Academic Development Staff
The Academic Development team have a wide range of experience as teachers and researchers in higher education, and specific interests and expertise in this field. We present the majority of academic development sessions ourselves, but also facilitate delivery by specialists from within and outside the university.
We are based in Room 216, Edinburgh Building.
We look forward to working with you!
Team members
Dr Mark Proctor - Academic Development Officer
After completing my first degree in applied biology here at Sunderland, I embarked a research career that traversed several
areas of research, including: cancer, embryonic development, antibiotic production, bio-fuel production and nano-technology.
This work involved examining how changes to the DNA sequence of proteins and enzymes change their structure or how they function.
I worked in 3 research institutions (The Public Health Laboratory Service at Porton Down, the Medical Research Council at
Cambridge and the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne), completed a PhD (in Glycobiology) and undertook a Certificate in
Advanced Studies in Academic Practice that provided me with Teaching Fellowship status from the HE Academy.
Over the course of my 20yr research career I obtained a great deal of satisfaction from training and supervising researchers
as well as teaching on undergraduate programmes. Hence, I jumped at the opportunity to join the Academic Development team
here to help develop, organise and deliver development programmes for post graduate researchers: contract researchers, principle
investigators, post graduate research students and their supervisors or advisors.
Anna Round - Head of Academic Development
Anna works mainly with on-campus staff involved in taught programmes, and with strategic issues in learning and teaching.
Her research interests include student identities (with a particular focus on gender and class issues in HE), academic language and literacies, student engagement and retention,
and the social aspects of learning. Before taking up her current post at Sunderland she worked as a researcher at Northumbria
University and in the Government Social Research Service. She lectured in theoretical linguistics at King's College, London, for
ten years.
Alan Tree - Academic Development Officer
Alan works mainly with collaborative partner staff who are delivering University programmes off-campus. He has worked most
recently in Further Education delivering the PgCE for the post-compulsory education and training sector. Previously he has worked
in the compulsory sector, in Adult and Community Education, in Prisoner Education and in commercial training. Alan's experience
is based in science and computing disciplines and also in outdoor education. His interests include the student transition, assessment
strategies for learning and active learning pedagogies.
