Claire is passionate about the power of Education positively to transform peoples’ lives, and proud to hold PFHEA status. She was first moved by the ‘spark’ of teaching aged 16, leading kinder-music classes – and as a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, when she led small-group tutorials in cellular biology/biochemistry.
During her Postdoctoral Research Associateship in molecular biology, Claire became Director of Studies for Biological Natural Sciences at Magdalene College, Cambridge and increasingly involved in, and motivated by, academic and pastoral educational matters across the discipline, including learning design, study-choice advice, and graduate employability. It was from there that she made a conscious decision to pursue an education and leadership-focused academic career. While Claire remains fascinated by and active in her disciplinary science background, it is the transformational power of education on people and communities that has most particularly called to her.
Claire joined Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) as a Lecturer in Biomedical Science, attracted by the institution’s widening-participation agenda and responsiveness to local-global educational need. Within six months, she was successfully leading BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science, the largest course in the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE), and was asked to take on further leadership roles with education-focused portfolios.
Claire was appointed as Deputy Dean (Education) for FSE in 2019. She leads curriculum development, academic quality, student achievement and the student experience across a wide range of STEM courses and disciplines, and contributes at an institutional level to ARU’s educational strategy, mission and EDI. Currently leading ARU’s submission to the TEF, and the university’s compact with Cambridge University Health Partners, Claire was promoted to Professor of Education Enhancement and Leadership in 2022.
In parallel to her work at ARU and Cambridge, Claire is a member of the Curriculum Committee, Education Policy Advisory Group, and Diversity and Inclusion Network of the Royal Society of Biology (RSB), and a member of the Executive Committee of Heads of University Centres of Biomedical Sciences (HUCBMS).