On behalf of all the staff I very much welcome you to the Department of Biology & Biochemistry. I am sure you are looking forward to starting your university career and we hope that you will continue to be successful in your studies.
Your first weeks at university can be a challenge even under normal circumstances but this year, as we all begin to emerge from the government restrictions, there are particular and unique challenges for you and us. We very much hope there won’t be any further disruption to studies, but our experiences over the last year mean that we are well equipped to deal with the imposition of sudden changes, so we will do our utmost to maximise your academic experiences, whatever the year may hold.
We are here to help you to transition to tertiary education. We aim to support you to embrace the personal and academic growth that being at university encourages. If you encounter any issues, we need you to come forward to take up the support we have.
There is a programme of Welcome events, some of which are online but most of which are on campus. In these we will give you more details about your new Department, studying at University of Bath and about your degree course. This will be a large amount of information, so we will have recordings, handbooks and online resources to which you can refer if you miss something. However, we do encourage you to try to grasp the main points straight away as that will allow a smoother transition to your new environment.
Early on you get to meet your Personal Tutor, who will be a point of both academic and pastoral support for you during your studies. It is important to build a strong relationship with your tutor, but, as with all relationships, both parties need to put in effort for it to work really well. Your Personal Tutor would normally be the first contact point if you have an issue whilst at University.
A second set of staff who help students are the Directors of Studies. There is one for each of the degree subjects run from our Department:
Dr Susan Crennell for Biochemistry
Dr James Doughty for Biology
Dr Cressida Lyon for Biomedical Sciences
You will get to meet your Director of Studies during the Welcome events. The Director of Studies is responsible for the day-to-day management of your course and liaising with you about your course.
As Director of Teaching, I have an overarching role to ensure overall smooth operation of undergraduate teaching in the Department.
We look forward to meeting you at the start of the academic year. Please arrive refreshed and ready to throw yourself into all that the University has to offer; it is your degree, so make the most of it.
Dr Chris Todd
Director of Teaching
