Our staff

In the time I’ve been Director at Manchester we’ve seen considerable change – some change being forced on us (the realities of a Covid-19 context), but many of the changes being Centre choices as we constantly question the what, why and how of what we do.

The immediate future? Linking our courses in a better way so that the ’what’ is accessible to our students at the appropriate time, but also finding a way to use learner data in a way that helps all of us achieve what we’re here for.

I have been working at the University of Manchester since 2002, teaching English for Academic Purposes on Foundation, Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses. Before that I taught general English at the British Council in Venezuela and Egypt, and at a language school in Spain. 

I am currently the programme lead for our Pre-sessional provision. I have been closely involved in curriculum development across the Pre-sessional programme and our teacher training courses at the Centre. 

My academic interests lie in finding ways in which student learning communities can be built and developed in remote and in-person learning, to help foster a sense of belonging.

My first degree was in Environmental Biology. I have been at the University Centre for Academic English for over 10 years in teaching and co-ordination roles, having previously taught in Poland and South America. I completed my MA TESOL at The University of Manchester in 2014, and now head the Academic Success Programme, which supports students with Academic English during their studies. I am interested in the in-sessional context and have presented at BALEAP conferences.

I’ve enjoyed working in higher education administration management for over 20 years, including roles at Edge Hill University and the University of Salford. On a day-to-day basis, I oversee the administration for the University Centre for Academic English, in liaison with the UCAE Director. My first degree was in American Studies, and I also hold a Master’s degree in Management Practice and a diploma in Nutritional Therapy.  Outside of work, my interests include nutrition, going to music and comedy gigs, and travel.

I have been at the UCAE since 2009, but have been teaching since 1989 in secondary schools, as a teacher of Modern Foreign Languages, and ESOL, in Further Education. I have also taught English abroad in Spain and Bangladesh with the British Council. I have been an IELTS examiner since 2003. I speak several languages to varying degrees of competence including Spanish, French, Italian and Bengali. I have travelled all over the world and enjoy meeting people to share knowledge and ideas which is why I look forward to Summer Pre-sessional courses at The University of Manchester.

Before joining The University of Manchester in 2019, I taught English in Norway, Ukraine, and Japan. Currently, I teach on The University of Manchester’s academic English courses, including the Pre-sessional and the Academic Success Programme. I am also involved in syllabus, materials, and assessment development.

When I am not busy with teaching or development work, I am interested in educational psychology, particularly in relation to language teaching and international students at university. I chose this career because I enjoy helping students to realise their potential, so I look forward to working with you during your studies at The University of Manchester.

I joined the University of Manchester as a Senior Language Tutor in 2022. Before joining Manchester, I spent 4 years at King’s College London where I was a member of the Pre-sessional and short courses coordination team, developing, teaching and co-ordinating a range of online and face to face Pre-sessional programmes and academic skills workshops. I also taught EAP on their international foundation year, and have taught EAP at Huddersfield University, Bilkent University (Ankara, Turkey), and more general English in South Korea.

I enjoy all aspects of teaching, but my main interests currently lie with student centred learning and assessment, in particular developing feedback and assessment literacy. I am an advocate of assessment for learning, promote inclusive teaching and support widening participation in HE.

Like many English teachers, I enjoy travelling and have spent a lot of time living and working abroad.  I taught in Japan for a couple of years and Russia for over a decade.  Now I am back in my home city and have been working at the University of Manchester since the beginning of 2022. 

I enjoy teaching on the wide variety of courses that we offer, and love working with students from all over the world.  I hope that I can help them on their academic journey.  As well as teaching them, I feel that I learn a lot from my students. 

I joined The University of Manchester in 2019, after working in other universities over a ten-year period. Altogether, I have been teaching English for more than 25 years, having held posts in several different sectors. I have worked in Italy and Poland, as well as the UK, gaining experience across a wide range of programmes, including General and Academic English, Academic Skills and teacher training courses.

I enjoy speaking and learning other languages in my free time and am qualified to teach foreign languages in schools. At Manchester, I greatly enjoy having opportunities to help students both before they join degree programmes, through our pre-sessional courses, and during their degree studies, for example through our Academic Success Programme.

I have taught outside the UK, in Spain and South America, and now teach at The University of Manchester on our English for Academic Purposes courses. I have taught on and co-ordinated a large number of pre-sessional courses as well as working on the Academic Success programme, which provides academic skills development for post-graduates during the academic year.

I am currently working on my doctorate, which focuses on the expression of criticality in thesis writing.

I love working on academic skills and language. I think it is exciting to examine with you how language is used in your research area to express and connect ideas. I enjoy working with you on ways to effectively share your research with others. My academic interests include listening in the teaching and learning context and grammar analysis.

I have been teaching Academic English and Academic Skills at The University of Manchester since 2019. Before that, I lived and taught English in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai, Johannesburg, and Frankfurt.

I love travel and exploring the world; my experience of working in such diverse places has led me to develop a strong interest in intercultural communication.

I really enjoy helping students better communicate with their classmates and colleagues from around the globe. Throughout the year I teach Academic English on the EAPP course and Academic Skills to Foundation Year students. I also facilitate grammar and writing workshops on the Academic Success Programme and academic writing workshops for PhD students. I love the variety of courses we teach and enjoy meeting students from different departments across the University.

I joined The University of Manchester in 2021. Before that, I taught English to students of various backgrounds in the UK and South America. At the UCAE, I teach on EAP and Academic Success Programme courses and am involved in materials development and team-leading on the Pre-sessional course. I have also taught on both the six- and ten-week Pre-sessional courses.

I’ve always been interested in language learning and can speak French, German and Spanish, although with widely varying levels of fluency and accuracy. I really enjoy meeting and working with people from different backgrounds, and look forward to working with you as you develop your Academic English skills with us.

I teach students across the University at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate level. I hold a doctorate in sociolinguistics and my research on language and identity is published by Lexington Books (Second-generation South Asian Britons: Multilingualism, Heritage Languages and Diasporic Identities).

Before joining The University of Manchester, I taught at Edinburgh and Manchester Metropolitan Universities. Before working in universities, I taught English in several countries, including Nepal, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, Tunisia and Spain. I am a published author and my third novel The Wild Wind is based on my nomadic childhood spent between India and Zambia. 

I am the lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) for the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures. 

While working at The University of Manchester, I have taught on many of our Pre-sessional courses, Academic Success courses and been a trainer on our teacher training course. I am especially interested in teacher training and strategies for improving spoken English and presentation skills. I am currently working on my MA dissertation which analyses English intonation produced by Chinese students.

As one of your pre-sessional Course Co-ordinators this year, I am really looking forward to helping you to have a fantastic experience studying with us, so that you feel ready and excited to move onto your next stage as a University of Manchester student.

I have worked at the UCAE since 2013. Before coming to the University, I worked in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, Libya and China as teacher and lecturer, and also worked as a quality assurance and process manager.

My areas of interest are testing and educational technology. I am looking forward to helping you become the best you can be during your time at the University.

I began teaching English in 1987 and spent many years working abroad with the British Council in South East Asia, and also in Europe. I became involved in teacher development courses whilst working in Italy and later became a CELTA trainer in the UK. I taught ESOL in further education and local council centres, setting up and teaching on courses for refugee and asylum seeker groups.

More recently I moved into higher education, working at a number of universities both year-round and on Pre-sessional courses. I joined The University of Manchester in 2003 where I have taught on, and developed, a variety of courses with the University Centre for Academic English.

Before joining The University of Manchester, I worked at other HEIs including Keele University, King’s College London and Staffordshire University.

At the UCAE, I teach on EAP, Academic Success and LEAP courses. I am also a team leader on the Pre-sessional course, and I am involved in materials development.

I love teaching at the UCAE because of the variety of courses on offer and the amazing opportunity to work amongst such a diverse and talented student community.

A professional interest is materials design and I have written several books for Cambridge University Press. I am also active in research and followed up my EdD with publications on professionalism and identity.

I can’t wait to meet you and help you on your wonderful learning journey.

I joined the University of Manchester in November 2022, and I’m very excited to teach on all the different courses that we offer. Before joining, I taught Academic English Skills and Language in Leeds for over 3 years. This involved designing materials to help students prepare for their higher education courses and incorporating technology to enhance learning and assessment. These are both areas of education that I am interested in.

I love travelling and spent most of my childhood living in the Middle East. Once I qualified as a teacher, I lived and worked in Japan for two years. I enjoy meeting and working with people from different cultures and backgrounds and helping them develop their understanding of academic skills and conventions.

I have been working at the University for nearly a decade. During this time, I have taught and developed materials as well as assessments for a range of courses and conducted research. I am also a representative of BALEAP in our Centre.

I have worked in various institutions - from a Polish high school to British tertiary education providers including Staffordshire, Edge Hill and Birmingham City. I have a BA in TEFL and Sociolinguistics, an MA in Translation Studies, and a Cambridge DELTA, and am currently working towards becoming a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Outside of work I enjoy spending time with friends, listening to music, travelling and supporting my favourite football team, which is neither City nor United. I look forward to working with you to help you develop the skills and confidence to succeed.

I’ve been teaching English since 2010, and I’ve being working on the summer Pre-sessional courses at the University of Manchester since 2014.  Before joining the UCAE, I taught in various institutions in the UK, Thailand and Spain, and after living in Madrid for the last 6 years, I returned to the UK to work full-time at Manchester in 2022. 

Other than teaching, I’ve been involved in writing educational materials and course design, and my interests include linguistic landscape research, politeness, and corpus linguistics, the last of which was the primary focus of my MSc.  I believe my interest in these areas has helped to inform my approach to and thoughts about teaching and language learning, and communication more generally. 

Outside of work, I like writing songs, playing the piano, going to the theatre, playing board games, and spending time with friends.

I joined the University in 1995, and have been Resources Co-ordinator for over 20 years. I oversee the Open Learning Centre for Languages and Academic English (OLCLAE), which includes the library (which houses resources for over 80 languages), reception and multimedia spaces. I work with teaching staff to ensure our students have access to all the resources they need to support their learning - from ebooks, physical books and DVDs, to audio-visual equipment. I also look after the Face-to-Face languages exchange scheme.

I was born in Birmingham and grew up in the Middle East, and am a Humanities graduate. Outside of work I enjoy language learning, growing food on an allotment, and creative writing.

I have worked in the UCAE since 2017, and hold a Bachelor’s degree in Financial Accounting and Auditing, and an additional qualification in CFA (Certificate in Financial Accounting).

I have worked abroad and in the UK for retail, pharmaceutical and investment companies. In my current role as Student Fee Officer, my duties include processing course fees for Pre-sessional/English courses, requesting payment from sponsors, and calculating commission payments for agents, whilst maintaining accurate records for management accounts.

In my spare time I enjoy painting and sketch art, music, cooking, and spending time with my family.

I joined UCAE in December 2023 as Deputy Centre Manager. Before joining the centre, I worked at the University of Manchester for several years, working in both FBMH and FSE. I have a biological background and was a laboratory-based research technician for 12 years before moving into a management post in 2014. In previous roles, I have been responsible for managing technical staff and resources, and hope to bring the skills I’ve gained to UCAE. Before working in higher education (a long time ago!) I worked in retail and was the manager of a small independent record shop. 

Outside of work I like live music of almost any genre and theatre (particularly Shakespeare.) I also enjoy walking, usually up a big hill.

I have worked for the University since 2015 and am the Programme Support Officer for Pre-sessional English courses. I support the running of the full-time English course, helping to ensure that you will feel comfortable communicating with your lecturers and classmates by the time you begin your degree programme.

I have a BA in the History of Art and Design, and enjoy modernist art and architecture, yoga, life drawing and live music.

I have worked with the IELTS exam for over 12 years in a variety of roles and countries.

In my role as IELTS Test Centre Manager at the University, I am responsible for managing the strategic development, day to day operations and marketing of the test centre.

Working together with a team of IELTS officers, invigilators and examiners, we aim to provide a first class experience to test takers at all times.

I started my role as Student Support and Experience Coordinator in the University Centre for Academic English in March 2023 and have worked at the University of Manchester since March 2020. My previous roles have included student support, specifically in areas of graduation and Examinations, and implementing change in the timetabling policy and process to create a better journey for students.

In my free time I enjoy travelling and love to explore new places.

I have worked at the UCAE since 2011. Prior to this I worked as an administrator in the Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine. My main role is providing support for the English for Academic Purposes Pre-Sessional (EAPP) Course. I am responsible for the setup of course documents, monitoring student attendance and issuing end of course reports and certificates. I also deal with EAPP timetabling and requisitions for book orders and commission payments.

I am a History graduate (OU), and outside of work I enjoy yoga, music, gardening and spending time with family.

I have worked as Marketing and Recruitment Coordinator in the University Centre for Academic English since July 2022.

My undergraduate degree is Modern Greek Studies, so I have an interest in languages and language learning. I was fortunate enough to spend a year in Greece on the Erasmus programme, which offered me the opportunity to experience another language and culture first-hand.

I have extensive experience in international student recruitment, with a focus on relationship management with sponsors and recruitment agents.

I am a true Mancunian and love welcoming students to the city!

I provide day-to-day administrative services on behalf of the University of Manchester IELTS test centre. In addition to this, I am responsible for the preparation and supervision of IELTS test days. My role involves responding to telephone and online queries from prospective test takers and agents, processing payments and candidate documentation, as well as working alongside UCAE staff, external invigilators and examiners to provide best test‑taker experience. I also ensure that all British Council guidelines are stringently followed for the set-up, running and post-test procedures of IELTS test days; thereby delivering a fair and consistent testing environment.

I have worked in UCAE since May 2023 as the Programme Support Officer for the Academic Success Programme. My main responsibilities include creating timetables for our workshops, monitoring attendance and responding to student queries. I have a background working in student voice and am passionate about providing a service in line with student needs and wants.

I am a philosophy and psychology graduate and in my free time I love to read, walk in the countryside, crochet and spend time with my cats.

I have worked at the University Centre for Academic English since 2016 as an IELTS Officer. My main duties include organising pre-and post-test documentation; liaising with examiners, invigilators and markers; and overseeing test days as required. Prior to my current role, I worked as a teaching assistant at Alliance Manchester Business School.

Outside of work, I enjoy cooking, reading and travelling.