ETP Committee Members

Professor Robert Freedman - Chair
Dr Sue Assinder
Professor Sue Brain
Ms Ann Fullick
Mr Ian Harvey
Peter Heathcote
Dr Liz Lakin
Professor Ottoline Leyser
Professor Chris Pollock
Professor Jim Prosser

Observers

Dr Mark Downs
Dr Laura Bellingan
Ms Jackie Caine
Mrs Rachel Lambert-Forsyth
Dr Barbara Knowles
Dr Caroline Wallace

Committee biographies

Sue Assinder graduated from Lancaster University with a BSc in Biological Sciences and a PhD in fungal genetics. After postdoctoral positions at Dalhousie University and the University of St Andrews, she joined the School of Biological Sciences at Bangor University in 1986 as a postdoctoral fellow and remained there until 2006, the final 3 years as Head of School.  She then moved to the School of Education at Bangor as Director of the newly formed Academic Development Unit. In 2008 she was appointed as the first Director of Education in the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and now runs a complex teaching effort that delivers postgraduate programmes not only in Liverpool but also in many countries around the world, particularly Africa and the Middle-East.  Sue has for many years pursued an interest in promoting public engagement with science, producing resources for schools and participating in numerous science festivals and other public events. She previously chaired the Education Committee of the Biosciences Federation and currently chairs the Education and Training Division of the Society for General Microbiology.

Susan Brain is a Professor at King's College London where she is Head of the Centre for Integrative Biomedicine and Section Head of the Vascular Biology Section (Cardiovascular Division, Waterloo Campus).  She was Vice President (Academic Affairs) of the British Pharmacology Society (BPS) and chaired the BPS Education and Training Committee, through which the BPS Advanced Diploma in Pharmacology was developed from 2004-2009.  She is currently a pool member for the BBSRC grant committees and contributes to the editing of several scientific journals.  Her research is into the role of sensory nerves in vascular inflammation, including transient receptor potential activating mechanisms.  Studies have involved investigations into the calcitonin-gene related peptide family of vasoactive peptides, that include adrenomedullin,  in cardiovascular and inflammatory disease.

Robert Freedman is Professor of Biochemistry at Warwick University where he was Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences (2002-07). He served on the Council of the Biosciences Federation, was Chair of the Biochemical Society and Hon Secretary of the UK Life Sciences Committee.
His research on protein folding in the cell has been funded by research councils, industry, medical charities and the EC; he has published >250 research papers and supervised >50 PhD students.
He was a member of the Council of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). He has served on research funding committees and research review panels for the Wellcome Trust, CR-UK and overseas agencies. Currently he is a member of BBSRC’s Corporate Trustee Team for the Institute of Animal Health and the Centenary Committee of the Biochemical Society.
He was at the University of Kent from 1971, serving as Head of the Department of Biosciences and Deputy Vice-Chancellor. His teaching record includes Open University and WEA.
His first degree (Chemistry) and doctorate (Biochemistry) were both from Oxford University.

Ann Fullick graduated in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and taught biology in a variety of schools, eventually running a large science department and becoming an A Level examiner. 
Her writing career began with the SATIS project. She has since written textbooks for Key Stage 3, GCSE Biology, IGCSE, A Level Biology, GNVQ, 21st Century Science, Science for Public Understanding and CSEC (Caribbean GCSE), along with around 30 books on topics ranging from infertility treatment and organ transplants to biographies of Charles Darwin and others. Ann has also written for the New Scientist, the Wellcome Trust, and produced the “Science Year Teacher’s Kit” for the DfES. 
Recent projects include A Level biology texts for the UK and for Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda; work on new GCSE textbooks for all three UK examination boards; and biology books for Ethiopia commissioned by the World Bank. Her books are used on five continents.
Ann is also a member of the Biological Education Research Group. Writing text books gives her an insight into examination specifications and styles of teaching and learning both nationally and internationally, along with an historical perspective on the way specifications, textbooks and teaching have changed over the last 20 years.

Ian Harvey is Head of Biology at Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge. The department has 650 students studying AS/A level biology or human biology and a high proportion go to university to follow a biology-related career. In addition, Ian has worked for the Open University since 1980 and is currently an Associate Lecturer tutoring the Human Biology course. In 2008 he was given an Open University Teaching Award for his work with the YASS scheme at his own college and more widely throughout the Eastern Region, the scheme allowing 6th formers to follow Open University courses.
Ian acts as co-ordinator for the Cambridge Biology Teachers group which he established in 2005. Sixteen local schools and colleges are involved with the activities of the group in addition to companies, research institutes, HE and STEM engagement organisations.
Ian is on the advisory group for East of England STEMNET, trustee of STEM TEAM Cambridgeshire, is a committee member for the East Anglia Branch of the Society of Biology and a member of the Society of Biology Education, Training and Policy Committee, ASE East Anglia branch committee member, teacher representative on the Cambridge Genetics Educators Network (CGENe), the Cambridge University Working with Schools group and the Sanger Institute audience panel and is a patron of the Cambridge Science Festival. Ian is also a lay member of the Animal Welfare, Experimentation and Ethics Committee at the Babraham Institute. He has worked on several collaborative projects with the Sanger Institute, Babraham Institute, Gurdon Institute, GlaxoSmithKline, LSN, LSIS, Britten Partnership, Cambridge University, Addenbrookes Hospital and the Open University. He is author of a range of health-related resources for use in schools.

Liz Lakin is Lecturer in the Biological Sciences at the University of Dundee, with specific responsibility for Schools' Support and associated outreach work both nationally and internationally. In her current role she teaches on the environmental and whole organism components of the undergraduate programmes. Having worked for many years in Initial Teacher Education her teaching experience spans all levels of science education from primary and secondary to post-compulsory at both further and higher education levels. She is also involved with developing and delivering CPD for national and international teachers of science/biology. Liz has worked extensively over the years as an external examiner at a range of Higher Education Institutions on both primary and secondary Initial Teacher Education Courses. Her research interests focus on teaching and learning in the Biological and Environmental Sciences and areas of pedagogic expertise include developing and enhancing independent learning; she has several professional and academic publications within this area to her name. Liz is a Chartered Biologist and Fellow of the Society of Biology. She is a committee member of the Society’s Scottish Branch and chairs the Accreditation working group.  Liz currently remains acting Chair of the Lakeland area Association for Science Education.

Ottoline Leyser is Professor of Plant Developmental Genetics in the Department of Biology at the University of York, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. She is currently Chair of the BBSRC Bioscience Skills and Careers Strategy Panel, and Deputy Chair of the Athena Forum. These commitments stem from her long-term interest in promoting science education as a route to diverse careers, not only in academic science, but also for example in industrial research, government policy roles, and careers in the media.  Lack of awareness of these options reduces the uptake of science degrees, causes disillusionment in early career researchers who do not want to stay in academia, and impoverishes the wider appreciation of science in government and the public. Promoting and developing career planning for scientists is therefore extremely important.

Chris Pollock was Director of the Institute of Grassland and Environment Research from 1993-2007. Chris read botany at Cambridge and has a PhD and DSc from Birmingham. He has published over a hundred papers in basic plant and agricultural science and on the responses of agricultural crops to climate change. Chris joined IGER in 1974 and held a number of research and management positions.  He has also worked in the USA.  More recently, Chris has been involved nationally in agriculture and land use. He chaired the BBSRC Review Group on Sustainable Agriculture and Land Use, the Scientific Steering Committee for the farm-scale evaluations of GM crops, the Defra Research Priorities Group for Sustainable Farming and Food and the Agriculture, Food and Veterinary Science panel for the 2008 University Research Assessment Exercise.  He has recently completed a one-year post as Chief Scientific Advisor to the First Minister in Wales.
He is currently an Honorary Professor at Aberystwyth University, chair of the Advisory Committee on Releases into the Environment (ACRE), and a member of BBSRC Council. Chris is a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies and of the Society of Biology, a past winner of the British Grassland Society Award and was made a CBE in 2002 for services to the environment.

Jim Prosser is Professor in Environmental Microbiology in the Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Aberdeen. His research focuses on the diversity and ecosystem function of microbial communities and on the use of molecular techniques to characterise natural communities of microorganisms in soil and in aquatic environments. This research has uncovered novel microbial groups involved in biogeochemical cycling processes, in particular nitrification, which plays a central in the global nitrogen cycle.
He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Chief Editor of FEMS Microbiology Ecology and a Director of NCIMB Ltd., a microbiological services spin-out company from the University of Aberdeen.
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/biologicalsci/staff/details/j.prosser

Observers

Laura Bellingan oversees science policy advice activities at the Society of Biology which engages with government, funding agencies, academia, industry, education and the public sphere. She is interested in how science is used for public good and works to promote the use of evidence generated by biologists in policy development. Her postdoctoral research was on human inflammatory cell biology and she has a masters degree in Science, Culture and Environment.

Mark Downs is Chief Executive of the Society of Biology. He joined the Society from the major charity for hearing health and deafness, RNID, where he was the Executive Director for Science and Enterprise (2004-2009). Mark joined RNID after spending three years as the UK’s lead policy official for negotiating and implementing a range of far reaching, EU driven, business related environmental legislation at the Department of Trade and Industry. He previously spent five years at the British Embassy in Tokyo as First Secretary (Trade Policy) with responsibility for all UK-Japan bilateral and multilateral trade relations. He focused, in particular, on the medical, environmental, telecommunications and legal services markets.
Earlier in his career, Mark managed and undertook biosensor research, managed Government LINK programmes and worked on innovation and S&T policy. He was responsible for setting up the Government’s Faraday Partnership Programme and worked on the 1993 Science & Technology White Paper. He has a PhD from Cranfield University where he worked on the development of DNA sensors for rapid gene identification and a BSc in Biotechnology from the University of London.

Rachel Lambert-Forsyth is Head of Education at the Society of Biology covering all aspects of the Society’s work ranging from primary through to postgraduate. Rachel leads for the Society within SCORE (Science Community Representing Education). She graduated from Plymouth University with a BSc in Marine Biology and Coastal Ecology during which time she completed a dissertation on 'The effect of different feeding regimes on the mortality rate of juvenile seahorses (Hippocampus reidi)' in partnership with the National Marine Aquarium. She went on to complete an MSc in Sustainable Environmental Management which included a placement with Devon County Council Environment Directorate, during which time she reviewed and rewrote their Marine Role and Action Plan for 2008-2011. She is a Chartered Biologist and is interested in promoting the biological sciences as a career choice for all and ensuring that biology qualifications are engaging from cradle to grave.

Barbara Knowles is Senior Science Policy Adviser to the Society of Biology. Her main professional interest is communicating science to non-specialists. Previous jobs include Assistant Director, Science in Society, at the Office of Science and Technology; and Deputy Head of Communications at the Natural Environment Research Council. As a researcher at the University of Cambridge, she investigated how a family of biological insecticides works.
She works part time, and spends the rest of her time supporting projects on wetland ecology, hay meadow biodiversity, rural development and traditional agriculture in Transylvania www.treasuresoftransylvania.org/