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 and 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 MOOCs Begin Robotics and Begin Programming; the latter teaches you how to write a game on your mobile phone.

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.

My research is unusual as I do mathematical modelling of biological systems. I work alongside biologists, trying to use their data in novel ways.

I'm working with Moscow State University, which is the only other group in the world using mathematics to try to understand platelet activation.

I came to Reading in 2011 and have just done the first year of another three-year postdoctorate, which is funded by the British Heart Foundation.

I took up this change of career in later life. I was in the IT industry for a long time and did a degree with The Open University. I just loved studying mathematics so much, I decided to give up my career to do a PhD.

I live in Derbyshire, which makes life slightly complicated, but I work at home sometimes to alleviate some of the travelling. Mathematics is one of those lovely things you can do anywhere; on a train or at home. When I was offered the job, I mentioned the travel, and the University was really open to trying it and seeing how we got on; they've been great about it.

I would like to go on and get a permanent position, but I'm happy with what I'm doing; it's such a fascinating job.

I predominantly look after the advisory side of HR, so that could be absence and leave, resolving problems at work, retirement, terms and conditions, reviews, settlements and secondments.

I've always been a real people person, and I love working with a diverse range of people. You don't know what's going to happen on a day-to-day basis; no two days are the same.

The work I do with this team is really interesting; there's a lot of scope for my role and what I do. I'm also a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and I'm studying for a master's in HR Management.

I've suffered with anxiety since I was about five years old, so I ensure that I manage my workload when I'm going through a period of feeling anxious.

My line managers are really supportive and I've managed to use my anxiety to my advantage, being able to support other people experiencing similar things. If you understand, you can support others a bit better. As an HR professional, it's stood me in good stead.

I am also a member of the Staff Disability Network - sharing my experiences has boosted my confidence greatly and listening to those of others is inspiring.  

I'd been working for various NHS trusts for about six years and felt that I wanted a change from NHS research into university research. We're lucky because we get to see lots of fresh research that is coming through in the very early stages.

I work full time, but I work from home on Fridays. Managers are pretty good at giving us that flexibility.

I have Becker Muscular Dystrophy, and people have been very supportive without being patronising. Part of the reason for working from home is to help manage my fatigue. I live in Reading, I came here when I was 18 as a student and have more or less stayed here ever since. I had been commuting to Oxford - I was at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust before - which was getting a bit too tiring. It's better now I'm working a lot closer to home.

The team from Estates and Facilities also came in and created a kind of frame by my desk so I can get up easily, which has been really helpful. Everyone in the office will help out if I need anything too; it's been a positive experience.