Heads of University Centres of Biomedical Sciences (HUCBMS) Conference 2024

Dr Andrew Turner is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Curriculum). He has responsibility for the strategic leadership of Curriculum Development across the University Group. He also has responsibility for the Office for Teaching and Learning which is a University-Group unit to support the development and delivery of the curriculum, pedagogy (teaching, learning and assessment) and academic development across the University Group.

Andrew joined the University in 1996 originally as a Lecturer in Environmental Science. His leadership of key university-wide projects has been instrumental to the enhancement of the student experience at Coventry. He led the implementation of an innovative new learning experience platform, Aula, replacing traditional virtual learning environment. Aula is at the heart of an Education Technology ecosystem providing an engaged, social approach to learning.

After initially training as a Biomedical Scientist in Nottingham, Duncan moved into academia, earning a PhD and joined Leeds Beckett University as a Senior Lecturer and Reader. He led research into novel sensors for clinical applications, such as wound infection diagnostics, and biomedical applications, including tissue culture, alongside advancing teaching and learning innovations. In 2015, Duncan moved into senior leadership roles, becoming Head of School and then Dean in 2016. Having led two schools he brought these together establishing the School of Health in 2021, which is home to 5,000 students and 260 colleagues.

In 2020, Duncan became the University Executive Lead for Sustainability, founding and chairing the Sustainability Advisory Group, and led the development and implementation of the university's first sustainability strategy.

Duncan is deeply invested in the civic and social roles of universities, the advancement of health partnerships to promote academic excellence, and regional skills development. He represents the university and the higher education sector on several local partnership groups and networks. Additionally, he co-chairs the Leeds Clinical Senate and serves on the DHSC Leeds Hub leadership board. Duncan is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (Advance HE).

Kathryn is a Professor of Evidence and Policy. As a social scientist, she studies how evidence is made, mobilised and used in policy and practice. She's the cofounder of Transforming Evidence, a collaboration which tries to connect the different communities with an interest in this space, as well as doing research on this set of topics. Between 2019-2023 she's been seconded to the Government Office for Science, where she has been supporting and studying academic engagement with government, particularly supporting the improved production and use of the Areas of Research Interest.

Nick Mount is Professor of Learning Innovation at the University of Nottingham and CEO of the University of Nottingham Online. If you ask him how he got to these roles, he'll tell you that its very complicated and it was never intentional. He'll also tell you that he is very glad he is there. Nick's career journey has taken him from Australia to the UK and through research spanning hydroinformatics and machine learning to peace and reconciliation in Latin America. Once described in feedback from a job interview as 'schizophrenic' (!), he will tell you that his work is actually deeply connected and coherent, with learning and innovation being the central themes that everything hangs off. This dual passion for better understanding how we learn, and the innovations that can make learning and transformation happen, are what motivates him. It makes him question why the contemporary university experience remains locked in a model developed more than 500 years ago, and that is poorly aligned with the needs of global learners in the 21st century. In his talk, Nick will explore some of the actions UK Higher Education providers might need to take to prevent being left in the wake of the 'fourth industrial revolution'.

Dr Sue Jones joined the IBMS in June 2022 following 20 years in higher education where she developed and led several IBMS accredited BSc Biomedical Science programmes. Sue has extensive experience of effectively supporting undergraduate and postgraduate students, apprentices and colleagues in the workplace to successfully undertake education and training.

Sue has won several prestigious awards for her innovative, inclusive and successful pedagogical approaches that have achieved exceptional student outcomes. These include the RSB HE-Bioscience Teacher of the Year (2020), Principal Fellowship of Advance-HE (PFHEA, 2021), Advance-HE CATE award (2022) and National Teaching Fellowship (2023).

Sue has brought her extensive experience and expertise in creating, developing, delivering, evaluating and improving education and training resources to her role at the IBMS. She leads all aspects of pre-registration education and training for students, trainees and apprentices and also oversees the ongoing delivery, development and enhancement of advanced and specialist post-registration qualifications.

Following the successful launch of digital versions of both the registration training portfolio and updated specialist portfolios in 2023/24, Sue's current priority projects focus on updating, streamlining and digitising all education, training and qualifications offered by the Institute. She continues to facilitate interactions and communities of practice by mentoring others and developing pedagogical approaches in higher education through her continued involvement with the national Biosciences Educators' Network, extensive mentoring activities and establishing the IBMS Academia Specialist Advisory Panel.

Aidan studied as a molecular biologist and University of Colorado Boulder, where he gained an interest in effective teaching practices. He joined LearnSci four years ago which enabled him to pursue this further through the design and development of innovative digital resources, particularly Smart Worksheets. Now at LearnSci he manages the Smart Worksheet Library, with the goal of creating a highly impactful, flexible and effective tool for academics to leverage for the enhancement of their students' scientific skills.

Pam Dunn is the Operational Lead for the Clinical Immunology Laboratory at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Trained in Clinical Chemistry in Bournemouth and Poole Hospitals and registered in 1993 as one of the last biomedical scientists to qualify via the part-time HNC route, Pam went on to pass IBMS Primary and Fellowship examinations, before taking a senior biomedical scientist post at Royal Hospital Haslar. In 2002, she graduated with an MSc from the Open University and later worked as Quality Manager in Blood Sciences at QA Hospital, Portsmouth.

Pam joined the University of Bradford in 2008 as a lecturer in Biomedical Science, leading modules on the different routes for the BSc(hons) in Biomedical Science and Healthcare Science, and contributing to the IBMS-approved MSc program. Pam gained FHEA in 2013 and led a session on Reflective Practice in the Postgraduate Science Curriculum at the 2017 University of Bradford Learning and Teaching Conference.

In 2018, Pam returned to the NHS in a Medical Education role at Harrogate Hospital and in 2021, moved to the Pathology Department at Leeds, initially as Quality Manager in Specialist Laboratory Medicine.

Leeds Clinical Immunology Laboratory provides a specialist referral service in autoimmune immunology and allergy testing as well as routine immunological and protein analysis for Leeds and the local area; it has over 30 staff, hosting placement students for the last three years.

Pam is an enthusiastic advocate for increasing access to higher education via part-time and work-based training opportunities, alongside the more traditional routes.