Imperial has created two new senior positions to help drive its Learning and Teaching Strategy and educational research at the College.

Imperial has announced the creation of two new positions to expand the scope of its learning and teaching development as part of the Learning and Teaching Strategy, launched earlier this year.

Professor Alan Spivey, Professor of Synthetic Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry, has taken up the position of Assistant Provost (Learning and Teaching) whilst Dr Martyn Kingsbury, Director of Educational Development and Head of the Education Development Unit, has been named the first Professor of Education in Imperial’s history.

Professor Simone Buitendijk, Vice Provost (Education), said: “Both these roles are key in the implementation of the new Learning and Teaching Strategy. They will help us further develop the great teaching we have here at the College and introduce new, evidence-based and interactive elements to our curriculum. It’s fantastic to have both Alan and Martyn on board and helping to transform learning and teaching at the College for the better.”

Leading delivery

As Assistant Provost (Learning and Teaching), Alan will play a key role in leading the delivery of the College’s new Learning and Teaching Strategy, engaging with staff across the College. He will lead on the College-wide review of curriculum and assessment, as well as the introduction of interactive pedagogy, with a focus on supporting departments in their work.

Alan said: “There’s a lot of excellent teaching here at Imperial but we’re ambitious – we want to be better. There’s always been great appetite for change across the organisation but staff have felt they haven’t had the time to do it. The Learning and Teaching Strategy prioritises giving departments the people, time and resource to make those changes and improvements they’ve always wanted to make.”

One of the key strategy initiatives that Alan will be leading on as Assistant Provost (Learning and Teaching) is the recruitment and development of new Strategic Teaching Fellows.

“We’re looking to build up a community of fellows, based in departments but affiliated to the Education Development Unit. Their exact roles will be based around the needs of their department but they will be working on reviewing the existing educational offer and the design and implementation of the new curriculum. We want to establish Imperial as an institution of excellence in educational development and research.”

Expanding expertise

The new Professor of Education position has been created to develop and expand educational expertise across the College. The new role offers clear pathways for promotion for teaching staff through the College’s annual academic promotions round.

Martyn, the first holder of the title, explains: “The Professor of Education role clearly demonstrates the College’s commitment to learning and teaching, recognising its importance in the work we do as an institution. I hope the new role will help us attract and retain the best teaching talent and develop our pedagogic research opportunities.

“As part of our strategy we want to grow our pedagogic research in innovative STEM education – making sure we rigorously evaluate what we do in education. We want to have a broader impact on this area beyond just our own lecture theatres and classrooms. Imperial already has a reputation for its STEM teaching and research and we want to build on this.”

You can see the full Learning and Teaching Strategy on the strategy website.