Our Tutors
Mark Toner
Mark’s astronomy career has spanned amateur and professional activities with Dumfries Astronomy Society (which heI founded in 1992) and the University of Glasgow. Mark is a solar physicist working on gamma-rays from solar flares. He combines his interests in astronomy and education through the New Curiosity Shop, the Spacepod (www.spacepod.info) and occasional evening classes at the Crichton College of the University of Glasgow, in Dumfries. His degrees are BSc (Hons) Astronomy, MPhil (Astrophysics) and now a PhD.
Trudi Mullerworth
Trudi is an a native Californian, having been born on the Hoopa Indian Reservation. She has a BA in Education from Cascade College in Portland, Oregon and an MA in English from California State University in Turlock, California. California Dreaming is a course Trudi has designed over the past several years for her undergraduate students, and has now been condensed for online delivery. Trudi now lives in the UK with her British husband.
David Hastie
A graduate of the University of Aberdeen (MA (Hons) English and Scottish Literature), David has a lot of experience in adult education in evening class programmes for the University and the Aberdeen City Council evening programmes. He has developed and taught courses in four main areas: Scottish Literature, European Cultural Studies, Study Skills and Personal Development Skills. He is an experienced tutor in several formats: face-to-face, audio-conferencing, video-conferencing and on online learning.
Krys Wareing
Joanna Howard
Joanna has worked with people who are going through change for 15 years or more, and has been through many life changes herself, from going straight from University in Edinburgh to live in Nigeria with her husband, a new forestry officer, before settling back in London. How we manage change for ourselves has always interested Joanna, so she researched the area, and ended up teaching on an MSc in Managing Change at Sheffield Hallam University.
Mike Wilson
Mike practices as a counsellor and psychotherapist (UKCP registered) in Edinburgh and in the Scottish Borders. As well as offering personal and professional development workshops, he has taught on a range of courses in the field of counselling in further education and has written a number of post-qualifying courses for counsellors. His interest in online teaching and learning is a further extension of his joy in writing and teaching.
Sarah Pouezevara
Sarah is an American citizen living in France. Her background is in education and international development and she became interested in the topic of HIV/AIDS during her graduate program at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York City. Apart from this course, Sarah works as a freelance consultant in international development and instructional design. She is currently working with UNAIDS in Geneva (www.unaids.org)
Zaynab D’Elia
Dr. D’Elia is an educator, counsellor, and therapist who brings an international, cross-cultural perspective to her work. Born and educated in the United States, she has taught and practiced psychology for over three decades on three continents, most notably in the Middle East where she advocates and facilitates the empowerment of women. Dr. D’Elia’s research and teaching interests are in the areas of human development-from prenatal, through childhood and adolescence, and all the stages of adulthood-personal growth, spirituality, gender issues, parenting, emotional intelligence, crime and its prequels and sequels. She has been teaching online for nearly five years and enjoys using her energy to provide a vital learning experience. On a personal note, Dr. D’Elia is a mother, a grandmother, and will celebrate her 30th wedding anniversary this year. Her hobbies include writing (short stories, memoirs, poetry), gardening, and power walking.
Kathryn Senior
Kathryn is a writer based in Yorkshire. In addition to writing history books for children she is also the co-editor for the of the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. She is also Chair of Pontefract and District Family History Society. She has her own website. She brings a wealth of practical experience to her courses in tracing your family history.
Howard Middleton-Jones
Howard acquired a BA in Ancient History/History with speciality in Egyptology at University of Wales Swansea. He also attended Oxford University where he participated in the Postgraduate course in Field Archaeology. He is a practitioner member of the Field Archaeologists Association (UK) and for the last 7 years have been a part time tutor for the Department of Adult Continuing Education, University of Wales Swansea, where he teaches the modules for the Higher Education Certificate in Archaeology. Howard is also the author if a number of books in his subject.
Graham Cobb
Peter Lanigan
Peter graduated from Glasgow University with a joint honours degree in English and History, going on to complete teacher training in both subjects. He taught briefly in secondary schools before moving to community education work and then spending over 20 years teaching in further education colleges in Scotland.
Tamara Tosini
Tamara, a native Italian, currently lives in Medole, in Northern Italy. She is a professional interpreter and teaches Italian to a variety of clients.
Jenni Jenkins
Most of Jenni’s teaching work is in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wales Swansea, but she also teach part time for the Department of Adult Education and for the Department of Media Studies where she teaches a course: ‘Film and Philosophy’. She is currently studying for her Masters degree in aesthetics.
Alison Hennessy
“I have had a diverse scientific career so far. After obtaining my Ph.D from Heriot-Watt University in 2000, I completed post docs in oilfield then skin cancer research. I recently retrained as a Chemistry teacher, which I thoroughly enjoy.”
David Webb
Having previously worked for a number of years as a full-time lecturer in Psychology David recently relocated to Spain with his family where he now work as a distance learning tutor. In addition to teaching he has been conducting applied research into the emotional and psychological impact on individuals within occupational groups who attend mass casualty incidents. To date this has involved forensic odontologists (dentists) who are required to undertake body identification work e.g. in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Maggie Towse
In Maggie’s words: “I have a life long interest in plants and gardens, and recall helping my father prick out seedlings in the greenhouse when I was quite small. The names fascinated me almost as much as the plants themselves – ‘mignonette’ is one that remains vividly in my mind: I think it was a variety of marigold he was growing one summer. Eventually I took the RHS Certificate and then the Diploma and thus my second, horticultural, career started.”
Noel Chidwick
Founding partner of the New Curiosity Shop. “I have been involved in online learning development for many years and am still fascinated by how the technology of the Internet is used to draw people together from all over the globe. Learning online allows people to connect and grow together, no matter where on this finite world we live – it’s fun, it’s a challenge and that’s what learning should be.”
Suzannah Stacey
I started life in practice as the veterinary nurse and receptionist, going on to do a Biology degree and a Veterinary degree and qualifying as a vet in 2002. I qualified 2 years later to practice in veterinary acupuncture, and now have a referral practice in the South of England.
I have trained nurses for many years and tutor for degree courses in equine science. My dogs have been extraordinary
