Teaching & Training
Teaching
University physics and astronomy teaching
I have taught an observational astronomy course for second year students at Newcastle University. At Durham University I created and delivered a series of lectures/workshops on how to reduce and analyse astronomical data. I also acted as a physics tutor and marker for first year undergraduates during their group tutorial sessions and took on the role of co-ordinating the marking for the weekly assessments of the Level 1 undergraduate physics course.
Swing dance teaching
After some experience teaching swing dance for Lindy Jazz, I co-founded the Durham University Swing Dance Society and was the lead teacher. This involved teaching swing dance to classes of 30-100 undergraduates on a weekly basis. I also delivered teacher training to the more experienced undergraduate dancers, so that they could take on the role of teaching the less experienced dancers. This role also involved mentoring and some pastoral care - with some students finding our classes and the society ethos was what they needed to find friends and settle into university life.
Other teaching
From 2012-2014 I acted as a one-to-one physics and maths tutor for two students aged 14 and 18.
In 2009 I spent a summer teaching English in China to school pupils.
In 2009 I spent three weeks in a high school (Stokesley School), obtaining training and experience in science teaching.
From 2002 to 2007 I taught children (aged ~6-11) to play the clarinet, saxophone and piano.
Training
I designed and regularly run a training session in "The Joy of Science", designed to look at ways we can manage our wellbeing in relation to work and home life, as an academic. This has been delivered to various research groups in the UK and Germany.
As ESO Fellow Representative (joint with Anita Zanella), I took the initiative to create a training and development programme for the PhD students and postdoctoral researchers (including myself!). This contains both online material and workshops delivered by specialists. The topics include: ``Courtesy and Respect in the Work Place"; ``Conflict Management"; ``Effective Communication and Presentation Skills"; ``Unconscious Bias" and ``Effective Supervising and Mentoring".
This role also involves: ensuring that the young researchers have proper representation in the organisation; they have a positive research experience; and that their professional needs are met.
I trained PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and staff to present planetarium shows at the ESO Supernova.
Previously I trained high school students in effective communication and delivery of science activities (for younger students) under the Ogden Schools scheme at Durham University.