Stephen's Profile
Job title
Deputy Dean (Teaching, Learning and Digital)
Academic qualifications
BSc (Hons) Dietetics, Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice in HE, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, HCPC Registered Dietitian (RD), MBDA
Job Role & Responsibilities
The focus of my role is ensuring the learning experience is engaging, inclusive and industry focused. I work across both the further and higher education provision to support all students in achieving their full potential. My role includes leadership responsibility working with colleagues across the University to reduce inequalities in outcomes for students from diverse backgrounds.
Telephone
Profile
I have had a varied career initially training as a chef, completing an NVQ in Catering, Hospitality and Restaurant Supervision and Professional Cookery. I’ve worked in a range of settings both in the UK and the Mediterranean, spending 9 months working in Greece. I worked as a private chef on a yacht around the Mediterranean before returning to the UK to work and study in the legal profession.
After 7 years of working within clinical negligence/personal injury law, I retrained to study Dietetics at Coventry University, qualifying as a Registered Dietitian in 2015. I specialised in gastroenterology and maintain a freelance dietetic caseload. I started my teaching career at Coventry University as a lecturer on the BSc Dietetics and MSc Public Health Nutrition programmes, progressing to Course Director/Assistant Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics.
I moved into a strategic leadership position as Associate Head of School for Quality and Accreditation, focusing on the approval of new innovative programmes and revalidation of existing programmes to ensure they met the University standards. I progressed into an associate professor position focusing on Quality and Curriculum Review, a role that supported teams in meeting the University strategic plan and curriculum principles.
I joined University College Birmingham in January 2021 as Deputy Dean (Teaching, Learning and Digital) within the School of Health, Sport and Food. I am responsible for the implementation of the teaching and learning strategy across the school.
Teaching
- Psychology of eating behaviour
- Coaching and mentoring
- MHFA
- Dissertation supervision for students across the School
- Teaching in CPD
Research interests and scholarly activity
Holistic approaches to person-centred care, LEGO-based interventions for improving wellbeing, health inequalities and the impact on particular groups of the population, social media in the portrayal of health messages.
External Engagements
Mental Health First Aid Instructor – Adult and Youth
Full Member of the British Dietetic Association and West Midlands Subgroup
Member of the Accredited Programme Leader Network on Advance HE Connect
