I joined the University in 2006 as a Teaching Fellow, before becoming a lecturer. I have always liked the green environment at the University. Few people can boast that their law school looks out on a lake!
I teach the public law courses, a constitutional law module, administrative law and human rights. I also teach legal philosophy and a University-wide module called "Liberty" with input from classics, history and philosophy.
I am ethnically Russian, and I was born and grew up in Kazakhstan, which was one of the republics of Soviet Union before 1991. Since I was a teenager, I dreamed of becoming a scientist. I received my BSc and MSc degrees in chemistry from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, then I continued to do a PhD in the same institution, specialising in the chemistry of polymers. During my doctoral studies I was fortunate to receive funding that supported my 4-month internship at the Technical University of Lodz in Poland, where my research was related to biomedical application of polymers and biomaterials. This internship was an eye opener and substantially influenced my future research and teaching interests.
In 2002 I moved to the UK to work as a postdoctoral research assistant first at the University of Strathclyde, then in 2004 at the University of Manchester. I then joined the University of Reading in 2005 as a Lecturer of Pharmaceutics in the Department of Pharmacy and progressed my academic career to a full professorship in less than 10 years. Since the very beginning of my time at the University of Reading, I had a fantastic mentor who supported me with my development as an academic.
I am an Associate Professor for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) at the Global Academy. My role primarily is to teach and support international students at the University whose first language is not English both before and during their degrees.
I am passionate about language and education and have never regretted this choice of career which led me to working in six different countries before finally returning to my own. I’ve taught on a range of exciting projects across state and commercial sectors, such as the British Council developed Peacekeeping English Project. These experiences and skills have helped me to connect with the diverse international student body at Reading. Students who would otherwise feel less confident in seminars, light up when you share first-hand insights of their culture or country. What’s more, my colleagues in the Global Academy reflect the diversity of our School with a fusion of backgrounds, interests, ambitions, languages, and qualifications.
I started as an Assistant Research Development Manager in January 2016. We work with researchers who wish to apply for research funding and support them with their applications. I was a student here before (studying politics and international relations) and graduated in 2003, so it's nice to come back.
I'd been working for various NHS trusts for about six years and felt that I wanted a change from NHS research into university research. We're lucky because we get to see lots of fresh research that is coming through in the very early stages.
