Meet the team

Meet the team

This MOOC was produced by an inter-disciplinary team of contributors from subject areas and specialisms across the University of Glasgow and international experts in the field of sustainability.

From left to right:
Kelum Gamage, Ria Dunkley, Stephen Parker, Yingru Li, Monica Palermo Fernandez, Ahmad Taha, Gordon McLeod

Prof. Kelum Gamage (Course Convenor)

Prof. Kelum Gamage (BSc, PhD, PgCAP, CEng, PFHEA, FIET, FRSA, SMIEEE) is a Full Professor in the James Watt School of Engineering at the University of Glasgow and a winner of the University of Glasgow Teaching Excellence Individual Award (2020/21). He is the co-founder and co-lead of the University of Glasgow Community of Practice for Sustainability in Learning and Teaching and also the lead of the AdvanceHe Sustainability in Learning and Teaching network. He is the lead editor of “The Wiley Handbook of Sustainability in Higher Education Learning and Teaching” (ISBN: 978-1-119-85283-4). 

Prof. Gamage has interests in quality assurance and enhancement, engineering education, educational development and innovation, and education for sustainability. He is a Chartered Engineer of the Engineering Council (UK), a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of the IET, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Senior Member of IEEE.

Dr Ria Dunkley

Dr Ria Dunkley is a Senior Lecturer in Geography, Environment and Sustainability within the School of Education at the University of Glasgow. Ria was appointed as a Climate Ambassador during COP26 and is an Associate Director of the Centre for Sustainable Solutions at the University of Glasgow. She specialises in ecopedagogy as a route to enabling both an understanding of the climate crisis and empowering individuals, communities and organisations to initiate sustainable solutions through research, education and partnership. She is currently leading Community Collaboration work within the GALLANT project, based within the Centre for Sustainable Solutions.

Dr Stephen Parker

Dr Stephen Parker is a Lecturer in Education at the University of Glasgow. He is a sociologist with research interests in equitable access to higher education, social justice in education, policy analysis, and critical social theory. He also teaches and supervises postgraduate students in these fields. Stephen has published widely including in international journals as well as the edited books Practice Methodologies in Education Research (Routledge, 2020), and Policy and Inequality in Education (Springer, 2017). Dr Parker is also managing editor of the journal Critical Studies in Education (Taylor & Francis).

Dr Yingru Li

Dr. Yingru Li is a lecturer in Accounting and Finance of Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow. She is also co-convening the Glasgow Human Rights Network. Dr. Li has a strong research interest in exploring how reporting initiatives and accountability practice could be improved to enable business to comprehend global challenges, such as sustainable development goals, business and human rights issues. She is currently leading the SDG Challenge Initiative in business school to advocate and promote colleagues to embed SDGs into their learning and teaching practices. 

Dr Mónica Palmero Fernández

Dr Mónica Palmero Fernández is a lecturer in archaeology at the University of Glasgow. Her area of expertise is in the archaeology and heritage of Western Asia and Iraq in particular. She has published on topics ranging from ancient goddesses, gender and archaeology, or cultural heritage and human rights. She is also Secretary of the NGO RASHID International, an organisation that focuses on safeguarding the heritage of Iraq in danger. Her approach to sustainability is centred on understanding the interrelations between humans, other beings, things, and the environment through a cultural heritage lens.

 Dr Ahmad Taha

Dr Ahmad Taha is a Lecturer in the Glasgow College UESTC at the University of Glasgow. He is Endorsed by the Royal Academy of Engineering as an Exceptional Promise under the Global Talent scheme, a Fellow of Higher Education (FHEA), and one of the first four UKCGE recognised Associate Supervisor, in the UK. He has 10 years of experience working in Higher Education (HE) Institutions, delivering teaching in Egypt, the UK and China, with a research output of 20+ publications in reputable high impact factor journals and international conferences. Dr Taha received a dual B.Sc. with Honours from October University for Modern Sciences and Arts (MSA) in Egypt and the University of Greenwich in the UK, in 2012. He was a recipient of two scholarships to pursue his M.Sc. and PhD, after a successful Vice-Chancellor award application, in 2013 and 2016, respectively, at the University of Greenwich. He completed his M.Sc. degree, with a distinction, in Embedded Systems in 2014 and his PhD in 2020, which was partially funded and in collaboration with Medway NHS Foundation Trust in Kent, UK.

Gordon McLeod

From a background in research and teaching in Zoology with a focus on zoo welfare and wildlife conservation, Gordon changed career to become a specialist in Digital Learning. He is currently the eLearning & Innovation Officer for the College of Arts at the University of Glasgow, advising on Technology Enhanced Learning & Teaching and providing specialist support on all aspects of Digital Learning to the four Schools of the College. Before taking up this role he led the transformation of the School of Veterinary Medicine’s curriculum into a fully blended interactive syllabus, embedding media-rich self-directed approaches into student learning.

Thanks are also due to other contributors who made the development of this MOOC possible, Dr Jan Konietzko, Dr Mahmoud Shawky, and Leigh Abbott.