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Samantha Pugh (Group Co-Leader) NTF

Email: S.L.Pugh@leeds.ac.uk
Co-Leader of PRiSM

Samantha Pugh is an Associate Professor in STEM Education and a National Teaching Fellow 2017. She is the Institutional Academic Lead for Digital Assessment and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is currently the Director of Student Education in the School of Physics and Astronomy.

With a PhD in Colour Chemistry and Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, she is currently predominantly focused on digital and authentic assessment, student engagement, employer engagement and educational research in STEM. She is interested in embedding sustainable activities within the curriculum to ensure that education is well-rounded and prepares students for a successful future in business or academia. She has led a large number of externally funded projects in curriculum development.

Committed to delivering innovative teaching practices that will enhance student learning, and increase their employability, Samantha has created, implemented and managed a variety of commercially-focussed courses for the Schools of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry where students are presented with the opportunity to respond to project briefs set by employers. Her research interest in pedagogy was initiated when she developed a module as an enterprise case study for the Colour Chemistry department in 2006, after which she was employed within the Faculty to enhance learning and teaching within the Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry and Food Science Schools. One of her projects is the "Chemistry: Idea to Market" module that specialises in teaching students how to commercialise their research in the scientific discipline. The module focuses on aspects such as intellectual property, scale-up, safety, legislation and marketing. She has also introduced a "Group Industrial Project" module to Physics, where students work with companies on a live project brief. More recent projects include 'Context and Problem Based Learning' for the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Samantha has also established Industrial Advisory Boards in the Schools of Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics to enhance career prospects for students and strengthen the links between the schools and industry. In 2014 Samantha was shortlisted for the National Enterprise Educator in HE Award.

Samantha works closely with employers to identify the gaps that exist between university teaching and “real world” experiences in industry. She feels strongly about supporting students in developing their employability and enterprise skills and helping them realise how their research can have an impact on society and the environment. Samantha is passionate about PRiSM as it will help to develop an evidence-based approach to teaching , and allow members to share their ideas creating links between the different disciplines.

Connect with Samantha