Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­

T&R Lecturer in Marine Biology/Ecology in the School of Ocean Sciences

I was awarded an HEA Fellowship in 2023. I joined Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ as a research officer in 2015, moving onto a fixed-term lectureship in 2017, and then a full-time lectureship in 2019. Since starting teaching, I have developed approaches influenced by personal ideas and style, but also collective feedback and suggestions of university colleagues and peers. Throughout the previous 6 years, I have been fortunate enough to receive advice from more experienced colleagues, and observe these colleagues in the classroom and field.

I think absorbing diverse approaches and philosophies is crucial, as it enables the development of a unique style which exploits your strengths and passions, but also acknowledges the developments and advances made by others. My scientific research is focussed on fieldwork, and developing questions and hypotheses based on my observations. I design teaching session around these core-concepts, encouraging students to watch animals in-situ, and think about how animals are responding to their environment. I hope these approaches develop individual curiosity and exploration. I also hope that I demonstrate how individual interests can be met by exploring the coastlines, finding study-sites, collecting data sets, answering questions, and testing hypotheses. I hope that my enthusiasm encourages Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ students into careers which provide them with personal enjoyment and fulfilment.

Lecturer in Economics, Bangor Business School

I am always looking for ways to develop myself professionally, and have been eager to do so specifically in academia. I spoke with various colleagues, did my own research, and decided that applying for Senior Fellowship HEA (SFHEA) was the logical next step for me. Not only would this allow me to grow as a professional, but it would also enable me to benchmark my practice against professional standards.

The SFHEA application process gave me an opportunity to reflect on my teaching and the different roles I have within the Business School, contemplate what I had achieved and think about how to take it further. It was a challenging application process, however the support I received from colleagues across the University ensured that I understood what was required which allowed me to be successful with my first application. Going through the process of writing my application made me reflect on my professional journey, it disciplined my writing and made me realise how far I had come in understanding my teaching and learning. It also gave me a better understanding of the impact my work has had on colleagues and students.

Being awarded SFHEA has given me confidence in what I can deliver and also changed my approach to certain aspects of my work - I am now more conscious of the need for reflection and critical assessment of what I do. It was a valuable, albeit very challenging, pause for critical reflection and next steps planning, and I would highly recommend it to everyone at the University. I have come through this process feeling that it was a genuinely rewarding experience and not just a means to an end.

Senior Lecturer in Psychology, School of Psychology and Sport Science

I am delighted to receive HEA Principal Fellowship. At first glance, filling out a long application form bringing together one’s teaching and professional practice is a daunting task. However, by the end of it I was surprised to find how the PFHEA application process allowed me to reflect on my body of work in a way I had not done before. This perspective revealed how much of my work knits together around the topic of health and wellbeing. Being Director of the Master’s in Mindfulness-Based Approaches at the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice has led me and our team to develop the pedagogy of how best to train mindfulness teachers, this includes the , a reflective practice tool called the , and two recent books called ‘’ and ‘’. This also included my role as Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor for Health and Wellbeing between 2020-2022 – being in that post allowed me to be part of a thriving health and wellbeing team and implement university-wide initiatives such as staff wellbeing champions.

I originally studied Psychology back in 2004 with the hope that I would one day be able to have a positive impact. The PFHEA allowed me to take stock of this original intention, and it helped me to clearly see how our teaching and research we do at the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice ripples out far beyond Bangor.