Student Learning Development

In order to survive, animals need air, food, water, and shelter; they also need to avoid becoming another animal’s food. The selective pressure of predation has resulted in the evolution of an incredibly diverse range of antipredator adaptations across the animal kingdom. The phenomenon of predation and the portfolio of defences prey species utilise to evade it are of great ecological and evolutionary significance. The aim of this course is to introduce students to the field of behavioural ecology, the predation sequence framework, and a range of fascinating antipredator behaviours observable in prey species.

By focussing on behavioural defences specifically, the course will explore how use of defences can be context-sensitive, varying depending on factors relating to the predator, the prey, and/or the environmental conditions.

Elective tutor: Dr Rosalind McKenna

Rosalind is the Effective Learning Adviser for the College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences (MVLS). Rosalind’s PhD investigated predator-prey behavioural interactions on plants, with a focus on aphid dropping defence and ladybird search strategies. She has published review and original research papers on a variety of behavioural ecology topics. Rosalind has also co-authored the book Presenting Scientific Data in R, aimed primarily at undergraduate bioscience students.

Introduction to R Studio will introduce students to one of the most widely used open-source statistical environments.  We will learn how to create various objects in this environment such as vectors, matrices, data frames, and statistical models.  We will also cover the various graphing capabilities offered by various packages.  I trust students will be impressed when they see how much information can be drawn from a bit of data.

Elective tutor: Dr George Vazanellis

George is the Statistics Adviser for SLD with degrees in physics, mathematics, and statistics.

How does a scientific discovery become a headline, a post, or a viral video? Reel Science - From lab-work to TikTok explores how research moves from the lab to journals, news media, and social platforms, and how scientific meaning can shift along the way. Through this course, students will build academic skills in analysing evidence, evaluating sources, understanding audiences, and communicating complex ideas clearly and responsibly. The class will include both lively talks and interactive activities.

Elective tutor: Dr Alexia Koletsou

Alexia is the Effective Learning Advisor for the College of Science and Engineering. She works with undergraduate and postgraduate students across all Schools in the College to develop academic literacies, including science communication and strategic exam preparation. She holds an MEng in Electronics and Electrical Engineering as well as an MSc and PhD in Science Education and Communication from the University of Glasgow. During her PhD (2011–2014), she examined climate change beliefs and energy-saving behaviours with the aim of encouraging the reduction of end-user energy consumption.

Prime numbers are the building blocks of our number system and have fascinated mathematicians since the time of the Ancient Greeks. For centuries they were considered simply a curiosity, until the arrival of computers made them fundamental to our online security.

This course will use prime numbers to introduce students to some of the many interesting facets of mathematics which often aren’t covered in the school curriculum. These include proof writing, clock arithmetic and its applications, the blurred line between pure and applied mathematics and a discussion of some mathematical mysteries still yet to be solved.

Elective tutor: Dr Jenny August

Jenny is the Maths Adviser working in SLD, which involves providing maths support to all UG and PGT students at the University of Glasgow. She has a PhD in mathematics centred on the relationship between algebra and geometry and until recently, was working abroad in Denmark and Germany as a mathematical researcher.  

Biotechnology - or the set of tools we use to examine biological mechanisms at a molecular scale - underpins much of modern research regardless of organism. Once you've frozen a sample and extracted the DNA, the handling procedures are pretty much all the same! A good understanding of biotechnological processes will therefore equip you to work in a huge range of fields, and you can specialise into the peculiarities of working with individual organisms as you go. 
 
On this course, you'll learn about the range of biotechnologies that have helped us reach our current scientific capability. Some have been superseded by cheaper, faster, more effective equivalents, while some are so efficient that they're still in use today. Each will have its good points and bad points, often incorporating an element of ethical thinking. 

Elective tutor: Dr Scott Ramsay 

Scott is Deputy Head of SLD, managing the team of Effective Learning Advisers and PhD Tutors who work with students in the Colleges of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, Science & Engineering, and who provide Maths and Stats support to all UG and PGT students at the University of Glasgow. Scott's PhD is in the molecular biology of heat tolerance, so he has broad experience working with various techniques in the modern lab. Scott has taught for many years in subjects across medical and biological sciences, and also worked on secondment as the University’s Good Practice Adviser for several years. 

Scott has co-authored two scientific textbooks: Writing for Science Students, and Writing a Science PhD (both with Dr Jennifer Boyle).

Self-described ‘chilliheads’ across the globe experienced a collective rush of excitement in 2023 when it was announced that Smokin’ Ed Currie’s ‘Pepper X’ had dethroned the ‘Carolina Reaper’ as the hottest chilli pepper in the world. Although sampling this super-hot pepper is not a priority for most, consumers worldwide are showing a greater interest in spicy foods, and a diverse range of scientific fields have advanced understanding of these fascinating fruits in recent decades.

This course aims to explore many different questions about chilli peppers, including: Why have chillies evolved to be spicy? What does eating a chilli do to you? What determines if you like spicy food or not? And, what are some potential uses of chillies beyond food? As such, the course ‘dips its toes’ into various scientific fields, including botany, physiology, psychology, marketing science, and ecology. Importantly, whether you are a chilli lover, a chilli hater, or ‘chilli curious’, this course is for everyone. You do not have to love eating spicy food, and the assessment doesn’t require you to eat something super spicy (unless you want to!) All that is required is a curiosity about the perspectives we can explore this topic from.

Elective tutor: Dr Rosalind McKenna

Rosalind is the Effective Learning Adviser for the College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences (MVLS). Rosalind’s PhD investigated predator-prey behavioural interactions on plants, with a focus on aphid dropping defence and ladybird search strategies. She has published review and original research papers on a variety of behavioural ecology topics. Rosalind has also co-authored the book Presenting Scientific Data in R, aimed primarily at undergraduate bioscience students.

Have you ever been stuck on a tricky academic question? Not known where to start with a big project? Or had a disagreement with a friend? Problem-solving is a key part of university life, both in and out of the classroom, yet classes themselves rarely focus on it. 

In this course, we will cover general approaches to problem-solving and apply them to engaging problems from both a range of academic subjects and real life. We will explore puzzles and scenarios that build your logical and systematic thinking—skills valuable for any degree. Join us to build a toolkit for thinking more clearly and creatively. 

Elective tutors: Tanisha Kumari, Lorna Richardson and Mahmud Zango

Tanisha, Lorna and Mahmud are Graduate Teaching Assistants within Student Learning Development.

This course is spread over 4,000 years of human history, and challenges us to question our assumptions of the world, of each other, and of our popular culture. We investigate how maps are designed to dominate populations through the assumptions they imbue within us, but we also look at how maps have the power to cure diseases, win elections, and create fictional worlds. The course is open to students from all disciplines, and you’re invited to bring your own knowledge and experience with you.

Elective tutor: Rohit Rao

Rohit is a Graduate Teaching Assistant within Student Learning Development, and a PhD student in the College of Social Sciences.

Rehabilitation is an important area of health in this era. The World Health Organization has highlighted how an increase in ageing populations and several health problems make it an important health concern in the 21st century.

In this course, you will learn more about generic rehabilitation, gain a bit more knowledge in the sub-field of neurorehabilitation, and have a go at proposing solutions to some of the challenges in this area. You might be surprised to find out you can ideate out-of-the-box solutions for some of these!

The course will feature interactive teaching sessions and workshops with group discussions and presentations.

Elective tutor: Lydia Jilantikiri

Lydia is a PhD researcher in Biomedical Engineering. Her research is about developing a system that uses virtual reality for arm rehabilitation. She has some years’ experience working in academia, and enjoys teaching and mentoring. 

Mathematics is much more than memorising formulas, following set procedures, and spending hours solving problems. It is a language that can be used to understand how the physical world works.

This course introduces the art of mathematical thinking through engineering. We will explore how engineers translate observations of the physical world into mathematical models and use them to understand, analyse, and solve problems. Through real engineering examples and interactive activities, you will learn to see mathematics not simply as a collection of formulas to remember, but as a powerful tool for thinking, modelling, and understanding the engineering world.

Elective tutor: Anas Ahmed

Anas is a Graduate Teaching Assistant within Student Learning Development.

This course will be split into two blocks: Animal Movement Modelling and Estimating Animal Abundance. Both blocks will introduce a selection of statistical ideas that are useful in lots of different areas of research, but we’ll explore them through ecological data, using animals and the environment to make things a bit more interesting. You’ll also get to learn some coding in RStudio. If you’ve never coded before, don’t worry as you won’t be expected to know anything when you arrive, and we’ll work through it together from the beginning.

By the end of the course, you should be able to explore and analyse animal movement and survey data, have expanded your understanding of data and statistics, and have a better idea of how researchers deal with the messiness and challenges of real-world data. You’ll also have learned some basic R skills and seen how the statistical ideas and approaches we’ve explored could be useful when working with data in your own subject area. We won’t be trying to cover everything there is to know about statistics; instead, the course will give you a small toolkit of useful concepts and skills that will allow you to begin learning to work with data. Most importantly, you’ll have a chance to experiment, ask questions and get comfortable with working with data.

Elective tutors: Kirsty Ryman and Louise Blackman

Kirsty and Louise are both Graduate Teaching Assistants within Student Learning Development. 

Today, with so much data and so many analytical tools available, the real challenge is not just generating quality research evidence but explaining the findings clearly so the right people act on them. In many cases, conducting research involves assembling a team with people from different disciplines, backgrounds, and skill sets. This six-session course will introduce students to the theories and practice of turning research into clear messages and compelling stories and communicating research ethically to diverse audiences.

It will begin with peer network building, which is essential for research conduct and communication. Although the course is designed to target life‑sciences students, it is open to students from any discipline, including social sciences, humanities, and engineering, who want to learn how to read and explain scientific findings responsibly. Students will most likely bring a wide range of backgrounds and skills, and those different perspectives could be essential for some sessions. However, there are no expectations about prior subject knowledge or communication experience for this course.

Elective tutor: Richmond Nketia

Richmond is a Graduate Teaching Assistant within Student Learning Development.

How does the language we use hold the power to change the way we see the world? Does talking about cancer as a ‘battle’ impact our experience of the disease? How can a scientific article manifest as click-bait in the media? What has Ancient Greece got to do with how politicians give speeches? Why does it matter if a Jaffa Cake is a cake or a biscuit? These are just some of the important questions we will be tackling during this course. We will be considering the power of language across five key areas: Science, Health, Politics, News Media, and Law. Each week you will be introduced to a different aspect of English Language & Linguistics, which we will use as a lens to discuss the material. For example, during the ‘Health’ week we will be thinking about the impact of metaphors. Taking this course will make you think twice about the language you encounter daily, making you more aware of the influence that even a single word can have. Nobody can resist the pervasive influence of language, but this course will enable you to encounter language with a deeper understanding of how it’s being used, and why.

Course tutor: Dr Amber Hinde

Amber is one of the Effective Learning Advisers for International Students within SLD, with a research background in English Language & Linguistics. Her PhD research explored the rhetoric of health and wellness in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain. She now teaches international students about using language in academic contexts.

This course is designed to give you the tools to analyse and evaluate arguments, and to then put that evaluation into practice on various historical documents. In the first class, we'll look at Classical and modern forms of argumentation. This class will ask questions around what constitutes an argument and how have philosophers structured various models of argumentation. We'll use this as the basis for how we analyse and interpret the primary sources thereafter.

Each class thereafter will look at a primary source. Primary sources are texts taken from the time in which they were created; we use primary sources as a way of investigating and understanding the past. Our classes will involve two main components: discussion of the context of the primary source(s) and analysis of the lines of argument put forward.

You'll note that quite a few of the topics under consideration are from key moments of change in Western history. The primary sources are documents that inspired change (good and bad) and that were crucial to understanding some of the developments at that time.

Content warning: we will be discussing issues of identity, race, gender, politics and culture in this course. You might find some of the discussion, e.g. around fascism or around race/gender rights, challenging.

Elective tutor: Dr Mona O'Brien

Mona O’Brien is one of the Effective Learning Advisers for International Students, working in SLD. She works with students in all four colleges, supporting them in transitioning to study at the University of Glasgow, understanding the academic context and expectations, and building key skills for academic success. Mona has a PhD in History, and her research investigates the relationships between the medical, social, and legal responses to illness and disease in Germany from the late Middle Ages until the eve of the Enlightenment.

This course asks a simple question: has colonialism truly ended? Drawing from global histories of colonialism and imperialism, we will investigate how colonial ideologies and practices continue to infiltrate cultures and reside in bodies and minds. Through key critical frameworks, we will explore the enduring violence of colonialism in the everyday lives of both colonizers and the colonized. However, the course will further examine the ways in which individuals and collectives are continuously engaged in dismantling and fracturing colonial power structures through the practice of decolonisation.

Our primary texts will range from poems and short stories to music and film clips.

Elective tutor: Shruti Shukla

Shruti is a Graduate Teaching Assistant within Student Learning Development.