Faces of Reading

Not long after I joined the University, my personal circumstances changed, and I needed full time work. Fortunately, I was able to increase my hours with an additional role in another School and was later made full time in my main role. Being able to increase my hours when I needed reduced a lot of stress for me at a difficult time in my life. 

I moved over to the Walker Institute in 2016 as a permanent Executive Administration Officer. The work I am currently supporting is helping us to address some of the fundamental challenges society is facing such as migration, food and water security, biodiversity loss, extreme weather, and disasters. 

Coming from a working class, ethnic community, I was unsure how I would fit into the world of higher education and academics, but I have enjoyed all my roles at the University and have found colleagues to be friendly and supportive. I would recommend the University as a place to work because it is like a little town within a town, full of people that you can connect with, people who are similar, and also, people who are different and that makes life interesting! Being able to walk to work through the woods every morning is also a bonus for me. 

I came here with lovely childhood memories of the campus, but now I have great new memories, of achievements, wonderful colleagues, picnics in the Harris gardens and all the interesting work, both local and international, that is carried out. 

In 2019 my colleagues in the Vice-Chancellor’s team nominated me to attend the Royal Garden Party for my voluntary work in the community and I had a lovely, sunny day there with my new husband. In August this year, it will be ten years since I started my part-time, temporary role, and I am happy to say, I am still part of this unique community.

Progression has been a defining part of my journey here, and I’m passionate about helping others experience the same. Whether through mentoring colleagues or supporting my team via PDRs and regular 1-2-1s, I see career development as something we should all actively champion and a core element of my citizenship.

Beyond my main role, I’ve been involved as a volunteer with the Staff Forum since 2020, initially joining during the height of COVID – partly out of curiosity, partly to stay connected. In 2023, I stepped into the role of co-chair, and it’s become a space where I can advocate for colleagues and collaborate with other representatives to make a meaningful difference. I’ve had a genuinely positive experience working at the University, and I’m committed to helping others feel the same. I want to be part of solutions – however ambitious they might sound.

On a personal note, I became a dad for the first time in 2023, and that’s the role I cherish most. One of the things I value deeply about working at the University is the flexibility I’ve been given – particularly by my line manager through the Smart Working Policy – which allows me to be the parent I want to be for my son, while continuing to deliver in both my professional and volunteer roles. That balance is something I’m incredibly grateful for.

The University has given me a lot: opportunities to grow, a supportive network of colleagues, a brilliant team, and a (near-perfect) work-life balance – not to mention the view from my office over Greenlands and the River Thames, and the occasional free lunch! – I even look forward to (most) Mondays, and that’s a feeling I’d love for everyone here to share.

I have held a variety of roles in Global Academy to date, including Assistant Programme Director for the Pre-sessional English (PSE) programme, and Academic Language and Literacy Liaison (post-graduate) for the Henley Business School. I have also been involved in the digitisation of teaching materials and the maintenance of online learning environments for both the Foundation programme (home students), the Pre-sessional English programme, and the Academic English programme. I am actively involved in the Technology Enhanced Learning community of practice. I also enjoy reviewing written submissions as part of the InForm journal editorial board here at the University.

Over the years, the University has given me the space and support to grow as a professional by offering me a wide variety of roles according to my particular skills and interests. I have mostly been working on full-time contracts at the University of Reading, however I have taken part-time contracts too. This flexibility has enabled me to focus on completing my own research for my MA dissertation, while still working and remaining part of Global Academy. I appreciated the flexibility with my hours and workload during that busy time.

I am currently studying part-time for my Doctorate in Education (EdD) here at the University of Reading, while working full-time the Global Academy. It is a great comfort to me to feel secure in the knowledge that Global Academy will support me wholeheartedly in this endeavour.

I now live in London, and I have two children. My work schedule was set up to balance being a mother and a lecturer, so I was able to start early in the morning and work in Reading three days a week. I would creep out of the house quietly so as not to wake my children! Now the children are older and they don't need so much of my attention, I also work from home two days a week. This requires that I am very reactive on the days I'm not in Reading and also that I am flexible about the days I choose to work from home.

I also act as carer for my mother and mother-in-law. It would be fair to say that I've always had significant care responsibilities, but have always managed to balance them with my work because the University has been flexible. I never missed a parents’ evening and made it to most school events.