I’m researching the environmental biology of marine invertebrates and their responses to environmental parameters such as climate change and pollution. I’m trying to further our understanding of how marine invertebrates adapt and survive in a changing and increasingly polluted marine environment, and of the potential impacts of environmental change on their reproductive processes and life history evolution.
I’ve been lucky enough to go on two expeditions to the Canadian High Arctic, spending weeks camping on the sea ice at -40°C to look at how ocean acidification is affecting the small animals (zooplankton) that live under the ice. Most of my research focuses on the intertidal invertebrates living round the UK coastline though, which I introduce my second year students to on a field trip to the beach to study rocky shore ecology.
I incorporate research into my undergraduate teaching, using examples from my own work to illustrate the fundamental principles I’m explaining. Using my Arctic research in particular enables me to explain the day-to-day work of collecting the information I’m teaching, to make it come to life and feel relevant. Using current research questions to illustrate fundamental ecological and physiological principles really helps students to realise the importance and real world applications of what they’re being taught, and also makes for a far more enjoyable learning experience.
Dr Ceri Lewis, a Marine Biologist Research Fellow in Biosciences
Geography is the holistic ‘world discipline’. It helps us to better understand complex and thorny arguments about climate change, (un)fair trade, natural hazards, multiculturalism, sustainability and more. There are no easy answers. That’s why so many people go to university to study the subject. Our task as lecturers is to explain and enthuse in class, to show what’s worth reading in the academic literature, and encourage students to develop rich, complex, critical understandings in presentations, coursework and exams. We want our students to question and develop their own ideas, to become more active, questioning, critical, careful learners.
In my final year ‘Geographies of Material Culture’ module, students learn about trade(in)justice through researching documentaries, artwork, journalism and academic research that has provoked discussion of farm, factory and other workers’ (often ‘sweatshop’) pay and conditions. They look for discussions of these sources in blogs, YouTube comments, Amazon book reviews, databases of newspaper articles and academic publications. They work in groups and publish their findings online. Students are not only learning about my research, they’re doing it with me. We’re learning together, publishing together. None of us is entirely sure what we’ll find. It’s exciting.
Dr Ian Cook, Associate Professor of Geography
As a marketer with a background in anthropology, I am interested in the dynamics that occur between consumer actions, the marketplace, and cultural meanings. My interest in this area has led me to pursue research within the healthcare sector where I explore the impacts of disease upon communities. An important component of my research is incorporating these experiences in the classroom.
I find the role of teaching forms a core part of my identity. I want to challenge students to develop the skill sets that they possess, but have not fully developed or used. I place myself in the centre of this journey by coaching and equipping students with the knowledge they need to meet the challenges put forth to them. When students find the level of commitment of their lecturer is equal (if not greater) to their level of commitment to the class, great things happen.
I have high expectations of both my students and myself. My aim is to ensure that my students have everything they need to succeed not only academically, but also throughout their careers.
Dr Alex Thompson, Lecturer in Marketing, winner of the Students’ Guild Best Lecturer Award, 2011
Teaching is at the heart of university life and is something that I throw myself into with relish. I teach public policy and administration focused modules across all undergraduate years and was delighted to be shortlisted for the Best Lecturer Award in Exeter’s the Students’ Guild Teaching Awards 2010. My teaching is led both by my academic research and by my own experience of working in government. Real world policy dilemmas are used to explore how decision-makers experience and engage in politics bringing otherwise abstract theories to life. For example, the assessment in my second year course on policy analysis casts students in the role of policy advisers. By writing about a policy problem of their choice, and researching the various possible decisions that decision-makers in government could make, students change from being analysts who are one-step removed from the political process to policymakers who must win attention for their issue and design a policy response that is politically, economically and ethically credible. I use my experience from working in the civil service, and my own research on policy advice, to teach the analytical methods and research skills essential for ‘speaking truth to power’ (and knowing how to respond when power speaks back!).
Dr Claire Dunlop, Senior Lecturer in Politics
My research is currently focused on the impact of Greek culture on other ancient cultures, examining how Greek ideas and practices were adopted and adapted by peoples that Greeks came into contact with, such as the Romans or the Egyptians. I am particularly fascinated by the legend of the great library of Alexandria, the almost mythical storehouse of books and knowledge established in the early third century BC. Whatever the truth might be about its real size and eventual destruction, it remains a fact that the Alexandrian library was central to the development of professional techniques, such as detailed commentary, for the study and criticism of literary, scientific and religious texts. My research into these techniques often leads me to see classical texts through the eyes of their ancient interpreters. This is an additional perspective that students find interesting in classes, contributing to the development of their analytical and interpretative skills. The teaching I offer includes a module dedicated specifically to the impact of Greek culture, primarily in the fields of literature and philosophy. The module incorporates my own interests in Alexandrian achievements, as well as a strong focus on the reception and transformation of Greek culture in the Roman world. It encourages students to examine cultural exchange within complex power relationships, and thus to develop a critical attitude towards similar developments nowadays.
Dr Myrto Hatzimichali, Leventis Lecturer in the Impact of Greek Culture
My interest in biology was sparked through watching David Attenborough documentaries as a child and growing up in rural Australia helped as well. While I was initially fascinated purely by the actual animals, as I studied biology I found myself increasingly drawn toward why (evolutionary) questions – why do most animals reproduce sexually, why are there two sexes (why not 1 or 1000), why do males produce so many sperm when females produce so few eggs, why do we age, and so on. I have been lucky enough to be able to pursue a career that enables me to continue to ask questions like these, and one that allows me to pass on my fascination with these questions to subsequent students of biology. This is not a one-way street however, as it is partly through students and teaching them that I continue to learn.
While I am broadly interested in evolutionary biology, and this is reflected in my teaching, my primary research interests are in sexual selection and sexual conflicts. While most people are familiar with Darwin’s concept of natural selection, he also invoked sexual selection to explain characters that did not enhance survival: characters like the peacocks tail. Darwin suggested that in spite of their survival costs, these characters could enhance mating success and this would provide the fitness advantage needed for these characters to evolve. Sexual conflict is the evolutionary conflict between males and females that basically occurs because their selfish and shared interest do not perfectly overlap. My research permeates all my teaching, undergraduate and postgraduate, and helps me provide students with the most up-to-date information available.
Professor David Hosken, Biosciences, Cornwall Campus
As a social psychologist, I’m interested in how our thoughts, feelings and actions are influenced by the thoughts, feelings and actions of those around us. In my own research I look at how we can harness the power of norms – what other people approve of and what other people actually do – to encourage healthy choices and discourage unhealthy choices. I’ve investigated these issues in a range of domains, from political behaviour to health behaviour to environmental behaviour. By understanding when and why norms influence our behaviour, we can apply these insights to inform more effective behaviour change campaigns.
In my teaching and in my supervision of undergraduate students, I try to help students learn how to see the world as a social psychologist – to be aware of what is going on in their social worlds and to think about how social psychology can help us to understand, and how to change, behaviour. This philosophy is at the foundation of all my teaching but is particularly true for the module ‘Applied Social Psychology: Health, Environment, and Society’. In this module we take a different social issue each week – from issues of individual health to workplace behaviour to environmental behaviour and climate change – and consider how we can apply the knowledge and insights of social psychological research to develop models that explain behaviour and to develop theory-based interventions that address social problems. As a result students not only acquire knowledge about theory and empirical research but learn how to apply the knowledge they have obtained in their degree to solve novel and real-world problems.
Dr Joanne Smith, Senior Lecturer in Psychology
I am a Senior Lecture in Renewable Energy with specialism in Hydrodynamics and Marine Operation. Since joining the University in 2007 I have been conducting cutting-edge research in the field of Renewable Energy, in particular in mooring systems and operational principals for floating marine renewable energy devices.
My current research activities are directly linked to support the world’s largest commercial grid-connected test site for wave energy, Wave Hub, which is located close to the Cornwall Campus off the north coast of Cornwall. With the support of our Renewable Energy Group I have commissioned two state-of-the-art test facilities i) the South West Mooring Test Facility (SWMTF) and ii) the Dynamic Marine Component test rig (DMaC).
I always incorporate practical examples of my research activities into undergraduate teaching and believe this is essential to bring students closer to real world applications. Our mixture of academic excellence and practical industrial contribution enables undergraduates to be well prepared for employment in the exciting new renewable energy sector.
Dr Lars Johanning, Senior Lecturer, College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences
I am a senior lecturer in Physics and my research interests lie in the field of Biophotonics – the science of generating and harnessing light (photons) to image, detect and manipulate biological materials.
My research is currently focused on the development of novel ways in which to use light to characterise biological tissues in both health and disease. I have recently set-up a state-of-the-art multiphoton imaging laboratory which uses ultra-short pulses of laser light to derive image contrast from ‘non-linear’ optical properties of a sample. This approach has several advantages over conventional microscopy; principally, increase in depth penetration and stain-free molecular contrast.
I incorporate elements of my research into all aspects of my undergraduate teaching. For instance, I lecture third year Medical Imaging students on the fundamental principles of digital image processing and I use examples of image processing algorithms that I regularly use for my own research. As a tutor to second year undergraduate Physics students I use examples from my research to show how the theories that they learn in their modules impact on cutting-edge research.
Dr Julian Moger, Senior Lecturer, Department of Physics
I have always had a natural curiosity for understanding how things work and a fascination with the natural world. I am very fortunate that I am able to combine both of these interests in my research on animal behaviour, which focuses on understanding why animals behave in particular ways and how behavioural adaptations help animals to survive and reproduce. I am particularly interested in how and why animals form social groups. Most of my research is conducted on wild populations of guppies (a species of small freshwater fish) that live in the mountain streams of Trinidad. Scientists have travelled to Trinidad to study these fish for over 50 years, attracted by the fact that different populations live under very different ecological conditions (such as different levels of predation risk), presenting a natural experiment where we can study evolution in action.
My teaching is lead by my research; by using examples from my own research I am able to bring the subject to life for students in the lecture hall. In my second year course (Laboratory and Field Methods in Animal Behaviour) we take the students on a residential field course and I use my experience as a field biologist to teach methods and skills for studying animal behaviour in the wild. One of the advantages of working with small fish is that they are easy to keep in aquariums and we have plenty of Trinidadian guppies in our fish laboratory in Exeter. I frequently have students undertaking research projects on guppies, giving them hands on experience with cutting edge research.
Dr Darren Croft, Lecturer in Animal Behaviour, Department of Psychology
English at Exeter is not just about literature – it is the study of cultural history: seeing literature in relation to other texts, to history, and even to current concerns with sustainability. The Cornwall Campus of the University of Exeter provides a unique opportunity to explore the relationship between literature and place, and we run regular field trips to explore how texts are embedded within particular environments. These trips include visiting the many Arthurian sites on the North Cornwall coast described by Tennyson and Hardy, as well as following in the footsteps of Arthur Conan Doyle on Dartmoor, and of Wordsworth and Coleridge on the Quantocks. Reading literature and other writings in these contexts helps us to understand how our ideas about nature and the environment are culturally constructed.
Prof Nick Groom
Department of English, Cornwall Campus
I came to teaching in the University via a background in youth work and training. Prior to my current teaching in the Drama Department I was a drama practitioner and trainer working with young people at risk and those who work with them. The broad remit of this work was ‘working creatively with conflict’. My work with both undergraduate and postgraduate students is born out of this practice and sits within the landscape of Applied Drama.
Applied Drama practice within the Department of Drama offers students the opportunity to work outside the University with groups within the wider community, developing forms of theatre and drama to meet the varied needs and hopes of a range of groups and contexts.
Students gain practical experience through taking placements in a wide range of contexts including projects with young people in school exclusion units, supporting dramatherapy teachers in special schools and working within the local probation service.
Over the years I have found that our students are uniquely placed to build bridges between disaffected young people and the adults in positions of authority in their lives. The work students do in this context is of mutual benefit to all involved: students gain invaluable skills and experience and the young people, likewise, gain from the positive relationships they develop with the students.
Fiona Macbeth, Teaching Fellow in Drama
