Dr Angela O'Sullivan

Dr Angela O'Sullivan champions inclusive practice. She has drawn on her experience of teaching science in vocational further education colleges, higher education and a prison to develop a very clear scholarly humanist pedagogy focused around motivation and supportive, yet autonomous learning. Her ethos is that learning should be relevant, 'hands on' and fun. Her students recognise how much she enjoys her role. As one comments: "One of the few genuine lecturers who loves their subject but most of all, loves teaching it." Her original research focus was analytical pure science but her experiential learning whilst teaching careleavers drew her towards the social sciences. Her longitudinal study into the barriers to educational attainment for careleavers has been highly acclaimed and is recommended reading on the Centre for Excellence and Outcomes for Children and Young Peoples' Services website. Her work supported her university's Buttle UK quality mark for supporting careleavers. Impact of work As Faculty Academic Development Partner, and Head of Widening Participation in the faculty of Health and Life Sciences at De Montfort University, Leicester she has trained a team of academics from diverse disciplines to develop and deliver high-calibre, interactive experiences whilst also promoting cohesion amongst academics. She is leading teams to develop teaching modules and inclusive resources based on previously-developed, successful, outreach scenario-based activities. An undergraduate STEM module with an assessment based on a real crashed car was developed with her team from her CrashEd outreach activity and longlisted for a HEA Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence in 2016. As Faculty Academic Development Partner, she has been instrumental in disseminating the universitys highly-acclaimed Universal Design for Learning Policy. She is passionate about ensuring equal opportunities for students and staff and champions the universitys DMUfreedom Charter. She has successfully mentored seven university Teacher Fellows and is a cornerstone within this forum. The input to strategic development from this group was commended by the QAA. Plans for the future Angela plans to continue the national and international dissemination of research-informed inclusive practice. She is developing online resources to support students whose education has been disrupted and to raise their aspirations,ensure barriers of transition to university are minimal and university staff are receptive to their diverse needs.