Harriet was appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor Academic and Provost, and Professor of Higher Education at the University of Buckingham in 2023. She has been appointed as a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford, commencing in Hilary Term 2026.
As a Visiting Fellow, Harriet will be part of the Oxford academic community and will contribute to its academic life through research activity, lectures, and related scholarly engagement. A particular focus of the Fellowship will be the development and strengthening of academic collaboration and partnership between Oxford and The University of Buckingham, especially in areas of shared academic and pedagogic interest.
To support this transition, Harriet is undertaking a six-month sabbatical with effect from 1 February, during which she will be working from Oxford.
Previously, Harriet was Dean of Learning and Teaching and Professor of Student Experience at the University of Portsmouth. Over the course of her more than 20-year career, she has held a number of positions in the higher education sector including: at UCAS; the 1994 Group; and the universities of Bath, Bradford, and Oxford.
Harriet is on the Board of the University of Buckingham Press and Buckingham Foundation. She is also an external member of BIMM University’s Learning and Teaching Enhancement Committee and Professorial Appointments Committee, and the University of Sussex’s Education and Scholarships Promotions Panel.
She initially studied French and Linguistics at the University of Sussex and completed her BSc, MSc, Post Graduate Diploma (DEA), and PhD, in Sciences du Langage, at the University of Toulouse II – le Mirail in France, before returning to the UK and starting her research career in the field of Higher Education.
She is a Principal Fellow (PFHEA) and a National Teaching Fellow (NTF) of the Higher Education Academy, awards she obtained for her sustained leadership and her ‘authentic leadership’ approach to ensuring an enhanced student learning experience for all students. She is also the founder of The Spinnaker Group for those who lead Learning, Teaching and the Student Experience in their institutions.
Over the course of her career she has led projects with colleagues and institutions across the sector. Such projects include:
A QAA-funded collaborative enhancement project with the universities of Nottingham, Manchester Metropolitan, and Solent, which explored the differing perceptions of quality of teaching and learning among undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A project supported by evasys, and some additional funding from the Association of National Teaching Fellows (ANTF), to pilot the Being, Belonging, Becoming survey with institutions across the sector.
A project, funded by AdvanceHE, with Principal Fellow (PFHEA) co-investigators from the universities of Swansea and Bangor, which resulted in a Compendium of case studies about embedding wellbeing in the curriculum.
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