Image credits, left to right: [1] Art: Measuring mistakes by Ulrike Kuchner. Lapel pin: CepheidStudio. [2] EROJ003707+0909.5, aka the space-invader. [3] Mapping dark matter with gravitational lensing. [4] Searching for gravitationally lensed gravitational waves.
Education, learning and development
This year I taught Gravitational lensing in the Rubin/LSST era to Masters students at the University of Vienna, plus Observational Astronomy and General Physics to Undergraduates at the University of Birmingham. I also support Birmingham students and colleagues as Programme Lead for Physics and Astrophysics (PaA).
Physics and astronomy education is a wonderful vehicle for developing data-driven decision-making skills that are essential in modern society. My philosophy has grown from helping undergraduates with various experimental, data analysis, coding, and interpretation challenges in numerous labs that I have led since 2010. This included a period as Director of the University of Birmingham Observatory, during which I supported a diverse team to install and commission a new telescope. This was the catalyst for major changes in undergrad labs, and public engagement.
In the 1990s I designed and delivered training programmes, often focussing on facilitation, leadership, and organisational redesign skills for teams striving to improve business performance and drive positive culture change. I co-designed and facilitated many client workshops, and trained a wide variety of client and consulting teams.
My first experience of teaching in academia also occurred in the 1990s as an Honourary Lecturer at Bradford School of Management, where I co-taught Non-financial Performance Measurement with Tony Rayman.
I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and thus qualified to teach in the UK Higher Education sector.
