Personal statement
I currently work as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering after working at Monash University, Australia (2013-2015) and The University of Manchester (2005-2013) in Engineering Education roles.
My background is in Chemical Engineering (BSc, MSc and PhD) with expertise in Froth Flotation in Minerals Processing gained during my PhD and postdoctoral work with Prof Jan Cilliers. From 2005, when I was awarded a Post-graduate Certificate in Education PGCE -(Secondary Maths) at Manchester, I started my academic career in engineering education where I have been involved in a variety of topics and projects with particular focus on professional skill development.
Teaching
I have experience in designing courses and delivering teaching to small groups and large classess (250+) at different levels in Chemical Engineering Programmes.
I have taught:
- Chemical Engineering Design: including Material and Energy balances, Process Design and Synthesis, Equipment Design
- Capstone Design Project
- Solid-Fluid Systems
- Engineer in Society: environmental impact, safety, economics and ethics
- Laboratory Projects
My current teaching concentrates in Chemical Process Design.
Research interests
My main research interests are in the areas of Engineering Education and Human factors in Safety.
Society faces many challenges that demand skilled engineers with the professional skills to face needs of ever-changing workplaces and my research is contributing to inform training practices to make this possible.
The work of my research group (SkIL) centres on investigating aspects of Skills' development (Problem Solving, Teamwork and Decision Making) and look at social interactions in different environments to inform trainig and performance.
In learning contexts, we look at 'how' students develop professional skills by studying 'what' actually takes place in student-centred learning environments (e.g. Problem-based learning). In industrial environments we study the relationship between human factors and decicion making in the process industries.
We use a range of research methods: quantitative and qualitative (e.g. content analysis, conversation analysis, surveys, interviews) to build evidence to support theoretical developments and inform practice.
At the moment we are studying:
-what processes take place during collaborative problem solving,
-how students manage their social identities and conflicts in a team,
-the role of perception and safety culture in industrial scenarios,
-how students develop self-regulation in teams.
We are also interested in online learning and the opportunities and challenges that it entails.
For information on funding opportunities please check PGR Funding @Strathclyde.
Professional activities
- 8th International Symposium of Engineering Education (ISEE)2020
- Chair
- 9/7/2020
- Dept. Chemical Engineering, Universidad de los Andes (External organisation)
- Advisor
- 1/1/2019
- Using discursive psychology to investigate knowledge and task complexity formulations in student-led problem-based learning tutorials. Oral presentation at ICCA 2018: 5th International Conference of Conversation Analysis, Loughborough University, UK.
- Contributor
- 11/7/2018
- Workshop on Agricultural Biomass Waste -Utilisation Routes
- Organiser
- 11/5/2018
- Doing disagreement without being disagreeable: How students deal with conversational norms in group work. Oral presentation at EuroPLAT 2017 Conference, University of Salzburg, Austria.
- Contributor
- 18/9/2017
- Collaboration vs. cooperation in student-centred learning, Chemeca 2017, Australia
- Speaker
- 23/7/2017
More professional activities
Projects
- Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP 2016-2017 University of Strathclyde) | McQuade, Robert
- Ventura-Medina, Esther (Principal Investigator) Anderson, Tony (Co-investigator) McQuade, Robert (Research Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2016 - 01-Jan-2020
- Crossing Boundaries – Multidisciplinary Education using Scenario-Based Learning in Engineering
- Ventura-Medina, Esther (Principal Investigator) João, Elsa (Research Co-investigator) Mio, Cristina (Research Co-investigator)
- £4520 received from the Faculty of Engineering Educational Development Fund
- 01-Jan-2015 - 31-Jan-2016
More projects
Address
Chemical and Process Engineering
James Weir Building
James Weir Building
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