They say you can be boring when you’re dead. Perhaps that’s the reason why I’ve always ended up  doing so much in my educational career.

I commenced working in an academic setting in 2014, after working in industry as a Planning Consultant for three and a half years. My first role was to lead a team looking into student success and retention, unpicking some of the barriers to success and understanding the role that society has in impacting on students’ ability to succeed.

This was a culture change at the university, moving beyond a concept of looking at attendance and pass rates to measure success, to a more rounded, holistic approach to student success, focusing on student experience and interactions, and recognising the socio-environmental impacts from outside university that can impact on results. I have been involved in student experience research since 2012, with numerous conference appearances, a peer-reviewed journal, and contributed to an HEA funded paper.

I started lecturing in 2016, becoming a full member of the School of the Built Environment’s academic team in 2018. My teaching specialises in Planning practice, placemaking, stakeholder engagement and professional development. I am also a Faculty expert on professional and personal development, and reflective practice.

My Ph.D. focuses on the impacts and cycles of studentification and de-studentification, and the methods by which these processes can be used to support the creation and enhancement of sustainable communities. I seek to look beyond standard definitions of students in society, and look at the collective role they play in shaping urban fabric both implied and supplimentary.