I am a passionate computer science geek and educator and have worked in a wide range of roles nationally and internationally. Having completed an MSc and PhD at the University of East Angila I am working as a Senior Lecturer (Education) at Queen's University in Belfast where I also act as Director of Education for Undergraduate Computer Science programmes.
If you have any queries please don't hesitate to contact me using the details above.
School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Queen's University Belfast, United Kingdom
Working as a Reader (Education) in EEECS teaching students in a number of subjects and undertaking scholarly activity and research to build more effective and inclusive teaching strategies, building on research-led teaching.
Academic Profession at Queen's University Belfast:
07/2017 - 08/2021: Lecturer (Education) / Assistant Professor
08/2021 - 08/2024: Senior Lecturer (Education) / Associate Professor
08/2024 - Present: Reader (Education) / Associate Professor
Software engineering, programming, system development, project management, testing, quality in software, development methodologies, risk management, interfaces and external system constraints, real world implementation of engineered software, cross-language design constraints, software platforms, software delivery and management
Queen's University Belfast (QUB)
Module organiser and lecturer for:
International experiencing lecturing at Guangdong University of Technology, China, on behalf of QUB in summer 2018 and summer 2019.
University of East Anglia (UEA)
Lecturing experience on the following modules:
Associate tutor running seminar and lab sessions on the following modules at the University of East Anglia:
Research Techniques, Distributed Computing, Database Systems, Internet and Multimedia Techniques, Software Engineering (1 & 2), Systems Engineering, Programming (1 & 2).
Additional experience in creating module plans with learning outcomes from the ground up (Systems Development), as well as writing exam questions and various forms of formative and summative assessment/marking including presentations, written work, exams, code assignments, research reports, and essays. Student module assessment scores available on request.
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (from January 2021, previously Fellow).
Awards
At QUB:
Numerous school-based events such as:
BelFOSS 2019 - presentation on "My Life in FOSS"
Northern Ireland Developers Conference (NIDevConf) - presentation on FOSS 2018.
Belfast Java User Group - research presentation 2017.
UEA in the City public engagement event 2015 – numerous researchers from many disciplines presenting their research to a public audience and local business leaders through posters or a Pecha Kucha presentations
Sync the City Norfolk Developers business start-up event 2014 – as part of a team build and launch a new business startup in two days using open public resources
Software engineering, software evolution, recovery of design information, source code analysis, development methodology effectiveness & implementation, system development & engineering
ICT consultancy and software development company offering a range of services.
Member of the Governing Body (GB) of Southwest College, Northern Ireland.
Provider of niche and specialist networking, hosting, and consultancy services. Started as a college-based business providing routers for analogue connection Verrotech, though not actively marketed, retains a loyal customer base using our cloud platforms to host their services. My responsibility has included both on-site customer consultancy as well as technical management of key back-end services including Xen, BIND, Sendmail, Postfix, WU-FTPD, Dovecot, Apache, MySQL/MariaDB, and SSHD.
Working within an innovative startup handling all aspects of our technical offering. Wrangling the electronic elves, handling offshore developers, project management, technical planning, and everything in between.
Working on the innovative KAPtEN project which will be a web platform allowing continuous assessment of scientific opinion for given topics within a number of environmental domains including Energy & Nature, Pollenation, and the Carbon Cycle. In addition to my work in the Tyndall Centre I was very involved in teaching within the School of Computing Sciences.
Responsible for both welfare and good order within university residences. This varied role includes everything from noise complaints to major mental health crises or welfare concerns. Working on both an on-call duty basis with a large area, and a smaller pastoral area of responsibility for day-to-day support, the role provides support to a very diverse range of students with different needs. During my four years in this challenging role I have been involved with and supported students with immediate suicidal intent, major physical trauma, long-term wellbeing issues, anxiety, and learning difficulties. In addition I have regularly mediated solutions between residents and had to deal with dangerous behaviour or that warranting disciplinary action.
Providing a range of services to numerous and varied clients of the UEA Consulting service. Such services have included management advice, project management, coordination of software delivery, software design, systems analysis, and software development/delivery of solutions to meet client needs. I have been involved in the full lifecycle of projects from the tentative initiation right through planning, contract signing, delivery, and evaluation with handover and sign-off. This has often involved liaising with different groups, enabling seamless communication from the very technical developers to the technophobic managing directors.
School of Computing Science, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
A full-time research student pursuing a PhD in Software Engineering while additionally performing a number of teaching roles varying from lecturing to lab supervision, devising course content, and setting exam questions.
Thesis: Enhancing legacy software system analysis by combining behavioural and semantic information sourcesSupervisor: Dr. Joost Noppen
Research Abstract: Legacy software presents a growing problem to organisations who rely on such systems to underpin core business. This software, though understood poorly, is still subject to the continuous pressure of change. The traditional approach to comprehension of existing software is reverse engineering, usually a static analysis of the source code to generate diagrams. Our work starts with reverse engineering as a base and begins with the benchmarking of industry standard reverse engineering tools, identifying major differences in their performance and presentation. Having identified static reverse engineering as not only potentially error-prone but often insufficient, techniques are created and evaluated in which multiple sources of information including software repository logs can be combined and used together, specifically to inform change impact analysis.
Responsible for all aspects of IT services and support for the Ministry of Health and Social Services in the Kunene Region of northern Namibia. This included the specification, procurement, provisioning and installation of new IT equipment as well as ongoing maintenance and training. Led and delivered the project for general network (and Internet) connectivity to all three hospitals in the region, streamlining communications and delivering more effective and efficient patient services. Additionally, provided a wide range of more general administrative support including management and financial planning advice. Trained staff and service users in a range of areas from basic use of computers to computer repair, network installation and server management.
Managed the IT helpdesk services and daily operation functions of the ICT department of a local government district. Line managed directly the frontline helpdesk and operations staff including recruitment, appraisals, and staff development. Matrix managed key technical personnel who were responsible to the helpdesk for some of their working time. Led major failure incidents through to resolution and then analysis for lessons learnt in a non-judgemental fashion. Implemented an entirely new helpdesk and management system based on new software and some chosen ITIL principles. Built an ethos of customer-focus and clear performance goals and indications based upon speedy efficient resolution of problems and customer satisfaction. Defined, implemented, and managed performance and service-level monitoring for critical systems and the service desk function.
Qualification | Graduation Year | Detail |
---|---|---|
Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice (HEP) | 2017 | |
PhD in Computing Sciences (Software Engineering) | 2016 | |
M.Sc. Advanced Computer Science | 2013 | Distinction |
HND Computing | 2001 | Merit |