Dr Jane Saffell

National Teaching Fellow 2015 Jane Saffell believes that students learn best in inclusive academic communities where teaching and learning are meshed with research and scholarship. Key elements of her approach are research-enculturation, engendering practitioner thinking and dispositions, and use of authentic assessment. Jane's innovative mini-research project module and Story of a Paper framework reveal the creativity of research and give students insight into research socio-politics and culture that helps identity formation and a sense of belonging. "It was very valuable because it goes beyond the science and puts the significance into the context of the outside world, something that you can never really learn elsewhere." (Neuroscience & Mental Health BSc graduate). The same principles guide Janes strategic leadership of postgraduate education in the Faculty of Medicine, where she harmonised Masters programmes to a modular framework, created a Health Sciences Academy with two other universities, and developed a new international Summer School. A champion of students as partners she worked with student leaders to create a forum for Faculty-wide postgraduate student-staff liaison and built a PG Connections platform of community-building events for postgraduate students. The transformative impact of Janes teaching and leadership is evidenced by student feedback and awards. Uniquely, she has twice received President's Medals (the university's highest teaching honor) for Outstanding Innovation and Excellence in Education, and President's Awards for Excellence in Teaching across three separate years.  Jane also won Student Academic Choice Awards (run by the students union) in successive years, for Best Innovation and Best Feedback. Jane's career spans neurobiology research, teaching (biochemistry, biomedicine and neuroscience), PhD supervision and educational leadership across two faculties. She credits the supportive community of Imperials Educational Development Unit with catalysing her development as an innovative educationalist from new lecturer through MEd and HEA Senior Fellowship to her current leadership roles. Her research on the value of research enculturation and authentic practice for student learning has been presented in a book chapter and at international conferences including the Federation of European Bioscience Societies (FEBS) and Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE). She also represents university biomedicine on the Society for Biologys national school Biology Curriculum Committee.