Personal statement

Helen leads Learning Innovation and Skills at Bath Spa University, a team comprising Academic Skills, Schools Technical Services and Teaching Expertise Development, with responsibility for developing and enhancing learning, learning support and teaching across the institution. She has extensive experience in strategic leadership of academic staff development, facilitation and evaluation within learning and teaching in higher education. 

Her career in educational development spans nearly three decades, developing from a focus on geoscience education (connecting into her original academic field of geophysics) to working across all academic disciplines. She has had leading roles in UK-wide learning and teaching enhancement projects and organisations, as an independent consultant collaborating with colleagues in the UK, USA and Australia, and institutional roles (previously Head of Academic Staff Development at the University of Bath and Deputy Director of Academic Practice at the University of the West of England, Bristol). 

She has broad interests across a range of learning, teaching and assessment themes, but her particular passion is supporting colleagues’ professional learning and development. Her current research is exploring the characteristics of expertise for teaching in higher education. In her non-work time, she thoroughly enjoys trail running and Bluegrass banjo playing (not necessarily at the same time), both of which feed into her research and educational development interests in various ways!

Academic qualifications

  • PhD Geoscience, University of Liverpool
  • BSc (Joint Hons) Physics & Geology, University of Manchester
  • PGCert Academic Professional Practice, University of the West of England

Professional memberships

  • Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA)
  • Senior Fellowship of the Staff and Educational Development Association (SFSEDA)
  • National Teaching Fellowship (NTF)

Other external roles

  • Honorary Professor, University of Queensland
  • Co-Chair of the Staff and Educational Development Association
  • External Examiner: University of Galway
  • Editorial Board Member: Innovations in Education and Teaching International journal
  • Member of the Heads of e-Learning Forum
  • Member of the Heads of Educational Development Group
  • Member of the GuildHE Teaching and Learning Network
  • Member of the International Federation of National Teaching Fellows.

Areas of interest

  • Information about the teams within Learning Innovation and Skills
  • Bath Spa's Education Design Principles
  • Developing Digital Fluency
  • Support for module design and programme design and review.