Our people

The PGCert in Higher Education programme is coordinated through Manchester Institute of Education and delivered by colleagues from around the University.

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  Professor Caroline Bowsher

  Caroline is a Professor of Biology in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health. Her personal experience of teaching has provided an excellent insight into the needs and expectations of different student bodies. Her ethos of teaching ‘for’ and not ‘of’ learning has been aided through a willingness to innovate through theatre and technology.

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  Dr Michael O'Donoghue

  Mike O'Donoghue is a Senior Lecturer in Education and programme director for the PGCert. He leads and teaches on three units on the programme. He is a former Humanities New Academics Programme coordinator and Masters in Teaching and Learning programme director. He is an experienced learning technologist with specialism and research interests in video production to support teaching, learning and training. He has worked in Sweden, Canada and New Zealand, as well as in the UK, on activities related to enhancing learning through the creation and application of media and technology.

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  Sally Hickson

  Working in the School of Health Sciences since 1999, Sally is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). Sally works with colleagues from many programmes on curriculum design and professional accreditation. Since studying her Masters and PGCert she has further developed this interest, with a focus on assessment. Sally chairs or belongs to many working groups focussed on curriculum and assessment design both within FBMH and across the University, and contributes to the New Academics Programme and other staff development and training.

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  Professor Steven Jones

  Steve Jones is a Professor at Manchester Institute of Education (MIE) and in August 2020 will be Head of MIE. His research focuses on UK and overseas higher education policy and practice. He has co-authored reports exploring how socially disadvantaged young people conceptualise, engage with and perform at university, being particularly interested in how students’ cultural and social capital affect their HE experiences. He has presented findings to Universities UK, HM Treasury and the ASCL, and given evidence to the All-Party Parliamentary University Group in the House of Commons.

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  Dr Sylvie Lomer

  Sylvie has been teaching in further and higher education for more than ten years and has spent most of this time working with international students. Her research interests lie in internationalisation, pedagogy, curriculum and policy in higher education contexts, as well as in student responses to active blended learning as a design principle. She is particularly interested in how we teach for and with international students and is currently conducting a Society for Research in Higher Education funded project interviewing practitioners about their teaching practices.

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  Chris Millson

  Chris Millson is eLearning Manager for the Library. He is interested in how technology and the internet can support and enhance learning and higher education practice.

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  Dr Jenna Mittelmeier

  Jenna is Senior Lecturer in International Education at the Manchester Institute of Education. She has over a decade of experience working in higher education, first in student services in the US before transitioning to a lectureship in the UK. Her expertise focuses on international and intercultural learning, including teaching with international students, intercultural group work, and internationalising the curriculum. Jenna’s teaching takes a critical pedagogies lens, valuing inclusive teaching practices in intercultural settings.

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  Jane Mortimer

  Jane is the administrator for the programme and has wide administrative experience on different courses/research projects, including currently working on two University College units. She is also a Sustainability Champion in SEED and a Harassment Support Advisor at the university.

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  Jess Napthine-Hodgkinson

  Jess is a Teaching and Learning Librarian at the University of Manchester Library. She is a graduate of the PGCert in Higher Education, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has expertise in copyright and Creative Commons licensing. Her interests include open practice and the use of applied improvisation both within and beyond HE.

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  Dr Stephen Rayner

  Stephen Rayner is Deputy Head of the Manchester Institute of Education and a Senior Lecturer in Education. His research interests include education systems and policy, school-to-school collaboration and teacher education. He has worked in and with schools in England for more than 30 years as a teacher, senior leader, and governor and education adviser. Much of Stephen’s university teaching is on programmes for reflective practitioners who are working in schools, colleges and universities while studying part time and conducting research in their professional context.

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  Dr Paul Smith

  Paul is a Lecturer in Education and former graduate of the PG Cert HE programme. His research interests include academic writing, assessment practices, and degree outcomes – especially where they overlap. He has also published on the experience in UK higher education of students professing a religious faith.

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