Faces of Reading

My role is now "teaching intensive", which means research is only a minor part of what I do.

As an 18-year-old student, the last thing I thought I would be doing was standing up in front of people giving talks. Showing off my project to prospective students gave me the confidence to do it. I get a buzz out of it now: the different ways of teaching things, thinking about technology and what we can use.

I was made Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2014. I have been Head of Department, Director of Teaching and Learning, and Senior Tutor. I am now School Director of Technology Enhanced Learning in the School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences.

How we do things has changed considerably. We used to have mobile robots to promote our courses, which were part of our outreach activities, now we use massive open online courses (MOOCs). You get people of all ages all over the world doing them. I’m the lead educator for the Begin Robotics MOOC, where anyone can learn about robotics, which features many interactive web pages I developed. I also use such web pages when teaching artificial intelligence, virtual reality and mathematics. They also featured in a recent project about how to make online learning more accessible for all.

It's great to be in an exciting subject area where there's constant innovation and new technology, and where things are continuing to develop.

It's particularly satisfying to make a custom piece of glassware for researchers and get involved in the design process, which can involve multiple iterations to achieve a successful result.

I've got a very friendly working environment. Diversity and inclusion is something the University wholeheartedly embraces, which is great.

I'm asexual and have been involved in visibility work for AVEN (the Asexual Visibility and Education Network), of which I'm a member. This has involved TV and radio appearances, and contributing to newspaper and magazine articles.

When the University was applying to become a Stonewall Diversity Champion, I went to meetings to raise awareness of the asexual community. This resulted in the Staff and RUSU LGBT Plus organisations holding an Asexual Awareness Week, to which I was happy to contribute.

Asexual people are thought to make up about 1% of the population, which means there could be somewhere between 30 and 40 asexual people working at the University, even more in the student population.

I think it's important there's visibility for asexual people, and those who think they may be asexual, in particular, to have someone to talk to who is asexual.

My previous job was in retail so it was quite unsociable and involved long hours. My department gives you flexibility, you have to be in for core hours but you can come in early and then you're off again, it's fantastic.

Following the Professional and Administrative Services (PAS) review, I got the job here as Programme Administrator in August 2016. I work with a good group of people - we all bounce off each other, dig in and help each other out.

There is definitely a focus on staff development - I've recently finished the Springboard Women's Development Programme. My manager gave me the time to go on that course because it was important to me and being part of that cohort was really fulfilling.

I'm also an LGBT Plus Ally. I've always considered myself a diversity and LGBT ally, mainly because I have a brother who is transgender, so it is something close to my heart. As soon as I heard about the Ally programme, I was very keen to be part of it.

DAS provide support to all students across the university, with conditions from dyslexia to depression to assistance dogs. Collaborative working is a necessity in such a busy department providing multi-faceted care to 3,500 students, and we commonly pool our knowledge and expertise when an unusual query arises.

As a Disability Support Co-ordinator, my most important function is working on the ‘front lines’ – particularly on our reception desk in the Carrington Building. I know from my own experience as a student how much difference it makes when staff are friendly and understanding and I do my best to make our reception desk as welcoming as I can.

It had not gone unnoticed to me when I first interviewed on campus that there were rainbow flags wherever I looked. I joined the Disability and LGBTQAI+ networks immediately upon starting work, and formed tight-knit friendship groups with university colleagues I simply never would have encountered otherwise.

Within an outwardly accepting employer, I have found DAS to be even more reflective of that – although I have rarely been shy about my disability, my queerness, or my three-person relationship I have never felt more accepted for who I am as an employee than at the University of Reading.