Leadership team

Find out more about the leadership team at the University Centre for Academic English.

  • Gavin Dodsworth.

    Gavin Dodsworth - Director of UCAE

    Gavin has undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from the University of Leeds, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and University College London (UCL), and also has an MA in Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching,  and the Cambridge DELTA - both from King’s College London (KCL).

    Before Manchester, Gavin worked in a number of UK university Language Centres’, including the LSE (Assistant Co-ordinator), KCL (Deputy Director) and the University of Bristol (Director).

    Gavin’s role at Manchester sees him responsible for the strategic leadership and management of the Centre’s academic and professional services operations, and he sits on School and University groups to enable this remit.

    Gavin’s current interests lie in the challenges and possibilities of technology on the sector, and what the internationalisation of education means to students regardless of nationality.

  • Ruth Fordham.

    Ruth Fordham - Deputy Director of UCAE

    Ruth completed her undergraduate course at the University of Liverpool, followed by a master’s in TESOL at The University of Manchester. She went on to gain a DELTA qualification and taught in Spain, Egypt and Venezuela before settling in Manchester.

    At the University, Ruth has held a number of teaching and leadership roles, including Head of Pre-sessional Programmes. Having gained her Senior Fellowship, she has also assessed applications for Advance HE Fellowships. 

    She now leads teaching and learning at the Centre, overseeing academic operations. She also works as a teacher trainer and Course Director for a Trinity College London qualification.

    Ruth is a member of the University Qualifications Group and acts as the department’s EDI representative. She also observes for the BALEAP TEAP Accreditation Scheme. Ruth is committed to building inclusive student learning communities—across cultures, locations and modes of study.

  • Lisa Jameson.

    Lisa Jameson - Deputy Centre Manager

    Lisa started working in Higher Education in 2003 as a trainee molecular biology technician at The University of Sheffield. After joining The University of Manchester in 2006, Lisa worked as a Senior Research Technician in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health. She left the laboratory in 2014 to move into Technical Operations, managing teams of up to 30 technicians. She also contributed to the design and rollout of the Faculty of Science and Engineering technical review, a four-year project to improve and integrate technical services.

    Lisa joined UCAE in 2023 to take on a new challenge and move into a wider context of Higher Education. Part of her role is to assist with the successful delivery of the summer Pre-sessional courses and much of her year is dedicated to the recruitment of our summer language tutors. As Lisa moves into her second year at UCAE, she hopes to make improvements to processes and continue to contribute to the effective running of the Centre.

  • Rob Marks.

    Rob Marks - Senior Coordinator Pre-sessional Courses

    Rob has a BSc in Environmental Biology and an MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, from the University of Manchester (UoM). He holds the DELTA (Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults), awarded by International House.

    Rob taught in Bolivia, Poland and the UK before joining UoM, where he has held teaching and leadership roles, including Head of Academic Success Programme.

    He leads on all aspects of the UCAE's Pre-sessional and English Summer Programmes, providing academic direction to the Centre's timetabling operations.

    Rob is interested in managing projects and people, and completed the Leaders in Teaching Programme. He has also presented on his experiences of working with a "critical friend" in another university. He leads on projects to develop teaching materials to ensure they suit the changing English for Academic Purposes needs of students, and has created and reviewed student-facing materials for an international publisher.

  • Francesca Smith.

    Francesca Smith - UCAE Centre Manager

    Francesca completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Leicester (with a year at Colorado State University), and also has an MSc in Management Practice from the University of Salford.

    Before her role at the University of Manchester, Francesca held a number of administrative management roles at UCLan, Edge Hill University and the University of Salford.

    Francesca leads the Centre’s Professional Services team and is responsible for the strategic direction of the team as well as managing the day to day administrative operations, which includes teaching & learning, student support & experience, admissions, marketing & recruitment, learning resources and the IELTS exams team.  Francesca is a member of the School’s Professional Services Leadership Team.
     
    Francesca’s interests lie in enhancing the international student experience through continuous service improvement.