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Vicky Collins, Associate Professor

I am an Associate Professor for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) at the International Study and Language Institute (ISLI). 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 ISLI reflect the diversity of our School with a fusion of backgrounds, interests, ambitions, languages, and qualifications.

I entered higher education on a series of fixed term contracts which is common to our sector as there is a disproportionate demand for EAP teachers/lecturers in the summer, but this reduces once Autumn is upon us. Living in this state of employment precarity was unnerving, especially when I was expecting my first child. In 2009, I did manage to secure my first permanent post despite being five months pregnant at the time of the interview. Even though it is unlawful to consider this ‘temporary condition’ during the selection and recruitment process, just 11 years ago attitudes differed. I felt incredibly anxious before the interview panel. Currently, as a member of the Unviersity Parent and Family steering group, I am keen to open up discussions on issues facing parents -to- be, parents, and carers working at universities, and share best practice in support across the University.

I came to work at UoR, after working for nine years at Royal Holloway, University of London. Moving jobs mid-career is a huge leap of faith for anyone, but with a young family to relocate, this was a significant undertaking for me. In addition, my carefully built network of personal and professional contacts had also been removed. At first the benefits of changing employer and location can seem quite small in comparison to the sacrifices. I would say to anybody in this position though that the gains do start to emerge incrementally.

Reflecting on the long working lives ahead of us, we should reconsider outstaying employers. Four years on my family are settled and working at Reading has brought me so many new opportunities in teaching a greater diversity of nationalities, supporting outreach work in English Language teaching, and leading on new provision. Most of all I have experienced a more positive approach to different contracts types. I now work 0.9FT and have a better work/family balance as a result, something that was not conceivable in my past roles.

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Gemma Peacock, Lecturer

I have worked at the University of Reading in the Global Academy since 2019. I first came to Reading to teach temporarily on the summer Pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programme. I was living on a houseboat in Oxford at the time, after returning from some time teaching in South East Asia. I fell in love with the beautiful Whiteknights campus and met some very friendly and kind colleagues during that time. I was therefore very pleased to be offered a succession of further work in Global Academy after that summer, which resulted in my husband and I moving to Reading permanently. Shortly after this I secured a permanent lecturer position here.

I have held a variety of roles in Global Academy to date, including Assistant Programme Director for the Pre-sessional English (PSE) programme, and Academic Language and Literacy Liaison (post-graduate) for the Henley Business School. I have also been involved in the digitisation of teaching materials and the maintenance of online learning environments for both the Foundation programme (home students), the Pre-sessional English programme, and the Academic English programme. I am actively involved in the Technology Enhanced Learning community of practice. I also enjoy reviewing written submissions as part of the InForm journal editorial board here at the University.

Over the years, the University has given me the space and support to grow as a professional by offering me a wide variety of roles according to my particular skills and interests. I have mostly been working on full-time contracts at the University of Reading, however I have taken part-time contracts too. This flexibility has enabled me to focus on completing my own research for my MA dissertation, while still working and remaining part of Global Academy. I appreciated the flexibility with my hours and workload during that busy time.

I am currently studying part-time for my Doctorate in Education (EdD) here at the University of Reading, while working full-time at ISLI. It is a great comfort to me to feel secure in the knowledge that Global Academy will support me wholeheartedly in this endeavour.

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Ugo Marsili standing in a University corridor

Ugo Marsili, Lecturer

In 2012 I joined the University and started teaching evening classes in Italian. In 2013 I was offered the chance to teach an Italian and Spanish course on the undergraduate programme of the Institution-Wide Language Programme (IWLP). This is a programme at Reading that enables students to learn a language as part of their degree or for personal development; it's also open to staff at the University.

I started with a few hours and now, after five years, I work as a teacher and module convenor for Spanish and British Sign Language (BSL). I've always been a teacher and like to pass on my knowledge and passion for languages to my students. I believe that "teaching skills make you skilful".

I speak several languages, so I know exactly what the main problems are with learning a new language and what students find most difficult. I try to encourage them to speak the language and overcome any difficulties on the way.

Everyone here has given me the opportunity to show my potential and challenge myself as a language teacher, but most of all to do what I love.

I'm an audiovisual translator and I study BSL. I believe that deaf and visually impaired people should have access to language learning too. My aim is to work as an interpreter in the future, and I am proud that BSL will be taught here at the University.

I'm a School Champion for Diversity and a member of the LGBTQIA+ staff scheme. I think it's important to promote diversity and inclusion.

At the University of Reading, our students come from all around the world and this makes their learning experience really interesting. I really like to build a relationship with my students, watching them grow as independent learners, helping them with their learning process, and making them feel part of a community.

I give a lot and receive a lot; it's beautiful. This is why I'm still teaching after 12 years.

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Vitaliy Khutoryanskiy, Professor (of Formulation Science)

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 have been teaching pharmacy students since the Reading School of Pharmacy was established, with our first intake of less than 50 students in 2005. Now I am very happy to see how it developed into a very successful department delivering many undergraduate and postgraduate programs with several hundred students each year.

Currently, I am Professor of Formulation Science and I teach undergraduate and postgraduate students and also contribute to the Graduate School with a course on ‘How to write a paper’. In addition to my teaching responsibilities, I supervise a large and very interdisciplinary research group, which includes postgraduate students and researchers from many countries. I am also a Programme Director for MSc by Research for 3 different programmes in Pharmacy and in this role, I oversee the delivery of teaching to our taught postgraduate students.

I widely collaborate with researchers from many countries, which means that each year I travel to different institutions to deliver lectures, conduct joint experiments and attend research conferences and meetings. I am glad that the University of Reading provides a flexible working environment that helps to manage all my academic activities, including teaching, research, administration, and visits to collaborators in many countries.

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Faces of Reading

Vicky Collins, Associate Professor

Gemma Peacock, Lecturer

Ugo Marsili, Lecturer

Vitaliy Khutoryanskiy, Professor (of Formulation Science)

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Faces of Reading

Vicky Collins, Associate Professor

Gemma Peacock, Lecturer

Ugo Marsili, Lecturer

Vitaliy Khutoryanskiy, Professor (of Formulation Science)

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