Stories of Hope

Tom Burns (1959–2024) was an Associate Teaching Professor in the Centre for Teaching Enhancement at London Metropolitan University, developing innovations with a special focus on praxes that ignite student curiosity, and develop power and voice. Always interested in theatre and the arts, and their role in teaching and learning, Tom developed theatre and film in unusual places, set up adventure playgrounds, events and festivals for his local community, and fed arts-based practice into his learning, teaching and assessments. Tom was a University Teaching Fellow and has received a Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) 2022 by Advance HE. He co-authored Teaching, Learning and Study Skills: A Guide for Tutors and Essential Study Skills: The Complete Guide to Success at University (5th Edition, 2022), https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/essential-study-skills/book278189.

Richard Heller, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Newcastle, Australia and of Public Health, University of Manchester, UK, has a medical degree and doctorate from the University of London, United Kingdom. He was Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Community Medicine at the University of Newcastle, Australia and Professor of Public Health at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Richard was also the founder and coordinator of the People’s Open Access Education Initiative (Peoples-uni, https://www.peoples-uni.org/), which aimed to provide Public Health capacity building in developing countries at low cost, through e-learning using open-access resources on the Internet and leading to an MPH degree. He is author of The Distributed University for Sustainable Higher Education (2022, https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-6506-6).

Rajan Madhok is a public health doctor who worked in senior medical management positions in the NHS. Alongside his service work he took a major interest in capacity building throughout his career. He is retired and lives in North Wales, and is keen to share his own learning with others. Rajan was Chair of the Trustees of Peoples-uni—https://www.peoples-uni.org/—holds honorary academic appointments at the University of Salford, UK, and Indian Institute of Public Health, Shillong, India, is a non-executive director of Llais (https://www.llaiswales.org/dr-rajan-madhok) and a governor on the Council of Coleg Cambria. He is the author of RaMa Reflections (https://www.ramareflections.com/).

Fabian Neuhaus, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. His research in the urban environment focuses on the topics of habitus, type, and ornament. He has worked in Switzerland, Germany, Canada, and the UK. He is passionate about the scholarship of learning and teaching, and design pedagogy. He is the Principal Investigator for the Richard Parker Initiative and its associated projects, including NextCalgary (https://nextcalgary.ca/).

After training in hospital medicine, John Sandars entered the world of general practice. John was also a GP trainer, GP tutor, Macmillan GP Facilitator in Palliative Medicine, and part-time lecturer in general practice at the University of Manchester. He developed his academic career in medical education as Associate Professor in the Leeds Institute of Medical Education, University of Leeds and was appointed Professor in Medical Education at the University of Sheffield before moving to Edge Hill University in 2016 as Professor of Medical Education. John is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Educators and Higher Education Academy. He has received major funding for national and international projects and has over 200 peer-reviewed publications and was a Visiting Professor at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He is an Associate Editor for Medical Teacher and a member of the editorial board for the International Journal of Medical Education. Find out more about John via: https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/person/professor-john-sandars/staff/

Sandra Sinfield is an Associate Teaching Professor in Education and Learning Development in the Centre for Teaching Enhancement at London Metropolitan University and a co-founder of the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education. Sandra is a University Teaching Fellow and has received a Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) 2022 by Advance HE. She has co-authored Teaching, Learning and Study Skills: A Guide for Tutors and Essential Study Skills: The Complete Guide to Success at University (5th Edition, 2022), https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/essential-study-skills/book278189. Sandra is interested in creativity as a liberatory and holistic practice in Higher Education; she has developed theatre and film in unusual places—and inhabited SecondLife as a learning space.

Upasana Gitanjali Singh, PhD, is the Academic Leader and Associate Professor in Information Systems and Technology at UKZN and holds academic appointments in Australia and Malaysia. She is an NRF C2-rated researcher in Educational Technology, achieving this distinction on her first application. With over fifteen years of teaching experience, she specialises in IT and has a strong passion for digital teaching and learning. Her prolific research includes four edited books and over sixty scholarly outputs, with numerous international keynote addresses. She founded and chairs the digiTAL2K conference, promoting global collaboration in digital education innovation. Prof. Singh has received several awards and led UKZN’s global engagements through MoUs with institutions across three continents.