Dr. Sue Jones,

Associate Professor

Biography

My underlyingphilosophy around learning is never to stop asking ‘why’. This has kept my curiosity going and my approach to teaching, learning,assessment and research contemporary. I have my little one-liners such as‘if you don’t ask, you don’t get’ and ‘I’m not psychic and don’t have a crystal ball’ AlthoughI must have said the latter so many times that some of my previous studentsactually bought me one!

Sue was born in Hull and is proud of herheritage. Studying at the University of Brighton she returned to Hull toqualify and practice as a pharmacist. Her interest in educating otherswas fuelled by the impact she could see she was having on patients whoreturned, often with their friends and family to speak to her. Her next challenge was leaving Hull totake up a Boots Teacher Practitioner (TP) post at King’s College London(KCL). Law and ethics were the first lectures she had to give and havingsat in them when she was an undergraduate, her big test was to make theminteresting. By interspersing the dry theory with Sue’s experiences offorged prescriptions, veterinary prescribing and daily supplies, studentsseemed to enjoy them. Working very closely with Boots the Chemists’ Head Officenationally and the London region locally, she came to realise the gaps ineducational practice of tutors in the workplace and decided to leave her TProle to pursue an academic route and a PhD.

This research was part of an EU funded project looking at pharmacists anddentists and the ability for them to be able to access continuing professionaldevelopment (CPD) in the workplace using technology. Her first podcastwas in 2002 – at that time they were called ‘webcasts’. Aligned with thisresearch was a stream of teaching and project work around professionalism inundergraduate students. Post-PhD, she build upon this research by beingseconded to the King’s Learning Institute (KLI), came up with an idea andjointly founded the Master of Arts in Clinical Pedagogy. With moduleleadership in Intercultural Healthcare Education, Fundamentals of Pedagogy forHealthcare Professionals and Pharmacy in an Educational Context, this workcemented bringing an educational dimension to pharmacy. It also harkedback to developing workplace based tutors.

Working with a team through King’s Health Partners led to the instigation ofthe ‘Statement of Teaching Proficiency’; alignedwith the Academy of Medical Educator model, accredited by the RoyalPharmaceutical Society (RPS) put developing tutors back on the agenda. She was also Programme Leader for a successful MSc/PG Diploma in Primary Careand Community Pharmacy.

Moving to Bradford brought new challenges of enhancing student experiencesthrough Programme and Module Leadership together with being chair of theEducation, Innovation Research and Development (EIRD) research group. In2017, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) gave a rare complement to theMPharm team:

'The outstanding team work demonstrated by the institutional leadership, seniorteam, staff and students. It was clear that colleagues in this school work inclose partnership creating a strongly collegiate culture.' (1)

Later that year, Sue was team lead and awarded a prestigious ‘CollaborativeAward for Teaching Excellence (CATE) from Advance HE. ‘Revolutionisinga pharmacy curriculum through systematic team development with students &staff’ (2)

She enjoys gory horror films – especiallyvampires and zombies, walking her dogs, cacti and succulents, creativity andalways has an eye on the latest tech.

1. https://www.pharmacyregulation.org/sites/default/files/document/bradford_mpharm_reaccreditation_2018_report_for_web.pdf 2. https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/person/university-bradford-pharmacy-curriculum-team