The Development and Evaluation team is responsible for the curriculum development of our outreach activities and training programmes for student ambassadors, as well as for the evaluation of our curriculum. We are a very collaborative team; we work with all the other teams in the department as well as colleagues around the University. As a team we want to ensure that there is a clear rationale for why we run our outreach activities, and that we are able to evaluate the impact of our work on both our outreach participants and student ambassadors.
Find out more about each member of the team below:
Marta Almeida-Hill (Development and Evaluation Manager)
How long have you been in the PDO for? For over 8 years (I think!).
What is your job? I manage the Development and Evaluation team, and work across curriculum development and evaluation.
What work do you do with Ambassadors/when might an Ambassador meet you or hear from you? Ambassadors are most likely to see me during training sessions. I also deliver some of our debating provision (which I would encourage everyone to sign up to support!), and I work with Evaluation Interns.
What did you do before joining the PDO? I worked in Motor Insurance. I was part of a graduate scheme, and trained as an Information Analyst.
What is your favourite part of the job? That is a hard question! My favourite part of the job is probably when I get to deliver a session and can see that the students have really enjoyed and benefited from it. Also spreadsheets, I love a good spreadsheet!
Alex Martin-Carey (UKAT Subject Specialist)
How long have you been in the PDO for? I have been in the PDO full time for 1.5 years, and part time for 3.5 years.
What is your job? I am the UKAT Subject Specialist. This means that I am responsible for designing and overseeing the outreach curriculum we deliver for our University of Kent Academies Trust schools, and for developing new outreach projects with the wider PDO team and with Academic Divisions. I have a particular focus on academic-related projects and, although I’m interested in almost everything, my particular passion is literacy and creative writing.
What work do you do with Ambassadors/when might an Ambassador meet you or hear from you? Ambassadors are most likely to see me if they work on a UKAT project or anything English/literacy related.
What did you do before joining the PDO? Before working in the PDO I was the Outreach Subject Specialist in the faculty of Humanities, and before that I was a Postgraduate Ambassador and PhD student in the School of English. I’ve also been an Associate Lecturer, a writer, a theatre director and a drama teacher.
What is your favourite part of the job? I love meeting school students and seeing them learn something new and have a good time. I particularly like it when we can surprise them with something much more fun and interesting than they expected! In normal times we get to run some big events for UKAT like the Da Vinci Days which are full on but really exciting, as well as smaller projects which really deliver something special like the British Library project, the Games club, and the trips abroad. Our online academic mentoring has been really amazing this year, and I’m excited about the virtual summer schools we are planning.
Ruth Westbury (Development Officer)
How long have you been in the PDO for? I have been with the PDO for 1000, I mean, 11 years.
What is your job? My job is Development Officer (FE) which means i develop and deliver a program of progression events and projects with and for our Partner Colleges all over Kent. I also work with the Access & Adult Learning team, encouraging and supporting the transition of mature learners into University.
What work do you do with Ambassadors/when might an Ambassador meet you or hear from you? I work with Ambassadors all over the place! Ambassadors deliver and support many of the talks in FE Colleges and I think it’s really important to have Ambassadors at everything I do, after all the students I work with want to hear from YOU and not me! I also am very inspired by Ambassadors and your journey into university and love finding our about your hopes and dreams for the future.
What did you do before joining the PDO? I have worked with CCCU and UCA before coming to Kent (makes Varsity interesting!) but I used to work in Theatre Land in The West End in Wardrobe departments on shows like Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph & the Amazing Technicoloured Dreamcoat, so I know all about transferable skills!
What is your favourite part of the job? My favourite part of the job is at the end of a talk when I say to the group ‘if you have any questions, but do not want to ask them out loud, me and the Ambassadors will be here for a few minutes’ and then you have 3 or 4 students in every session that really want to come and talk to you. Knowing you have made a difference, that you may have helped someone on their future pathway…. that’s amazing.
Shauna-Aine O’Brien (Student Support and Development Officer)
How long have you been in the PDO for? Two years, first as an Outreach Activities Co-ordinator, then as a Development Officer (Student Ambassador Scheme), and now as a Student Support and Development Officer.
What is your job? My job is mostly working in developing the Ambassador Scheme by seeing all the ways we can involve Ambassadors in the work we do and develop their advocacy, skills, belonging to the Scheme, and participation in our work to widen access to HE. I also am a designated safeguarding officer, so work on ways we can stay safe in our work. I am involved in Ambassador training, and developing our outreach programmes too.
What work do you do with Ambassadors/when might an Ambassador meet you or hear from you? Everything I do is about working with Ambassadors! I work with Ambassador Scheme Support Interns every week, I work closely with Outreach and Debating Tutors, I pop along to Lead Ambassador meetings occasionally, too. I do training, so you may see me deliver a training session for you in the future, especially if it is related to safeguarding, as I am one of the Outreach Team’s Designated Safeguarding Officers. In other words, you cannot get away from me!
What did you do before joining the PDO? Before joining the PDO, I did a million jobs. Mostly working in retail, then working in museum and gallery education with young people, then teaching children in Japan.
What is your favourite part of the job? My favourite part of the job is creating opportunities for everyone to develop their skills, confidence, and sense of community, whether they are a participant in a programme, an Ambassador, or a member of staff.
Gemma Hunt Subject specialist (STEM outreach)
How long have you been in the PDO for? Just over two years.
What is your job? Subject specialist (STEM outreach). I work closely with the academic divisions and postgraduate ambassadors to develop and deliver outreach activities.
What work do you do with Ambassadors/when might an Ambassador meet you or hear from you? Most of my work is with postgraduate ambassadors within the divisions, but I am always amazed by the support provided by central scheme ambassadors for events such as Sciences at Kent and Science Extravaganza. Most recently I have worked with central scheme ambassadors on the academic mentoring programmes for GCSE Science.
What did you do before joining the PDO? Before joining the PDO I taught Science in secondary schools for just over 10 years. Before that, I worked for a clinical research organisation.
What is your favourite part of the job? I love the variety – Both in terms of the subject areas that I oversee but also in terms of day to day activities, which range from reading about the evidence behind particular interventions to devising outreach strategies and delivering activities. My favourite outreach activities are those that involve working with small groups of students over a number of sessions. I love to see the students grow in confidence and self-belief. I also feel very lucky to work within such a supportive team.
Joe Waghorne (Monitoring and Evaluation Officer)
How long have you been in the PDO for? I started in December as maternity cover.
What is your job? Monitoring and Evaluation officer
What work do you do with Ambassadors/when might an Ambassador meet you or hear from you? I work with the Evaluation Ambassadors. My emails are always open for ambassadors to get in touch.
What did you do before joining the PDO? I just finished a PhD at the university of Brighton in the field of Education and I was a part-time research officer there in their Centre for Learning and Teaching.
What is your favourite part of the job? My favourite part of the job is playing with data and using it to tell narratives about the way things work.
Also in the Evaluation and Development Team are Becky Spink (Development Officer) and Amy Burt (Monitoring and Evaluation Officer).