I was appointed Chair of International Communication in recognition of my impact on, and innovation within, communications teaching and scholarship across the sector, and in multiple localities around the world.

I work across the institution as University Strategic Lead for Academic Scholarship, working within the Education Academy alongside other strategic leads and co-leads to develop staff scholarship outputs including pedagogical and practice led research, impact case studies, strategic teaching interventions and student experience projects.

Working closely with the other members of our senior executive group, I focus on delivering high quality student experience to support the University's triple intensity mission. The Business School has a large and diverse student population studying an extensive portfolio of programmes across our various discipline areas. My role is to provide leadership and direction in learning and teaching to our high quality academics, maintain our exceptional reputation for innovative teaching and social impact, and oversee Scholarship output across the School.

As a senior academic, I joined Dundee to enhance its offer in Management and Marketing and provide leadership and direction to a growing team of academics. I led strategic partnerships for the Business School, such as the International Student Internship and Business Consultancy Programme for our 1000+ postgraduate students. With a special interest in EDI I supported the Athena Swan programme and served on both the International and Business & Community Engagement Committees.I delivered teaching across all programme levels in marketing and brand strategy, sustainable business development, digital communication management, and big data and analytics.

Senior Examiner responsible for international quality standards, assessment and curriculum development for the Specialist Professional Diplomas in Sustainability and Digital Communications for the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

After overseeing a 40% increase in recruitment for IPRGCM, I also took on leadership of JOMEC’s MBA (Media), the UK’s premier c-suite qualification for digital and media executives. The course focuses on a hybrid blend of experiential learning, media consultancy and business administration to deliver cutting edge leadership for the media sector.I also led JOMEC’s world-renowned centre of excellence for media scholarship. The Centre for Journalism & Public Communication promotes collaboration between the university’s multi-award winning scholarship staff, world-class media researchers and extensive network of industry partners in both the media and communications sectors.I also acted as Chair of the Scholarship Committee and as Vice Chair of Scholarship across the University. I was responsible for researching, developing and implementing Scholarship policy for our T&S staff across multiple schools and disciplines.

I provided course directorship for JOMEC’s flagship comms programme, the MA in International Public Relations & Global Communication Management, overseeing academic quality and teaching provision in areas such as digital communications, digital content strategies, professional practice and corporate reputation management.

I worked as a Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader in Marketing & Public Relations with management responsibility for both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. I taught the full range of students from undergraduate to MBA, focusing at undergraduate level on public relations and marketing communication and at postgraduate level on strategic communication and media management. As Programme Leader I was responsible for curriculum development and quality and oversaw a significant increase in both student numbers and satisfaction scores.I co-authored a major text book on public relations and published research into the impact of postcolonial and counter-discourse on international communication.

While continuing to act as undergraduate programme leader for the BA Marketing & Public Relations programme, I worked with leading academics to develop and validate a new MSc in Marketing Communications & Public Relations as part of the Centre for Corporate Communications and Public Affairs at University of Chester. I delivered this CIPR accredited masters programme as course leader, lecturing on Public Relations Skills, Marketing Communications and Campaign modules as well as acting as a dissertation supervisor.

After working extensively on the large first and second year modules in the University’s media school, I assisted the Department of Social & Communication Studies to develop and validate a new degree in Marketing & Public Relations which I then delivered as programme leader. This covered a range of communications disciplines including marketing communications and strategic planning and research. I was responsible for developing and delivering all modules on this programme as well as assessment design and e-learning delivery.

I worked as part of a large team developing and offering journalism programmes within the Department of Media, lecturing to cohorts of up to 160 students as well as running smaller skills based seminars and studio sessions on subjects such as feature writing. Delivering specialist area lectures such as media law and public relations, I worked closely with students to supervise work based learning projects with newspapers and communications agencies nationwide, as well as supervising and assessing skills portfolios and specialist writing projects.

While completing my masters degree at The International Media Centre, Salford (2000-2002) I was invited to lecture on two modules within the Media Department. I delivered media law at undergraduate level three, for which I was the module leader, and public relations at undergraduate level two, where I was a contributing lecturer. Both modules were well attended and I delivered my elements through a series of lectures, seminars and student visits to courts and newspapers.

Reporting to the Head of External Relations, I started at the Chester campus as Public Relations Officer and was quickly promoted to the above post. I was fully responsible for all marketing, publications, advertising, internal and external communications and contentious public relations at this large further education college.I maintained close media relationships to proactively promote positive public awareness and ensure material was portrayed in a sensitive and rational manner. I controlled a £200,000 budget, managed a team of 11 personnel involved in marketing, public relations and information services, and was solely responsible for the development, implementation and analysis of all strategic planning and campaigning.Motivating internal support for the department was an essential aspect of my work and helped me successfully complete major marketing projects such as the re-branding and re-launch of all corporate literature, and a 30% increase in customer inquiries.

In this, my first position within a public relations environment, I was responsible for all press contact at the Crewe campus and provided support to the Director of Marketing in a variety of capacities. I maintained a close relationship with local, regional and trade media, and vastly increased press coverage of the college within the target area. I was responsible for all advertising, leaflets and posters put out by the college, and commissioned work from an in-house graphic artist. I also produced monthly sponsored pages of news in the local press and two large colour college newspapers with a distribution of 100,000.

As well as general reporting duties, I produced the education sections of all four editions of The Chester Chronicle, dealing with issues facing young people in the circulation area specifically and educational matters in general. My work included attending parish, city and county council meetings, contact with council officers at all levels, and sensitivity towards public opinion. I also produced articles dealing with music, theatre and cinema, undertaking celebrity interviews and reviews and working as deputy to the arts editor.

After leaving university, I took up my first full time post as a reporter on The Chester Chronicle, the best selling regional weekly newspaper in the UK, owned firstly by Thomson (now Thomson Reuters) and then Trinity Mirror. I covered all aspects of reporting, including hard news, police calls, courts and local government issues, as well as human-interest stories and features. I frequently wrote up to 40 stories a week for the four key titles owned by the Chronicle group, as well as syndicating stories to other titles owned by Thomson and Trinity Mirror such as The Daily Post, Liverpool Echo and The Mirror, where many of my former colleagues now work as correspondents.