Our National Teaching Fellows

Dr Jane Wormald

Dr Jane Wormald is a Course Leader for the BA (Hons) Education and Professional Development, focusing on lifelong learning. She is interested in studying educational career paths that are different from the norm. Jane is enthusiastic about making education accessible to all and helping students transition into Higher Education smoothly. She leads initiatives like 'Flying Start', 'Ready, Steady, Study', and 'Huddersfield Essentials' to support students in their university journey. Currently, she is exploring ways to create inclusive learning environments and finding solutions to bridge the gap in academic achievements among students.

Professor Richard Hill

Professor Richard Hill's 20 years of commitment to inclusive higher education has transformed teaching and research. As a Chartered Engineer, he empowers students through innovative postgraduate programs, significantly increasing their employability. Leading institutional projects at the University of Derby, Richard champions inclusivity, widening participation, and efficient resource utilization. Joining the University of Huddersfield, he continues to innovate the curriculum, nurture research capabilities, and drive academic excellence.

Professor Melanie Rogers

Professor Rogers is a renowned nurse leader who has spoken at major nurse conferences globally. She has multiple publications and several books and chapters and is an active researcher in two fields: Advanced Practice and Spirituality. Yet, she said that her 'vocation is for teaching and learning to be transformational and I have witnessed this throughout my career with my students excelling in clinical practice.'

Professor Georgina Blakeley

Professor Blakeley has been Associate Dean Teaching and Learning at the University of Huddersfield since 2019 and will continue to focus on inclusive pedagogy and support to achieve the University’s teaching and learning strategy which focuses on social justice through its aim of achieving zero differential attainment by 2025. During her time with The Open University (2006-2019), she led the design and delivery of interdisciplinary Social Science entry-level modules taken by 6,000 students annually.  Approximately 40% of the entry-level students had low/no prior educational qualifications and/or low socio-economic status and 20% declared a disability. This demographic required inclusive teaching to enable all students to fulfil their potential by ensuring their different learning needs were met and barriers preventing their learning were removed. Through her work at the University of Huddersfield and her prior contributions at The Open University, Prof. Blakeley has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to promoting inclusive education and driving positive change within the higher education landscape.

Professor Vanessa Taylor

Professor Taylor has worked to establish consistent education standards for the workforce providing general and specialist cancer, palliative and end care, promoting inclusivity and accessibility to learning opportunities. For instance, In March 2020, collaborating with HEE and colleagues as part of the project entitled Transform, Educate and Empower nurses to improve CANcer care (TEECAN), Dr Taylor launched e-learning sessions known as the Cancer Nursing Careers programme and made them free and accessible for all UK nurses. “The Cancer Nursing Careers programme is an excellent resource for nurses and will help to ensure that they will – regardless of the setting in which they work – have the necessary knowledge and skills to provide appropriate care for those affected by cancer,” she said.

Dr Elizabeth Dobson

Dr Dobson’s Fellowship is in recognition of some highly innovative and inter-disciplinary dimensions of her work. In addition to her specialist expertise in music and technology, she also has a PhD in social psychology and education, leading to an understanding of “how learning happens in informal situations as much as it does in formal situations”.
 
This inspired her creation of the scheme named CollabHub, which enables students from different subject areas to combine and pool their areas of interest and expertise to develop small projects. The goal is to build confidence, familiarity and long-term professional relationships and since 2012 almost 1000 students have taken part.

Professor Rupert Ward

Professor Rupert Ward combines his expertise in computing, physics and education in order to incorporate a broad range of educational perspectives into student-focused initiatives in virtual environments, mobile applications and web-based development in areas such as personal development, multimedia production, entrepreneurship, assessment and feedback, study planning and academic resourcing.

Andrew Walsh

Andrew is based in the library and was awarded his NTF largely on the basis of work on game-based learning, particularly around his external influence towards this approach. Since then, he’s moved slightly away from focussing on games and more towards the use of play in adult learning, where games are just one way of getting the benefits of play and playfulness. As well as writing and speaking about Play and Playfulness in adult learning, he’s also interested in creative teaching approaches, information literacy, playful leadership, and what it means to play as a neurodivergent adult. He set up and edits the Diamond Open Access Journal of Play in Adulthood.

Professor Michael Clarke

In 2011, Professor Clarke had worked at the University of Huddersfield for 24 years and had played a significant role in the development of music technology in the institution so that it has become a degree course in its own right and a strong area for research with an international reputation. A composer, Prof Clarke is involved in the development of software for sound synthesis and to enhance teaching and learning.

Professor Liz Bennett

Professor Bennett has pioneered curriculum practices using technology enhanced learning techniques and led the MSc Technology Enhanced Learning for 12 years. Her students, who are often teachers in colleges, schools and universities, have gone on to bring about change in their institutions. Several have also won national awards, and several have published in peer-reviewed journals from the work undertaken as part of the MSc Technology Enhanced Learning.

As Director of Teaching and Learning in the School of Education and Professional Development, she has led a programme to reimagine how the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) can more effectively support students. This has led to improvements in student satisfaction and engagement with the VLE and significantly improved accessibility.

Liz was awarded a University of Huddersfield ‘Star of Covid’ award for the support and vision that she showed colleagues to ensure that the trauma of lockdowns was well managed, and that students’ continued to have an excellent experience despite the challenges that we were all experiencing.

Her award-winning work on students’ responses to learner dashboards focused on how designs could support students to be more active and engaged in their learning when they are provided with data about their progress. Her research indicates that these data dashboards are welcomed by most students, even those who are lower down the cohort, because they found this information motivating. It has influenced practices at other institutions and within the field.

Dr Mark Mynett

Drawing heavily on his previous career as professional record-producer, Mark has worked in some of the world’s foremost studios, produced albums for various major labels, and has collaborated with and interviewed some of the world’s top producers, including University of Huddersfield honorary doctorate recipient Andrew Scheps (Adele, Metallica), and Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters). This puts him in the unique position of being able to act as the bridge between practitioner and academia.

A key aspect of his work is developing teaching and learning in metal-music-production. As the world’s only practice based MTP academic with the necessary understanding, knowledge, and experience, he has founded and shaped metal music production education as a legitimate and valuable international field. From academic scholarship, practitioner-based articles/publications, the world’s first book on the subject and the world’s first research funding in the area (from the Arts and Humanities Research Council), he has provided a unique, renowned national and international contribution to academic literature in this specific field of practice, transforming student learning and teaching profession perspectives alike.