Learn from our academics

Paul Bradshaw

Course leader for MA Data Journalism and MA Multiplatform and Mobile Journalism

An award-winning journalist, Paul is internationally recognised for his contributions to the development of data journalism, and continues to work with organisations in the UK and internationally including the Guardian, Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the BBC. He has written widely on new journalism practice, with books including The Online Journalism Handbook, Data Journalism Heist, Snapchat for Journalists, and Mobile-First Journalism.

Dr Gregory Leadbetter

Course leader for MA Creative Writing and Professor in Poetry

Gregory’s poetry collections include Maskwork (Nine Arches Press, 2020), The Fetch (Nine Arches Press, 2016) and the pamphlet The Body in the Well (HappenStance Press, 2007). His research focuses on Romantic poetry and thought and the traditions to which these relate, together with the history and practice of poetry more generally. His book Coleridge and the Daemonic Imagination (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) won the University English Book Prize 2012.

Sam Coley

Course leader for MA Media Production

Sam Coley is an Associate Professor at the Birmingham Institute of Media, where he teaches a range of undergraduate and postgraduate audio production modules. Sam has a production background in the New Zealand and UK radio industries and worked as a media consultant for CARE International and the Prison Radio Association.

Dr Anthony Howe

Course leader for MA English Literature

Anthony Howe has been at Birmingham City University for ten years and is now Reader in English Literature. He has a PhD from Cambridge University and is widely published in his area of academic expertise, British Romantic period literature.

His publications include the monograph Byron and the Forms of Thought (Liverpool, 2013) and the edited collections The Oxford Handbook of Percy Bysshe Shelley (2013) and Romanticism and the Letter (Palgrave, 2019).

Alex Taylor

Course leader for MFA Acting and MA Professional Voice Practice

Alex is a world renowned director and voice practitioner whose academic career has included senior positions at Manchester Metropolitan University, the Julliard School (New York), the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (Acting). He has directed professionally in the UK, South Korea, and Hong Kong (nominated Best Director by the Hong Kong Drama Federation in 2019 for THE NORMAL HEART), worked as a voice coach for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and freelanced a range of other theatre companies in the UK and the USA. His areas of interest are all aspects of voice work, the study of acting, and Shakespeare.

Toby Kearney

Head of Percussion at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

Alongside his role at RBC, Toby is Principal Percussion and Timpanist of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and performs across the UK with the renowned O Duo. He has played as a guest with most UK orchestras and coaches young musicians in the National Youth Orchestra and National Children’s Orchestra.

Mark Brill

Course leader for MA Creativity, Making and Innovation Practice

Mark is an innovation strategist, who has been working with the creative application of emerging technologies for over 25 years. In addition to his teaching on Future Media and Creativity, Making and Innovation Practice Masters, Mark also leads Maker Monday, a monthly event that brings creative inspiration across the West Midlands. He is currently a STEAM Fellow working on projects that connect everyday objects to benefit sustainability and in health.

Mike Villiers-Stuart

Course Leader for MA and MSc Future Media

Mike started his media career in the 1980s as a TV journalist in cable and satellite newsrooms, before progressing to become a news Producer/Director, later moving into broadcast TV as a Network Director for Thames Television and Producer for the BBC. By 1990 Mike had joined the BBC team responsible for branding and promoting the Corporation globally, winning international awards, including BAFTA and the D&AD Black Pencil. Mike is still practising in industry as a consultant and recently judged the 2020 Mediabrand awards in Moscow.

Robert Gibb

Director of Postgraduate Studies within the School of Visual Communication

Associate Professor Robert Gibb is an expert in the field of Visual Communication, and Photography, including many of its various genres, including Fashion, Documentary, Fine Art, Photographic History and Curation. He has extensive international experience which has imbued and informed his teaching pedagogy, including delivering lectures and workshops at Universities in China, Vietnam, India and Thailand. Robert gained both his Bachelor of Arts and Masters in Design in Edinburgh, and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Artists.

Mona Casey

Senior Lecturer on MA Fine Art

Mona Casey is a curator and artist who has shown and curated artwork in Ireland, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands and Lithuania. She has also developed and coordinated a range of projects, including ARTICLE, a curatorial project; The Museum of Objects, an alternative Museum collection and COLONY a nomadic exhibition programme.

Jasbir Kaur

Director of Postgraduate Studies within the School of Fashion and Textiles

Jasbir has extensive experience in commercial textile design and fashion research. With over 20 years’ experience as an academic, she is a published author in the area of textiles, and the interrelationship between that and fashion. Her current research focus is in the emergence of South East Asian fashion, and she has spoken about her research interests internationally.

Dr Abdul-Razak Alhassan

Teaches on MSc Management suite

Dr Abdul-Razak Alhassan is an international business, development and management academic and consultant with expertise in organisational growth and development, strategic leadership and organisational transformation, with over 10 years experience managing projects at senior levels both in academia and business, working in countries like the UK, Malaysia, Ghana, Tanzania and India.

Dr Sarah Cooper

Head of Research at our School of Law

Dr Sarah Cooper has held Visiting Scholar positions at the Arizona Justice Project, Amicus, Arizona State University, and the Law Library of Congress. She is currently a Visiting Professor at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in New York, and in 2021 she will be a Visiting Fellow at City University Hong Kong.

Professor Michael Brookes OBE

Teaches on MSc Forensic Psychology

Professor Michael Brookes was formerly Director of Therapeutic Communities at HMP Grendon where for eleven years he was the clinical lead within this accredited therapeutic community prison. He is a consultant chartered and registered forensic psychologist and was appointed an OBE in 2013 for services to HM Prison Service and the Care of Prisoners.

Dr Franco Kai Tak Cheung

Associate Professor in MSc Quantity Surveying

Dr Franco Kai Tak Cheung has developed his specialism in cost modelling and forecasting techniques through his PhD studies. Coming from a professional background in the industry, Franco is an active researcher having many research studies published in leading refereed journals. Franco’s recent research studies are in the areas of productivity improvement and off-site construction. He is also experienced in teaching a broad range of quantity surveying and commercial management subjects.

Dr Richard Cornish

Teaches on MSc Automotive Engineering

Dr Richard Cornish is an Automotive Engineer with extensive experience in research and evidence-based automotive research and development. Richard came to study Physics in Birmingham and then gained industry experience at UK Marconi Radar Systems, Lucas Group Research, and Leyland DAF trucks before moving to Birmingham City University.

Dr Adel Aneiba

Teaches on MSc Data Networks and Security

Dr Adel Aneiba is an Associate Professor in Internet of Things (IoT) and Centre lead for Networks and Cybersecurity. Adel has extensive experience in areas related to computer networks and sensor technologies. He has published over 20 papers, and co-authored a book on Industry 4.0. His research interests include IoT for Urban applications and services, computer networks simulation, evaluation and optimisation, and Smart systems. He is also the initiator of The Things Network (TTN) - Birmingham.

Gillian Rudd

Teaches on MSc Speech and Language Therapy

Gillian has extensive experience of supporting children and young people with a wide range of communication needs and additional expertise in supporting children and adults presenting with fluency disorders. Gillian is actively engaged with local and national specialist and professional networks and is keen to support student involvement in activities across the profession.

Dr Lewis Gough

Teaches on MRes Masters by Research

Lewis has extensive experience in working with both undergraduates and postgraduate students, primarily in physiology and nutrition. He has published research in internationally recognised journals. Much of his work to date has focused on optimal methods to supplement sodium bicarbonate and other performance-enhancing supplements. Lewis also applies his knowledge in practice as a consultant physiologist/nutritionist, supporting professional football teams and individual players, Olympic level track cyclists, and national level boxers.

Alison Simons

Teaches on Professional Practice Programme

Alison was a cancer nurse for 18 years looking after patients with a variety of cancers and receiving a variety of treatments. She was the junior sister of a mixed oncology ward within a large teaching hospital. She then went on to become a professional development sister responsible for the educational needs of 200 oncology and haematology nurses. She is pathway leader for cancer and haemato-oncology on the Professional Practice Programme for post-registration nurses.

Tracey Goodyere

Teaches on PGCE Design and Technology and Subject Knowledge Enhancement courses

Tracey has taught in schools throughout Birmingham. She has also worked as a Design and Technology adviser across the Central Collegiate group of Schools in Birmingham, supporting departments to improve standards within Design and Technology Teaching. In 2019, she was awarded the Design and Technology Teacher Education Award at the Design and Technology Excellence Awards.