I am curently the Academic Director for Innovation at UEA. Previously, I was the Associate Dean for Enterprise and Engagement in the Faculty of Medicine and Health. But I began my career at St Andrews University where I graduated with a BSc in Biochemistry with Microbiology, and moved to the University of Dundee for an MSc and a PhD in Microbiology. After a four year career break (to raise my family) I returned to scientific research as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Dr Stephen Bornemann’s Laboratory in the Department of Biological Chemistry at the John Innes Centre (JIC). As a bench scientist I researched, fungal and microbial proteins, and gene clusters, proteins and biochemical processes involved in novel antibiotic production from Streptomyces. I have incorporated my interest in antibiotics into my teaching areas and have had opportunities to share these interests in International settings and to wide audiences most recently through my new, popular science book, The Microbes Fight Back: antibiotic resistance.
My teaching career started as an Associate Lecturer at the Open University and I worked as an Honorary Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at UEA. I deliver lectures and run PBL sessions to Year 0 and Year 1 students on the MB/BS medical degree programme, in the area of Molecular Biology, Genetics and Microbiology. The A104 Medicine with a Foundation Year is a programme with a widening participation agenda that delivers significant opportunities for students from a non-traditional background to enter the medical profession and I a Course Director of this programme. I also lecture on the School of Biology Module 3CXY, Science Communication. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
It was while I was working at the John Innes Centre that I developed a key interest in Science Communication. I have been awarded funding from a wide variety of organisations for science communication activities, including the Society of General Microbiology (SGM). I have also had opportunities to share my expertise both nationally and internationally.
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