SEB Annual Conference Antwerp 2025

Dr Sarah Rayment

Nottingham Trent University

Dr. Nicholas Freestone

School of Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Chemistry, Kingston University, London

Nick Freestone is an Associate Professor in Physiology and Pharmacology and Course Leader for a suite of undergraduate degrees in Pharmaceutical Science at Kingston University in south west London.  He is co-Chair of the Royal Society of Biology’s “Bridging Awarding Gaps in the Biosciences” Network and a member of the British Pharmacological Society’s Inclusive Pharmacology Education Steering Group. He was also, until recently, an Education Theme Lead for The Physiological Society. In 2014 he was the UK’s Higher Education Bioscience Teacher of the Year as awarded by Oxford University Press and the Higher Education Academy and is now Chair of the panel of judges for this award for the Royal Society of Biology. In 2021 he was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship for his work in addressing awarding gaps both in his local teaching environment and also nationally.

Professor Susanne Voelkel

Dean of School of Life Sciences, University of Liverpool

Professor Susanne Voelkel is Dean of the School of Life Sciences at the University of Liverpool. After her PhD in Animal Physiology at the Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf she spent four years working as a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany. In 2001 she joined the University of Liverpool where she teaches in the areas of Zoology and Biochemistry. Susanne has a keen interest in educational research and has published in the areas of student engagement, assessment and feedback. She holds a Postgraduate Masters in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, and she is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a National Teaching Fellow.

Amanda Rasmussen

University of Nottingham

Amanda is an Associate Professor (Research and Teaching) at the University of Nottingham. Her educational research is mostly around training students in team (group work) skills and exploring digital and gamification strategies to make learning fun and engaging. Her science research is in plant physiology. Educational resources (and more information about my science) can be found on my webpage: https://www.arlab.co.uk/.

Email: [email protected]

: @razda5

Jordon Millward

Imperial College London

Jordon is a PhD researcher at Imperial College London, researching how interactions influence life science students' professional identity and career trajectory. He started his career in agriculture following his readings of Animal Behaviour and Welfare at Harper Adams University, where he became a British Poultry scholar. Working within the livestock sector, he developed his passion for teaching by wanting to support the sector, which gave him his start. Continuing to ensure that he has ties to the land-based sector, Jordon is an active beekeeper when not researching or teaching. Capitalising on this passion for the land-based sector, he still maintains an active role in teaching by working alongside organisations like the Brilliant Club whilst ensuring that he maintains his focus on his research, which was motivated by the barriers he saw for his college students and now wanting to find solutions to help students in the higher education sector. He continues looking at different ways to develop his research and teaching skills and how he can enhance representation in the science community, something he has been working on as a member of the SEB OED working group and nomination task force.

Prof Claire Garden

Associate Professor, Edinburgh Napier University

Dr Claire Garden (she/her) SFHEA MRSB is an Associate Professor and Head of Learning and Teaching in the School of Applied Science at Edinburgh Napier University.

Claire was appointed as a lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University in 2007. She was promoted to Senior Lecturer and Subject Group Leader in Biomedical Sciences & Microbiology in 2013 and in 2017-8 became Head of Life Sciences with strategic responsibility for over 50 academic staff and in the region of 700 students, alongside teaching and research. Claire became the School's Head of Learning and Teaching in March 2020 and led the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She has adopted a student engagement focussed LTA strategy for her school and is responsible for its planning and implementation.

Claire trained in molecular neuroscience and now focuses on pedagogical research. She researches inclusion, student voice and student engagement, is a member of the RAISE committee, and has published research on novel teaching methods such as gamification and Lego Serious Play. She is also interested in barriers to the inclusion of industry-relevant skills in life sciences curricula and regularly collaborates with external stakeholders on upskilling initiatives. Claire is an active member of SULSA’s Skills Committee and recently led the Catapult-funded Advanced Therapies Skills Training Network upskilling project at Edinburgh Napier University.

Claire has taught and led a wide variety of Biomedical Sciences modules both in Edinburgh and with international partners, she also has experience of programme leadership and external examining. Claire has expertise in curriculum design, development and enhancement, and accreditation and quality assurance. She was awarded Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2016, when she also became a Member of the Royal Society of Biology. She is a proud advocate for equality and inclusion.

Dr Ellen Bell

University of East Anglia

Dr Becky Lewis

University of East Anglia

No bio provided

Dr Colin McClure

Queens University Belfast

No bio provided

Dr Peter R Moult

Lecturer in Neuroscience & Level 3 Neuroscience Coordinator, University of Glasgow

No bio provided

Dr Sarune Savickaite

University of Glasgow

No bio provided

Prof Enrique Lopez-Juez

Royal Holloway, University of London

Enrique is a reader in Plant Development at the Department of Biological Sciences at Royal Holloway, Univ. London. His lab uses genetics, cell and molecular techniques to study chloroplast biogenesis. No mean feat for plants, self-building solar panels which build their own solar cells. He teaches extensively in cell and plant-related modules, and is keen on developing engaging practicals which use and allow learning modern techniques: on Biology as an experimental science.

email: [email protected]

Prof. Dr. Sheila Amici-Dargan

University of Bristol, School of Life Sciences

Sheila Amici-Dargan is an Associate Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol. She is also the outreach, education, and diversity (OED) trustee for the Society of Experimental Biology. Her scientific research career started with a PhD in Biophysics at the University of East Anglia, followed by postdoctoral research positions at the University of California Irvine and MRC Centre for Synaptic Plasticity in Bristol, investigating cellular mechanisms of learning and memory processes. Sheila then chose to swap to a teaching focused pathway in higher education, working for 10 years at Cardiff University’s School of Biosciences before taking up her current post at the University of Bristol in 2020. She is currently seconded for 2 days a week, as a senior academic developer in the University of Bristol’s Curriculum Enhancement Project team and is one of the careers and employability lead in the Faculty of Life Sciences. Sheila has been working with colleagues to explore different approaches to embed employability across the taught undergraduate curriculum and will share staff and student experiences of various ‘embedding employability’ projects at the conference, to stimulate discussion on how we can best support our university students to develop and articulate transversal skills to increase their own employment prospects.