, Nesta, EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) and the RSC (Royal Society of Chemistry). I have been involved in exhibition design and development (prior to fit-out) at the interactive science centre Explore in Bristol, I chaired the Royal Society of Chemistry Committee for Promoting Chemistry to the Public and I was awarded the Science Communicator Award from the BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council).
Major pieces of work that I have completed, include:
Small Matters, a series of short films highlighting the role of molecules in enjoyment and pleasure, which have been broadcast on BBC television, and exhibited in venues across the UK;
Lighting-up the Invisible, a collection of interior lighting products exploring molecular shape and architectures, which has been exhibited at the Royal College of Art, London and at 100% Design Earls Court, London;
Sense-ational, an exhibition of photographs showing the role of molecules in everyday life, which has been exhibited at venues across the UK, including the Royal Society of Chemistry, Burlington House, London.
Research Summary
My current educational research interests are in the following areas:
Students' digital learning transition from secondary to tertiary education, collaboration with Dr Stephanie McDonald and Elizabeth Newall, University of Nottingham
Students' experience of research and the HEFCE-funded "Come on in to our research labs", collaboration with Prof Snow Stolnik, Director of EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Transformative Pharmaceutical Technologies, University of Nottingham, Dr Beppe Mantovani, University of Nottingham
Building communities of practice to support staff and students