London Faculty Directory

Director of London Campus

Dr Lucie Pollard

Lucie Pollard has over 20 years of experience in Higher Education, joining the University of Greenwich as a junior lecturer in Human Nutrition in 1998. Lucie’s work has focused on delivery of innovative teaching and learning.

Lucie is keen to understand how culture influence students’ sense of belonging and ultimately success at university and has recently co-authored a book entiltled Cultural Journeys in Higher Education.

Project Management Programme Leader

Dr Evi Viza

Evi is Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineer with focus on Quality Management and Continuous Improvement. She is a Chartered Quality Professional from the Chartered Quality Institute, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and a member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology. She has a diverse engineering background with project management and Six Sigma applied knowledge in the industry and research.

Her research is centred on applying operations management, quality improvement and lean principles to solve industry problems as well as how they apply to the work of craft groups and in the cottage industry particularly in low resource economies.

Associate Lecturer Project Management

Dr Chimaobi Alutu

Experienced Associate with a demonstrated history of working in the environmental services industry. Skilled in Aspen Plus, Time Management, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Aspen HYSYS, and Energy. Strong professional with a Doctor of Philosophy – PhD focused in Engineering and Computing from University of the West of Scotland.

Head of Division

Dr Michele Cano

Michele is Head of the Division of Engineering. She is a mechanical and manufacturing engineer specialising in quality engineering with over 20 years’ experience within multidisciplinary environments. Her research interests include lean manufacturing, quality and project management. Her specialist areas of teaching include compliance and quality systems as well as lean manufacturing and lean six sigma. Michele has delivered academic and training programmes in quality and lean manufacturing world-wide including, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Russia. She is a reviewer for The TQM Journal, the Journal of Cleaner Production and the International Journal for Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, and sits on the scientific committees for three international conferences in the field of Quality. She is currently an external examiner for The University of Portsmouth.

Michele’s work with industry is in the areas of quality management, lean manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma and project management and includes delivering training, consultancy and Knowledge transfer to organisations including Aggreko and Diageo.

Lecturer Project Management

Dr Hazhar M Faris

Hazhar is a civil engineer specialising in construction project management. He has a diverse background in engineering and project management in the industry and research. His research interests include project planning, procurement, project collaboration, construction management and building performance. Before joining UWS, he was a teaching fellow in construction project management at the University of Portsmouth. Additionally, he has experience working as a construction site manager and construction site engineer in the Middle East.

Senior Lecturer Project Management

Dr Mohamed Abdel-Wahab

Mohamed is a fellow member of the UK Higher Education Academy. He is passionate about applied research projects to support the digital transformation of the construction industry for enhancing both training and practice.

His portfolio of applied research is in excess of £500,000+ which was funded by various organisations, such as: CITB, Morrison Construction (Galliford Try), Thomson Bethune, Scottish Government, European Regional Development Fund, UK Commission for Employment and Skills, Skills Development Scotland, Energy Skills Partnership, and Scottish Funding Council. His research won a number of industry awards, such as: 2-CIOB awards, namely: Premier award in the Digital Innovation category; and Highly Commended award in the Innovation in Education & Training category. Recently, his collaborative project on VR for H&S training was a finalist in the Water Industry Awards 2018 and featured in industry press.

Senior Lecturer, London Business and Creative Industries

Peter McGuire

Peter has been employed at UWS for over 28 years in a variety of lecturer and programme leader roles, covering several key subject areas.

He is responsible for the overseeing of the London Operations on behalf of the School of Business and Creative Industries. He is also programme Leader for the BA (Hons) International Business programme which is the main undergraduate degree programme on the London campus.  

His current teaching area is mainly Data Analysis and Professional Development, but he also lectures in Scottish Diversity within a Global World and General Business. His research area is primarily looking at leadership and management from a programme leader perspective and he is currently in the research stage of his DBA thesis. 

Over the years he has provided consultancy to several organisations in areas such as quality systems development, statistics and general business.

He sits on various committees within UWS including the BCI School Board, University Regulations Committee, University Academic Quality Group and Senate Disciplinary Committee.  
 

Education Guidance Advisor Business and Creative Industries

Ellen Ricketts

Ellen is the Education Guidance Adviser for BCI programmes at the London campus. She joined UWS in August 2020 and prior to this was a Lecturer in English at the University of Hull and an Associate Lecturer at the University of Lincoln.

Throughout her career, she has been involved in student experience and employability initiatives. Her role is to provide academic and pastoral support to students to make sure they are able to progress and succeed in their studies. You can come to Ellen if you have any concerns about your ability to progress or succeed in your studies and she can help find a solution that works for you.

She can give advice on modules and the amount of credit needed to progress, as well as issues like funding and study skills, and can arrange support from our available services if you have questions about study skills, careers or wellbeing etc.

She is here to make sure you engage with your programme and modules and help you if there are issues affecting your attendance, and to support you at every stage of your programme from enrolment to graduation.

Lecturer Business and Creative Industries

Dr Selman Tetik

Dr Tetik received his PhD in management from Fatih University in 2016. Since 2012, He has been delivering Business and Management modules at Higher Education. He started his career in Turkey as research assistant and then held lecturer position in 2012. He worked for one and half years in Nigeria as Senior lecturer. Prior to joining the UWS as a Lecturer, he delivered business and management modules at Brunel University London as HPL and at Scholars School System (Leeds Trinity University) as Business lecturer.

His research focus is on the Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour. More particularly, talent management, employee engagement and human capital are the topics of my research. His other interests include emotional intelligence, team creativity and team performance.

Programme Leader International Foundation Programme, Lecturer Business and Creative Industries

Dr Lakhbir Singh

Dr Lakhbir Singh is a Lecturer in Business and Management. His teaching interests are around Marketing, Research Methods and Management modules. Prior to joining UWS he was a Lecturer in Business and Management at the University of Derby and an Associate Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University.

Lakhbir completed his PhD at the University of Derby in 2017. His research looked at the issue of trust before, during and after the financial crisis incorporating Cultural Theory and Marketing theory. Lakhbir’s research interests include the concept of trust, financial crisis and cultural theory. Currently he is collaborating with his PhD supervisor on a GCRF research project, external to the university, that is looking at trust within the local population of Jamaica after a hurricane.

In terms of supervision, Lakhbir has extensive experience of supervising undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations. He has led and taught research methods to postgraduate students both in the UK and overseas including experience of supervising DBA students in the UK and Middle East.

Dr Lakhbir Singh is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and member of the British Academy of Management and the Academy of Marketing.

Lecturer, Health and Life Sciences

Dr Christopher Mafuva

Dr Christopher Mafuva joined the University of the West of Scotland in February 2020 as a Lecturer in Professional Health Studies. Chris formerly worked as a Programme Leader for a collaborative BSc Public Health and Health Promotion course before moving to teach and manage the BSc Health and Social Care Programme. In addition, Chris has had experience as a Visiting Lecturer supervising BSc Health and Social Care dissertations at Level 6. Chris has also effectively delivered the Health Promotion modules through blended learning.

Lecturer, Health and Life Sciences

Dr Eddy Awire

Senior Lecturer, Health and Life Sciences

Dr Joanne Lusher

Dr Joanne M Lusher is the Academic and Professional Lead for Health and Life Sciences (HLS) at UWS London Campus where she is responsible for strengthening interdisciplinary learning across health and social care education. She joined UWS in 2017 after formerly working as a Programme Director for a Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology at London Metropolitan University.

She is a BPS Chartered and HCPC Registered Health Psychologist; Chartered Scientist; Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Jo is also a Registered Applied Psychology Practice Supervisor and the Chief Supervisor/Registrar for BPS Stage 2 training in Health Psychology.

Her research outputs include over 70 international peer reviewed papers and books. Jo was nominated for a Student-Led Teaching Award in 2012 and a University Teaching Fellowship (UTF) was awarded to her in 2016. In 2020 Jo was awarded a Learning and Teaching Enhancement Fund (LTEF) grant for a project entitled ‘Improving students’ understanding and use of assessment feedback’. Her most recent research focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on mental health.

She is part of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Study Group who are now working in collaboration with the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) research institute at the University of Washington. Jo has been teaching university students across more than 60 modules and a dozen programmes from foundation to doctoral level in the health and social sciences field for over 20 years.

Programme Leader MBA Pathway Programmes, Business and Creative Industries

Dr Melissa Kerr

Dr Melissa Kerr is lecture in the School of Business and Creative Industries. She has worked as a lecturer in Higher education on both undergraduate and postgraduate business course in universities in both Australia. Her areas of research and teaching include change management, HRM, organisational behaviour, strategic management and labour history. She completed my PhD at the University of Sydney in 2012. Her research examined the examined the impact of public employment services on labour market outcomes.

Lecturer, Business and Creative Industries

Dr Claire English

Dr Claire English has a PhD in Management Studies from the University of Leicester, and an MSc Gender, Development and Globalisation at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

She has previously taught at both undergraduate and masters level on subjects including Human Resource Management, Organisational Learning and Organisational Behaviour at Queen Mary University of London, and Business Research Skills at Kings College London. Claire was employed as a Research Associate at the London School of Economics and Political Science as part of the Commission into Gender, Inequality and Power, her work focussing on questions of social inequality and work-life balance. Prior to her academic career Claire worked in the NGO sector, working as an Event Coordinator, Operations Assistant and HR Officer at numerous charities across London.

Her current research follows the serious issues with childcare provision in the UK, in particular the rapid closures of private nurseries as a result of the Covid-19 epidemic and she is thinking and acting collectively with other parents, childcare workers and academics to formulate a response to this impending crisis.

Programme Leader Education Studies

Catriona Oates

Teaching:

• Masters in Education Studies (with pathways) level 11  
• PGDE Programme (SCQF levels 10-11)
• Teacher Education, BA(hons) programme (levels 7-10)

Research:

Currently engaged in PhD study into Teacher professional learning communities (PLCs) which are frequently presented as a mechanism for enhancing professional knowledge and capacity in teachers.  Significant research evidence has been generated to support this view (Cordingley et al. 2005; Stoll et al. 2006, 2007; Edwards, 2012). Collaborative observational practices such as Learning Rounds, Learning Triads or Learning Walks are increasingly advocated in education and other professions as a means of supporting home-grown professional learning situated in the workplace. However, there are conflicting arguments in this debate (see Dooner et. al.(2008); Fendler (2011) Servage (2009) and Watson (2014)) and further empirical knowledge is vital to inform practice in this area and generate deeper understanding of the relationships and processes involved in PLCs, and their emergent agentic effects. This study aims to fill that gap.

Head of Division, Education and Social Sciences

Dr Stephen Day

Dr Stephen Day is the Head of the Division of Education. Prior to joining the University in May 2012, he was a secondary school biology teacher. Before entering the teaching profession, Stephen worked on a number of biomedical research projects at the University of Glasgow, based at Glasgow Royal Infirmary within the Departments of Cardiac Surgery and Pathological Biochemistry (now Vascular Biology).

Dr Day received his PhD from the University of Strathclyde in 2010, which focused on the development of pupils’ scientific literacy through socio-scientific discussion using co-operative learning.

Stephen is a Science tutor for PGDE Science within the Division of Education.

Stephen is an active member of the educational research community in Scotland where he was vice-president (2015 – 2017) and president (2017 – 2019) of the Scottish Educational Research Association. In addition, he is a member of the British Educational Research Association where he is an active member of the Science Education special interest groups as well as being a member of the Association for Science Education.

My main area of research focuses on quantitative and qualitative research in Teacher Education with a specific interest in Science Education.