Dr Helen Watson

I am an education focused academic with an interest in bioscience and skills education research. In November 2023 I achieved the status of Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA). 

My background is in biochemistry. My current research is focused on how best to integrate transferable skills into the curriculum, across higher education. I also have a strong interest in EDI, particularly in how higher education institutions can make positive, tangible changes to culture regarding EDI.

Externally I recently chaired a review of the QAA Biosciences Subject Benchmark Statement, which has now been published on the QAA website. Until the end of 2023, I chaired the Biochemical Society's Education, Training and Public Engagement committee. I also am a panelist for Advance HE's Athena Swan charters and a member of the Royal Society of Biology Curriculum Committee.

At the University of Plymouth I am Associate Head of School for Education and Student Experience and lead teaching and learning in the Medical School. I recently chaired the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Science Athena Swan self-assessment team (SAT) through a successful Silver Athena Swan application, awarded by Advance HE in March 2022. I currently co-chair the University Athena Swan SAT. 

You can see my publications in the tab below, or on my Orcid profile here: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2946-0441

As Associate Head of School for Education and Student Experience, I lead teaching and learning in the Medical School. I also teach students on various programmes within the Faculty of Health, including medicine, diagnostic radiography and physician associate. I teach students a variety of life science topics, including biochemistry, cell biology, physiology and genetics. Much of my teaching is in small or medium sized group sessions, and I am proactive in creating innovative and interactive sessions.
I hold a number of education related roles within the medical school, including: 

I currently serve as an external examiner at the following institutions:

Developing transferable skills One of my key interests is in how we best embed transferable skills into higher education curricula. Transferable skills are essential in all fields of work, yet little of our teaching is devoted to them. I have published work suggesting various ways we can embed skills training, especially teamwork training, into our programmes. I am also working on how we best assess these skills; something which is recognised as a big challenge across higher education.

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)
With significant experience in EDI work both locally and nationally, I have a strong research interest in improving the higher education culture for all. Too often EDI is seen as a tick-box exercise which can be completed and forgotten about. But to be truly inclusive, we need to embed EDI principles in all that we do. I am currently working on research about how best we can improve the culture in higher education to move to a more inclusive environment where everyone can work, learn and develop to their full potential.

Scholarship, education and communities of practice
I co-lead the Division of Education and Scholarship (https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/camera/division-of-education-and-scholarship) with Tracey Collett and James Edwards. Through this role, and looking more widely at the research on educational scholarship, we are working to share good practice on developing educational scholars through collaboration and training opportunities. We have carried out research on various career pathways in academia and are currently evaluating our work within DES to distill some ideas to share with colleagues in education across the sector. 

My teaching content is bioscience focused, stemming from my background in biochemistry. I have recently chaired the QAA Biosciences Benchmark Statement advisory group to revise and update this benchmark, in order to guide bioscience educators across the UK in creating and developing bioscience programmes. I have a strong interest in linking science education with embedding skills (as described above). I have recently co-supervised a Master's student (with James Edwards and John Chilton) looking at fundamental science teaching in medical education, at what stages it is taught, how much of it is retained and which aspects are most troublesome. 

All of my published work and outputs can be seen in the 'publications' tab on this page. My published papers are listed on my Orcid page here: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2946-0441