Louise Rickard

I am a Teaching Fellow in Medical Education, focusing on the MSc in Evidence-Based Health Care (EBHC) Teaching and Education, PGcert in teaching Evidence based healthcare and the MSc in Global Healthcare Leadership. I am excited to be working in HE today, and recognize this time as being pivotal both for HE and the way we think about healthcare

I trained formally in teaching doing my PGCE and MEd at Cambridge, my FHEA at Brookes and my SFHEA at Imperial. I have worked in different HE institutions in the UK and abroad (including Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial) and have a breadth of knowledge including mainstream schools, outdoor education centres, and in the Education Faculty for emergency medical and rescue teams.

I currently also retain a smaller role as Lecturer in Educational Development with the Oxford Centre for Academic Enhancement and Development (OCAED) at Brookes University; where I teach and coach Staff on the Internal PGCHE (EXPLORE) course, provide internal programme and module design expertise across the university, and am the academic lead for embedding a sustainability mindset across the university. I have in 2024 mentored a handful of Senior staff towards their SF HEA; and regularly supervise MSc and MBA theses.

Until end of 2021 I worked as a Senior Teaching Fellow in Business, Sustainability and Environment at the Centre for Environmental policy at Imperial College, where I was module leader and course co-convenor for the Business and sustainability track of the MSc in Environmental technology (161 students). I also held a key role on the teaching leadership team that in 2018-20 took the department through curriculum review, modularisation and transformation. As part of that process we moved entirely from closed book exams to open book essays and groupwork, implemented an innovative way of incorporating peer assessment for groupwork into the final degree result, and moved all the marking and assessments fully online. When COVID -19 happened we pivoted our teaching onto a hybrid model and developed innovative approaches to community cohesion. I was awarded the Imperial College special award for substantial and exceptional achievement during the COVID-19 pandemic. I received my CMALT with distinction for a project on the peer assessment of groupwork, in 2023.

I am a qualified coach, with over 15 years in private practice working with individuals and organisations. I use my coaching skills to support teaching faculty and students. In my coaching I combine a depth of care with creative psychological insight and a practical and existential outlook.

I bring a bridging role to education settings - linking what is possible technically to what is needed pedagogically- and where there are gaps attempting to find solutions for them.  I keep the students' experience and also the needs and pressures of of teaching staff front and center in all that I do.