Professor Momna Hejmadi will be our new Associate PVC Education (Education Quality and Enhancement), with Dr Nathalia Gjersoe our new Associate PVC Student Experience (Student Voice).
The roles will work directly with their respective Pro-Vice-Chancellors to realise the benefits of the education and student experience pillars of our University Strategy. Both will work to our Vision for education, with the Associate PVC Student Experience (Student Voice) also supporting delivery of the Student Experience strategic plan.
Professor Hejmadi is a Professor of Bioscience Education and a 2015 National Teaching Fellow with a background in biomedical research on hypoxia signalling pathways in cancer and neurobiology. Her current research interests are in evolution education and pedagogies in enhancing learning. As Associate Dean (Education), she is responsible for the strategic and academic leadership in the Faculty of Science’s learning, teaching and student experience for all taught courses.
She will step away from her Associate Dean role to take up the new role alongside her academic work. This will see her will take on leadership of Education Quality and Enhancement across the University, focussing on development of our quality and standards policy and inclusive educational practice, including our widening participation and Admissions policy.
Dr Gjersoe is a Senior Lecturer in Developmental Psychology with research interests in understanding student wellbeing and the psychological barriers to scientific thinking. As Associate Dean (Education) she’s responsible for strategies on learning, teaching and student experience for taught courses in the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences. She also leads on the Learn workstream of the University’s Mental Health Charter Award and long-term ‘Be Well’ initiative: 'Be Well' at Bath.
Dr Gjersoe will also combine her research and teaching work and her move from the Associate Dean role to her new role, with responsibility for strategic leadership of Student Voice and Engagement across the University. This will include a strategic plan for student voice across the University and SU encompassing education, doctoral, and the wider student experience.
Momna said: “I am delighted to have this opportunity to work with Julian, Cassie and many wise colleagues in this role. Together, we will be reviewing our policies and processes on academic standards and inclusive education to support our academic community and enhance our education through the years of change ahead.”
Nathalia said: “I am so excited to be taking on this new role at a time of unprecedented global change. Working together as a community of students and staff has never been more important. I look very much forward to collaborating with all parts of the University to create a strategy that maximises our capacity to do this.”
Professor Ian White, Vice-Chancellor and President, said: “I am very pleased that Professor Hejmadi and Dr Gjersoe will be taking up these important new roles; congratulations to them both.
“This is a significant new development to strengthen the delivery of our Education and Student Experience ambitions, as outlined in our University Strategy. Both Momna and Nathalia have a proven track record in their respective areas and I am very much looking forward to the positive impact they will have as they take up their new roles in March.”