Faces of Reading

In February 2020, I became co-Chair of the LGBTQIA+ staff network. I identify as Gay and Jewish. I feel very fortunate to work in a welcoming space where my sexual orientation is something I can celebrate as opposed to something which is just tolerated: where I can be ‘out and proud’. The rainbow flag flies high on IDAHOBIT, and the university quite rightly celebrates each year the contribution of its then Chancellor, Lord Wolfenden, to the acceptance of gay people through his authorship of the famous Wolfenden Report. 

Shortly before the COVID-19 lockdown, I was fortunate to marry my husband (and now law school colleague), Professor David Bilchitz, in a progressive Jewish egalitarian Vegan gay wedding in South Africa. David and I wrote about our experiences in the Jewish Report.

I am passionate about advancing LGBTQIA+ rights in the UK and globally, especially in respect of ensuring asylum-seekers' access to protection for persecution and in working with Parliamentarians, civil society organisations, practitioners, and recognised refugees.   

When it comes to my Jewish identity, given its distressing prevalence, I feel blessed to have never experienced antisemitism on campus. Unlike other institutions, Reading does not hold lectures, seminars, or examinations on the Jewish Sabbath, and when I flagged up the challenge posed for prospective Jewish students with holding open and visit days only on Saturdays, additional dates were added. Hence, it strikes me that the question at – and for Reading – is not about willingness to accommodate, but about awareness and visibility: the public calendar which the University follows is centred around Christian holidays (notably Christmas and Easter) whereas festivals of minority faiths like Divali, Eid, or Yom Kippur are not publicly recognised. I know that this can and will change. 

My role is now "teaching intensive", which means research is only a minor part of what I do.

As an 18-year-old student, the last thing I thought I would be doing was standing up in front of people giving talks. Showing off my project to prospective students gave me the confidence to do it. I get a buzz out of it now: the different ways of teaching things, thinking about technology and what we can use.

I was made Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2014. I have been Head of Department, Director of Teaching and Learning, and Senior Tutor. I am now School Director of Technology Enhanced Learning in the School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences.

How we do things has changed considerably. We used to have mobile robots to promote our courses, which were part of our outreach activities, now we use massive open online courses (MOOCs). You get people of all ages all over the world doing them. I’m the lead educator for the Begin Robotics MOOC, where anyone can learn about robotics, which features many interactive web pages I developed. I also use such web pages when teaching artificial intelligence, virtual reality and mathematics. They also featured in a recent project about how to make online learning more accessible for all.

It's great to be in an exciting subject area where there's constant innovation and new technology, and where things are continuing to develop.

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 at ISLI. It is a great comfort to me to feel secure in the knowledge that Global Academy will support me wholeheartedly in this endeavour.

I work full time, but I work from home 4 days a week. Managers are very good at giving us that flexibility.

I have Becker Muscular Dystrophy, and people have been very supportive without being patronising. Part of the reason for working from home is to help manage my fatigue. I live in Reading, I came here when I was 18 as a student and have more or less stayed here ever since. I had been commuting to Oxford – I was at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust before – which was getting a bit too tiring. It's better now I'm working a lot closer to home.

The team from Estates and Facilities also came in and created a kind of frame by my desk so I can get up easily, which has been really helpful. Everyone in the office will help out if I need anything too; it's been a positive experience.