Dr Karen
Poulter (formerly Ayres)
Contact
details
Room 205, Maths Building
School of Mathematical, Physical and
Computational Sciences, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of
Reading, PO Box 220, Reading, RG6 6AX.
Phone: 0118 378 8023
Email: k.l.poulter@reading.ac.uk
A full CV is given
below, covering teaching, administration & leadership, outreach and
research activities. This should be more than anyone would ever want to know
about me!
Qualifications
and Experience
Present
appointment: Associate
Professor (previously Senior Lecturer), Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Reading, from October 2011
Education
and qualifications:
2002-2003 Certificate in Further Professional
Studies in Higher Education,
1995-1998 PhD
Applied Statistics,
1994-1995 MSc Statistics, London School of
Economics and Political Science,
1991-1994 BSc Pure Mathematics (1st class honours),
Queen Mary & Westfield College,
Previous
appointments:
Jan.
2002 – Sep. 2011
Lecturer in Applied Statistics,
School/Section of Applied Statistics (2001 - 2010), then Department of
Mathematics and Statistics (2010 - 2011), University of Reading
Aug.
1999 – Dec. 2001
Postdoctoral Research
Assistant (BBSRC funded), Department of Applied Statistics,
Jan.
1999 – July 1999
Postdoctoral Research
Assistant, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine,
St Bartholomew’s and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry
Teaching
My current
appointment is now teaching focused, and so most of my activities are centred
on teaching and T&L leadership.
Evidence of quality:
|
2016 |
Awarded
the University Collaborative Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teaching
and Learning - awarded to a team of Orla Kennedy,
Tania Lyden, Natalie Tarling,
Phil Dash, Becky Thomas, Guja Bandini
and me, for piloting the Thrive Career Mentoring Scheme in 2015 |
|
2015 |
Awarded the RUSU
(Reading University Students Union) Teaching Excellence Award for Science,
which is a student nominated award - the citation reads "Karen is
extremely engaging and responsive to students and shows true passion for her
subject. Not only has Karen pioneered Teaching and learning seminars, but she
has also led careers talks and has been actively working with Course Reps to
improve Academic Representation in her department." |
|
2015 |
Awarded a
University Teaching Fellowship (UTF), which is a "prestigious award
conferred to an individual who has demonstrated individual excellence and
contributed to the development and/or support of teaching and learning within
the University" |
|
2014 |
Made Senior Fellow of the
Higher Education Academy |
|
2013 |
Made Fellow of
the Higher Education Academy |
|
2010 |
Awarded an Early Career University Teaching
Fellowship (UTF), which included funding of just under £10,000 for a project
in teaching and learning. My project was to develop a system for delivering
self-study questions and examples tailored to the ability of a student. |
|
2007 |
School Award for Teaching Excellence |
|
2005 |
School Award for Teaching Excellence
(Rising Star) |
Development and delivery of
continuing professional development workshops:
I have recently started developing and delivering workshops on leadership concepts related to teaching and learning, as part of the University's open programme of staff development workshops, and for students.
|
2016- |
Chairing and being effective in meetings (for the RUSU Academic Rep conference) - delivered four times in each of 2016 and 2017 |
|
|
The Curriculum Framework & You: Getting Started - jointly with Nina Brooke (CQSD) - delivered twice |
|
|
T&L Leadership and You - jointly with Nina Brooke (CQSD) - delivered once |
|
|
Chairing and servicing SBTLs - jointly with Vicky Howard (CQSD) - delivered once |
Leadership
in teaching and learning:
I have held many T&L admin
and leadership roles during my career. From 2006-2010 I simultaneously held
almost every leadership and administrative role relating to teaching and
learning in Applied Statistics, and effectively had sole responsibility for UG
provision, and shared responsibility for PG taught provision for four years.
Since 2010 and the merger of Applied Statistics with Mathematics, I have
continued to seek out leadership opportunities where I can.
Further information about
achievements is given in the section on Administrative responsibilities.
|
2017-18 |
For the academic year 2017/18 I am co-Chair of the University's Sub-committee on the Delivery and Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (DELT). |
|
2015- |
I am School
Director of Teaching and Learning for the School of Mathematical, Physical
and Computational Sciences. Working with the Head of School, this involves
leadership and responsibility for all teaching and learning, and associated
activities, for the Departments of Mathematics & Statistics, Meteorology
and Computer Science. As part of this role I have created and disseminated
School T&L policies, and created five Advisory and Implementation Groups
on key strategic areas (T&L Enhancement, Retention and Attainment,
Assessment and Feedback, Employability, Technology Enhanced Learning), which
will interact with the School Board for Teaching and Learning. |
|
2014-2015 |
In 2014 I took the lead from the
Department side for an Employability Task Force, joining forces with staff in
Careers to develop additional opportunities for our students to enhance
employability skills and be more proactive in applying for graduate
opportunities. As part of this I initiated the creation of a Graduate Skills
Officer role in the Department. I also took the lead on organising and
implementing the Department's many activities in the Autumn and Spring term
Enhancement Weeks. |
|
2011-2014 |
In 2011 I took
the lead in revising the Department's undergraduate publicity materials.
Working in a team which included the Admissions Tutor, Head of Department,
Senior Tutor and Part 1 Coordinator, we produced a new 20-page brochure
showcasing all activities of the Department and its programmes, including
teaching, research and employability. I took responsibility for updating the
brochure each year until 2013, when I then took the lead in redesigning
publicity materials for display at Open Days, plus a revision of the website
content to include new graduate profiles, a student-authored 'Life in the
department' page and a webpage on student engagement activities. |
|
2010- |
I have had a major role to play in bringing student engagement to the
fore in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. In 2011 I established
the University's first Teaching & Learning project scheme for
undergraduates, in the Department, whereby students are paid to work on short
summer T&L projects with staff to develop or evaluate new teaching
materials. A particular innovation since 2012 has been the fact that students
can apply for funds from this scheme for their own suggested project. In 2012
I established a joint student and staff Teaching & Learning seminar
series. During 2012-2015 approximately three times in each of the Autumn and
Spring terms students and staff came together to present and discuss T&L
topics of common interest. This series will be relaunched at the School level
in 2016. In 2013 I established a Student Teaching and Learning Group, which
consists almost wholly of students in the department, who set the agenda for
discussions about modules, programmes and other T&L issues. The Group
reports to the Board of Studies. For our 2015 Periodic Review I also organised
a Student Written Submission to enable the student voice to be more prominent
in the process: this good practice has now been adopted more widely across
the University. |
|
2010- |
I have previously mentored three new sessional or full
lecturers/teaching fellows. I have also discussed possible teaching projects
for the University's Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice with other
new staff. |
|
2006-2010 |
I was the Applied Statistics Executive Director of Teaching and
Learning, which encompassed all tasks usually undertaken separately by the
Senior Tutor, Director of Undergraduate Studies and School Director of
Teaching and Learning, including extenuating circumstances and academic
misconduct, for all undergraduate and postgraduate statistics students. I took
responsibility for developing teaching policies, including requirements for
moderation, and had a significant advisory role to the Head of Department on
workload allocations. |
|
2005-2006 |
I
initiated and designed plans for a series of posters on the ground floor of
the AMS building to promote the School of Biological Sciences, which the
Section of Applied Statistics was then part of. Over the course of a year I
led the project, identifying suitable academic contributors for a series of
posters covering enterprise, teaching and research activities in the School,
and liaising with the designers over the production of a series of 22
posters. |
|
2005 |
In
2005 I designed a suite of new materials for the Applied Statistics UG Open
Days, including publicity leaflets, posters, a talk ('Statistics - A Matter
of Life and Death') and statistical activities. I delivered the talk each
year from 2005-2008, at both Open Days and a shorter version at UCAS Visit
Days. As Admissions Tutor I produced further talks and publicity materials
for Applied Statistics (see below, in the Administrative responsibilities
section). |
|
2004-2012 |
As School e-Learning Coordinator I initiated policies in the Department
regarding the use of the University’s VLE, Blackboard (2005, 2008), including
its portal facility (2007, 2008, 2010), and developed an e-marking program
and encouraged its use amongst colleagues (2008). I also led the significant
revision to the School of Mathematical & Physical Sciences' Blackboard
portals in 2010, after joining that School. |
Teaching
and learning grants:
|
2015 |
£20000, Teaching and Learning Development Fund Member of a team of three (PI: Dawn Willoughby) on a
two-year project to develop a set of SPOCs (Small Private Online Courses) in
applied statistics for use across the University in future skills activities. |
|
2011 |
£420, Faculty of Science Teaching and Learning Development
Fund Student project: to create screencasts to accompany
statistical tutorials for four packages. |
|
2010 |
£1260, University Alumni Annual Fund Student project: to
create computing Tip Sheets for use in the Statistical Advisory Service. |
|
2009 |
£200, University’s Widening Participation Office Student project: to
help develop an outreach activity on forensic statistics. |
|
2008 |
£700, University’s Centre for the Development of Teaching
and Learning (CDOTL) For a project to develop a generic Excel-based program for
electronic marking of assessments [joint application with Fiona Underwood and
Mike Dennett]. |
|
2006 |
£1800, CDOTL For piloting the Blackboard Academic Suite and e-portfolio facility. |
|
2005 |
£300, CDOTL Student project: to evaluate the usefulness of online statistical applets [joint application with Alan Kimber]. |
|
|
£416, CDOTL Student project: to assist in creation of questions and
solutions for use with dedicated Excel macros for e-marking of statistics
assessments. |
|
|
£200, School of Applied Statistics Student project: to produce Minitab self-study guides for
Part 1 students. |
Enhancement
in programme/module development:
|
2014-2016 |
As Chair of the Department's Undergraduate Programme Committee (which
superseded the T&L Group) I initiated and led on matters regarding the
content and delivery of our undergraduate programmes, and student attainment.
I convened ad hoc Working Groups when appropriate. |
|
2012-2013 |
I have led the redesign of undergraduate statistics
teaching provision in the Department, in particular taking sole
responsibility for rewriting the three Part 1 probability and statistics
modules as they reduced from 40 credits to 30 credits (2012), and assembling
and leading a team to consider the development of a clear probability and
statistics stream through the mathematics programme (2013). |
|
2010-2013 |
As Chair of the Department's Teaching & Learning Group,
I convened meetings each term to discuss key issues regarding the programmes
and their delivery, to form proposals to put to the Heads of Department and
the Board of Studies. I was responsible for determining the agenda and for
producing reports arising from the meetings of the Group. The Group
considered outcomes of the module evaluation process, and as part of this I
produced a module report form for each module, summarising student feedfack
and including staff responses. |
|
2010 |
I led the redesign of
MA24F Communicating Mathematics and MA2GS General Skills, expanding the range
of skills developed to enhance employability. In 2010 I was module convenor
for the revised module, and led a team of six in delivering the module. |
|
Working with a colleague, I initiated plans for a
new UG Part 1 problem-based learning module in Data Analysis: a colleague
then took this idea forward. |
|
|
2007 |
I developed and
created all materials for a new 20-credit UG Part 2 module on Forensic
Statistics and Genetics. |
|
I redesigned the BSc Business Statistics programme and sought a name change to BSc Business Statistics and Marketing: this doubled the intake. |
|
|
2005 |
I redesigned the
module AS2G Skills for Statisticians, introducing an additional groupwork exercise and more development of key
transferable skills. |
|
I designed the structure, content and different assessment tasks of the 40 credit final year statistics project, making it essentially self-supervised with lecturer input limited to myself as module convenor. This module has routinely attracted positive feedback from external examiners. |
Supporting
students’ learning:
|
2015- |
I
am the departmental contact for the University's Peer Mentoring Scheme. |
|
2014-2015 |
I organised the
Department's Enhancement Week activities for 2014/15 and for half of 2015/16,
which involved identifying which activities to offer, liaising with staff to
deliver them, and encouraging student engagement. In 2015 this involved
developing a suite of activities that form a student journey in the
enhancement of various areas, such as information literacy, communication,
computing and employability skills: this work involved assembling a small group
of volunteers, which I led, to map out skills provision across the
enhancement weeks. |
|
2011-2012 |
I organised the
summer term activities post-exams for Part 1 and Part 2 students, including
liaising with careers advisors to identify appropriate sessions to provide
for the students at this time (which I helped to deliver), which made use of
new tools that had been developed by the Careers Advisory Service. |
|
2010 |
I redeveloped and
expanded my existing welcome talk to create a new Freshers’
week induction session, on issues of university transition, for all 120+
incoming undergraduates in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. I
led colleagues in the delivery of the session each year in 2010-2012, before
handing over the organisation to a colleague in 2013. |
|
2005 |
I wrote an UG
welcome talk for Applied Statistics Freshers, to
include things such as plagiarism, sources of help and study advice, and
delivered this each year in 2005-2009. |
Involvement
in quality management processes:
|
2017-2018 |
Member of the University Board for Teaching and Learning (UBTL). |
|
2017- |
Chair of the SAS T&L Operations/DTL/Senior Tutor Forum.
|
|
2017 |
Chair of the University's Review of SBTLs Working Group. Member of the University's Grade Working Group. Member of the University's Learning Analytics Programme Board. |
|
2016- |
Chair of the School Board
for Teaching and Learning. Member of Boards of
Studies and Student Staff Liaison Committees for Mathematics &
Statistics, Meteorology and Computer Sciences. |
|
2016 |
Member of the University's
SAS T&L Programme Board. |
|
2015-2016 |
Member of the University's
Student Careers and Employability Group. |
|
2015- |
Member of the University's
Sub-committee for the Delivery and Enhancement of Learning and Teaching
(DELT), and co-Chair for 2017-18. External member of
Programme Special Cases Sub-committees (2 in 2015, 2 in 2016, 3 in 2017). |
|
2015-2016 |
Member of the University's Enhancement Week
Task Force. Member of the University's Module Delivery
Working Group. Member of the University's Progression Rule
Working Group. Member of Board of Studies for PG
programmes in Mathematical & Physical Sciences. |
|
2015 |
Lead for the Department of Mathematics and
Statistics' successful Periodic Review of programmes (which took place in
April 2015). The department received excellent feedback from the panel. |
|
2014-2015 |
Member of the University's
Careers Strategy Implementation Group. Member of the University's Student Academic
Representation Task and Finish Group. Member of the University's Review of
Enhancement Week Working Group. |
|
2014-2015, 2010-2011 |
Member of School of Mathematical and
Physical Sciences Student Staff Liaison Committee. |
|
2012-2013 |
Member of the University's KIS Working
Group. |
|
2012,
2008 |
I was invited to meet the
panel for questions for the QAA Institutional Audit (2008) and Review (2012)
of the University. |
|
2011 |
Internal member of the Periodic Review
Panel for Economics programmes. Member of the University's Integrated
Masters Progression Working Group. |
|
2010-2016 |
Member of Board of Studies for UG
programmes in Mathematical & Physical Sciences. |
|
2010-2015 |
I
have been Chair for a light scrutiny panel (2010), and twice been a member of
other scrutiny panels (2012, 2013) for proposed UG and PG programmes at
Reading. Co-creator
and member of Department of Mathematics and Statistics Staff Student Forums. |
|
2010-2011 |
Member
of the University’s Committee for Student Recruitment and Marketing (StReaM). Member of the Steering Group
for the University’s JISC-funded DEVELOP project. |
|
2010 |
I
led Applied Statistics through a successful Periodic Review of its
programmes. This included liaising with CDOTL over the Pathfinder Away Day,
writing the 27-page Self-Evaluation Document by myself and responding to
questions from the panel. I also wrote the response to the panel, and the
one-year follow-up report. |
|
2008-2015 |
Member
of Board of Studies for MSc programmes in Food Biosciences. Member
of Board of Studies for MPharm programme. |
|
2007-2010 |
Senior Examiner for the Royal
Statistical Society examinations. |
|
2006-2012 |
Member,
Joint Faculty Committee of Programme Advisors |
|
2006-2010 |
Chair
of Board of Studies for UG programmes in Statistics. Member
of Board of Studies for UG programmes in Biological Sciences. |
|
2005-2010 |
Member
of Faculty Staff-Student Committee. |
|
2004-2010 |
Member of Board of Studies for
MSc in Biometry. Member of Applied Statistics
Staff Student Committee. |
|
2001-2002 |
Secretary to Board of Studies
for UG programmes in Statistics. |
Teaching
load:
I enjoy teaching and consequently try to do a
lot of it!
In 2017-18 I am teaching the following
modules
ST1PS Probability
and Statistics [Statistics]
ST2LM/LMD Linear
Models [Multiple regression]
ST3MVA Multivariate
Data Analysis [principal components, cluster and correspondence analysis]
Contact hours during my career are (including
all lectures, practicals, tutorials)
|
2015-2016 |
134 |
2014-2015 |
126 |
2013-2014 |
181 |
2012-2013 |
179 |
|
2011-2012 |
160 |
2010-2011 |
159 |
2009-2010 |
153 |
2008-2009 |
151 |
|
2007-2008 |
155 |
2006-2007 |
115 |
2005-2006 |
132 |
2004-2005 |
75 |
|
2003-2004 |
75 |
2002-2003 |
75 |
2001-2002 |
75 |
These hours include teaching on the following
modules, as well as personal tutor tutorials for Probability (2010), Calculus
Methods (2011-2012), Ordinary Differential Equations (2013) and a range of
maths and stats modules (2014-):
Data Analysis (2010-2013), Communicating
Mathematics (2010-2011), Probability (2010-2013,2014-2015), Statistics and
Epidemiology for Life Sciences (2009-2014), Forensic Statistics (2007-2014),
Genetic Data Analysis (2007-2013), Skills for Statisticians (2005-2014), Statistical
Computing and Data Analysis (2015-2016), Statistical Inference and Modelling
(2012-2015), Statistical Methods (2005-2006, 2009-2010), Statistical Genetics
(2002-2011), Statistics (2015-), Research Methods (2006-2010, 2011-2013),
Linear Models (2002-2010, 2013-2014), Multivariate Data Analysis (2002- ),
Epidemiology (2002 - 2016), Part 3 Mathematics Project (2011-2013), Statistics
Research Project (2005-2014,2015-2016).
I
also supervised on average three MSc in Biometry projects every year from 2002
- 2014.
Outreach
activities
From 2010 - 2016 I was a STEM ambassador, and
my outreach sessions focused on forensic mathematics and statistics:
CSI: Maths
Maths has a vital
role to play in understanding the clues left behind at crime scenes, and
helping to piece together what may have happened. Equations, lines of best fit
and trigonometry, to name just a few topics, all play an important part. The
aim of this session is to use some of these mathematical techniques to analyse
evidence found at the scene of a murder. This is aimed years 11-12 and lasts
1.5 - 2 hours. After a brief introductory talk, students will spend most of the
session working through calculations to identify characteristics of the
murderer. Evidence found at the crime scene includes bloodstains, shoeprints, a
tooth and bullet holes.
From crime scene to
court - maths and stats to solve a murder
We often see TV
programmes about how criminals can be caught and convicted because of DNA,
glass, firearms or other evidence. What we don't see is how mathematics and
statistics can be used to analyse the evidence and determine its significance,
shorten the list of suspects and ultimately help bring the criminal to trial
and obtain a conviction. This session will give you the chance to put into
practice the common mathematical and statistical approaches used to evaluate
evidence from a crime scene, and report results to the jury. This is your
opportunity to be an expert witness!
This is aimed years 12-13, lasts from 1.5 to 2 hours. After a brief
introductory talk, students will spend most of the session evaluating the
strength of the evidence for suspects in a murder case, for DNA, firearms,
glass, eyewitness and fibres evidence. For the longer session, there will be
the chance for students to report results back to the class, as if in a
courtroom.
A further session
on the use of probability for disaster victim identification via DNA profiles
was developed but not delivered.
|
2015 |
I have delivered a Royal
Institution Berkshire Mathematics Masterclass at
Kendrick School on the mathematics of crime scene investigation |
|
2013-2016 |
Provided a session each year on
the mathematics of crime scene investigation for the non-residential Summer
School at the University of Reading. |
|
2012 |
Delivered an interactive session
three times on the use of S1 statistical techniques in forensics at Forest
School in Wokingham. |
|
2012, 2011 |
I have twice delivered a Royal
Institution Berkshire Mathematics Masterclass at
Kendrick School on using mathematics and statistics to solve murders |
|
2010-2015 |
I have delivered a talk at the
Department-organised Year 12 Maths day each year in 2010 - 2013, 2015. |
|
2009 |
Delivered a talk on forensic
statistics at the University’s Further Maths Day, and at |
|
2008 |
Delivered a talk on forensic
statistics at the University’s Further Maths Day, Science Week and a Widening
Participation Summer School. |
|
2006 |
Delivered a talk on relatedness
testing statistics at the ASE (Association for Science Education) conference,
and the Abbey School in |
Administration, leadership
and other activities
|
2017- |
Member of the University's 'People Strategy' Project Board. |
|
2015- |
School Director of
Teaching and Learning, Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences (formerly
Mathematical and Physical Sciences), University of Reading; and consequently Member
of School Steering Committee/School Executive Board/School Promotions
Committee. This role has included leading on the implementation of the
University's PEAR initiative for online submission. |
|
2015-2016 2004-2012 |
School e-Learning Coordinator (Applied Statistics up to 2010,
Mathematical & Physical Sciences 2010-2012,2015-2016) Included support for staff interested in
e-learning, and implementation of appropriate learning technologies. Achievements: introduction of Blackboard as the
compulsory VLE for all statistics UG and PG modules, development of
Blackboard student portals for Applied Statistics and the School of
Mathematical and Physical Sciences, encouraging staff use of turnitin, proposing
the use of e-portfolios for placement students, plus development and
implementation of an e-assessment program. |
|
2013-2016 |
Member of Senate, University of Reading. |
|
2012- |
Member (and from 2014-2017 Deputy Chair) of Senate Standing
Committee on Examination Results. |
|
2012-2016 |
Departmental Director of
Teaching and Learning in the Department. This role supports the Head of Department with
regards T&L activities, ensuring that appropriate policies are created,
disseminated and implemented. It includes the role of monitoring module
evaluations, and convening and chairing T&L groups. |
|
2012-2013 |
Principal Internal
Examiner
(Undergraduate Programmes) in the Department. This included chairing the
Departmental moderation committee, and meeting with external examiners to
discuss results. |
|
2010-2015 |
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Mathematics & Statistics Achievements (incl. DDTL activities): leading the redesign of the statistics provision
and content of skills modules, creating opportunities for student engagement,
producing a Departmental undergraduate handbook, creating a detailed
Department Assessment Policy document, delivering talks at Open Days and
creating publicity materials. |
|
2010-2011, 2003-2007 |
Careers Management Skills (CMS) tutor for statistics students Achievements: redesign of CMS assignments to make them
more subject-specific, and contributions to design of CMS sessions. |
|
2006-2015 |
Programme Director/Advisor for five Statistics/Maths+Statistics
degrees. Achievements: changes to programmes over the past four
years to reflect introduction of new compulsory and optional modules. |
|
2006-2010 |
Executive Director of Teaching and Learning (Applied Statistics) Included dealing with all academic and
pastoral matters relating to statistics students, chairing the UG Board of
Studies and writing its Annual Reports, drafting annual workload
allocations, organising peer
observations of teaching, monitoring module evaluation questionnaires,
coordinating and publicising schedules of assessments, determining
appropriate coursework and examination moderation procedures, assisting with
examination procedures and attending Faculty Examiners Meetings, providing
advice to colleagues in relation to teaching and learning matters, ensuring
University policies were implemented, and liaising with the Royal Statistical
Society on an annual basis for accreditation purposes. Achievements: leading Applied Statistics through its
Periodic Review process. |
|
Undergraduate Admissions
Tutor for all five
statistics programmes Achievements: In 2005, before taking on the role, I
developed materials promoting Applied Statistics at Open Days and Visit Days.
Further talks were developed in 2008 and 2010. I was the academic solely in
charge of Applied Statistics Open Days and UCAS Visit Days 2006-2010, and I
delivered talks at both each year, and provided content for prospectus
entries. I also wrote the content for the branded Statistics at Reading UG
brochure in 2009. |
|
|
Programme Director/Advisor for
Post-Experience Diploma in Statistics Included overseeing the content of the
programme. |
|
|
2004-2011 |
MSc in Biometry co-director Included shared responsibility of Programme
Director role plus sole responsibility (until 2010) of admissions for EU and
overseas students. Achievements: I
have co-written (with Sue Todd) five external applications for MSc
studentships, three of which have been successful (MRC, 2005; BBSRC, 2006;
NIHR, 2010). |
|
2003-2007 |
Careers coordinator Included liaising with external people to
deliver careers talks to undergraduate and MSc students, and providing advice
to students on CVs. Achievements: initiation
in 2004 of an annual Careers Advisory Service-led session for Masters
students on CV writing and interview technique (this took place each year
until 2010). |
|
1999-2010 |
Webmaster for Applied Statistics I redesigned the Applied Statistics website
in 1999 whilst a postdoctoral researcher, and maintained the site from then
until the merger with Maths in August 2010. Achievements: redesign and transfer of material to the University
Content Management System within the |
Other roles have included/include
|
2011-2014 |
Director of the
Statistical Advisory Service, and previously |
|
2009-2010 |
Statistical Advisory Service Coordinator I am one of the statisticians in the Department’s Statistical Advisory
Service, which offers consultancy to students and staff within the
University. In 2009 I led the redesign of its format (a change from drop-in
to web-booking): I wrote a suite of Excel macros to create a database for
processing forms and managing appointments. |
|
2006-2015 |
Department Timetabler |
|
2005- |
Internal Examiner for Undergraduate Programmes |
|
2006-2010 |
Internal Examiner for MSc in Biometry |
|
2004-2010 |
Diploma Admissions tutor |
|
2002-2005 |
Lunchtime seminars organiser |
|
2002-2004 |
Meetings coordinator of the Statistical Genetics
research group |
|
2002-2003 |
Member
of the Royal Statistical Society Careers Promotions Committee:
assisted in the production of their Careers in Statistics leaflets. |
|
2000-2007 |
Voluntary
webmaster for the Royal Statistical Society, which gave me sole
responsibility for redesigning and maintaining their website throughout the
period 2000-2004. |
Research
and scholarship
I have an eclectic set of publications,
reflecting earlier interests in statistical genetics and forensic statistics,
collaborative work in epidemiology and recent interests in teaching and
learning.
Peer-reviewed
articles (34):
K.L. Ayres, A. Wilcox and P. Glaister (2013). Diversity in mathematics assessment equals
diversity in opinion? MSOR Connections, 13(2), 15-23.
B. Okamura, K.L. Ayres, J. Salgado, T.A.
Davidson, R.F. Shaw, T.W. Stephens , D. Hoare and C.D. Sayer
(2013). Shallow lake sediments provide evidence for metapopulation
dynamics: a pilot study. Aquatic Ecology, 47, 163-176.
K.L. Ayres (2012). Using e-portfolios to
provide regular feedback on final year statistics projects. MSOR Connections,
12(2), 52-54.
P. Glaister, E.M. Glaister and K.L. Ayres (2012). Engagement ‘with’ or ‘by’
students: two sides of the same coin. MSOR Connections, 12(2), 22-27.
K.L. Ayres and P. Glaister
(2012). Setting the right hurdle: progression to the final year of an MMath programme. MSOR Connections, 12(1), 31-33.
K.L. Ayres, P. Glaister
and C.J. Smith (2012). The benefits of an undergraduate teaching and learning
placement scheme in mathematics and statistics. MSOR Connections, 12(1), 2-6.
K.L. Ayres (2011). Anonymous marking of
coursework using a Vigenère-type cipher. British
Journal of Educational Technology 42, E156–E159.
S.L. McDonald, P.A. Maple, N. Andrews, K.E.
Brown, K.L. Ayres, F.T. Scott, M. Al Bassam, A.A. Gershon, S.P. Steinberg, J. Breuer (2011). Evaluation of
the time resolved fluorescence immunoassay (TRFIA) for the detection of varicella zoster virus (VZV) antibodies following
vaccination of healthcare workers. Journal of Virological
Methods 172, 60-65.
M.L. Quinlivan,
K.L. Ayres, P.J. Kelly, S.P. Parker, F.T. Scott, R.W. Johnson, C. Maple, J.
Breuer (2011). Persistence of varicella-zoster virus viraemia in patients with herpes zoster. Journal of
Clinical Virology, 50, 130-135.
K.L. Ayres, Y. Talukder,
J. Breuer (2010). Humoral immunity following
chickenpox is influenced by geography and ethnicity. Journal of Infection, 61,
244-251.
K.L. Ayres and F.M. Underwood (2010).
Electronic marking of statistics assessments for bioscience students.
Bioscience Education, 15, c4 (online journal).
C.S. Ford, K.L. Ayres, N. Toomey, N. Haider, J. van Alphen Stahl, L.J. Kelly, N. Wikström, P.M. Hollingsworth, R.J. Duff, S.B. Hoot, R.S.
Cowan, M.W. Chase and M.J. Wilkinson (2009). Selection of candidate coding DNA barcoding regions for use on land plants. Botanical Journal
of the Linnean Society, 159, 1-11.
R.N. Curnow and K.L. Ayres (2007). Population
genetic models can be used to study the evolution of the interacting behaviour
of parents and their progeny. Theoretical Population Biology, 72, 67-76.
M.L. Quinlivan, K.
Ayres, H. Ran, S. McElwaine, M. Leedham-Green,
F.T. Scott and J. Breuer (2007). Effect of viral load on the outcome of Herpes
Zoster. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 45, 3909-3914.
K.L. Ayres (2005). The expected performance
of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism loci in paternity testing. Forensic Science
International, 154, 167-172.
K.L. Ayres and R.N. Curnow (2005). Detecting
non-multiplicative genotype relative risks from transmissions of parental
alleles to affected children. Journal of Human Genetics 50, 46-48.
R.D. Bagnall, K.L.
Ayres, P.M. Green and F.Giannelli (2005). Gene
conversion and evolution of Xq28 duplicons involved
in recurring inversions causing severe Hemophilia A.
Genome Research, 15, 214-223.
K.L. Ayres and W.M. Powley
(2005). Calculating the exclusion probability and paternity index for
X-chromosomal loci in the presence of substructure. Forensic Science
International, 149, 201-203.
K.L. Ayres and D.J. Balding (2005). Paternity
index calculations when some individuals share common ancestry. Forensic
Science International, 151, 101-103.
K.L. Ayres and A.D.J. Overall (2004).
API-CALC 1.0: a computer program for calculating the average probability of
identity allowing for substructure, inbreeding and the presence of close
relatives. Molecular Ecology Notes 4, 315-318.
A.P. Morris, A.D. Pedder
and K.L. Ayres (2003). Linkage disequilibrium assessment via log-linear
modelling of SNP haplotype frequencies. Genetic
Epidemiology 25, 106-114.
T. Anagnostopoulos,
A.P. Morris, K.L. Ayres, F.Giannelli and P.M. Green
(2003). DNA variation in a 13 Mb region including the F9 gene: inferring the
genealogical history and causal role of a haemophilia B mutation (IVS 5+13
A->G) Journal of Thrombosis & Haemostasis 1, 2609-2614.
K.L. Ayres, J. Chaseling
and D.J. Balding (2002). Implications for DNA identification arising from an
analysis of Australian forensic databases. Forensic Science International 129,
90-98.
K.L. Ayres (2002). Paternal exclusion in the
presence of substructure. Forensic Science International 129, 142-144.
J.R.W. Masters, J.A. Thomson, B. Daly-Burns,
Y.A. Reid, W. Dirks, P. Packer, L.H. Toji, T. Ohno, H. Tanabe, C.F. Arlett,
L.R. Kelland, M. Harrison, A. Virmani,
T.H. Ward, K.L. Ayres & P.G. Debenham (2001).
Short Tandem Repeat profiling provides an international reference standard for
human cell lines. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences USA 98, 8012
- 8017.
J.A. Thomson, K.L. Ayres, V. Pilotti, M.N. Barrett, J.I.H. Walker and P.G. Debenham (2001). Analysis of disputed single-parent/child
and sibling relationships using 16 STR loci. International Journal of Legal
Medicine 115, 128-134.
M. Seed, K.L. Ayres, S. Humphries, and G.
Miller (2001). Lipoprotein (a) as a predictor for myocardial infarction in
middle-aged men. American Journal of Medicine 110, 22 - 27.
K.L. Ayres and D.J. Balding (2001). Measuring
gametic disequilibrium from multi-locus data.
Genetics 157, 413 - 423.
K.L. Ayres (2000). Relatedness testing in
subdivided populations. Forensic Science International 114, 107 - 115.
K.L. Ayres (2000). A two-locus forensic match
probability for subdivided populations. Genetica 108,
137 - 143.
J.A. Thomson, K.L. Ayres, V. Pilotti, M. Barrett, J. Walker and P. G. Debenham (2000). Validation of Multiplex STR Systems for
the Investigation of Parentage and Other Familial Relationships. In
"Progress in Forensic Genetics 8" (Eds. G.F. Sensabaugh,
P.J. Lincoln and B. Olaisen), Elsevier Science.
J.A. Thomson, V. Pilotti,
P. Stevens, K.L. Ayres, and P.G. Debenham (1999).
Validation of Short Tandem Repeat Analysis for the investigation of cases of
disputed paternity. Forensic Science International 100, 1 - 16.
K.L. Ayres and A.D.J. Overall (1999).
Allowing for within-subpopulation inbreeding in forensic match probabilities.
Forensic Science International 103, 207 - 216.
K.L. Ayres and D.J. Balding (1998). Measuring
departures from Hardy-Weinberg: a Markov chain Monte Carlo method for
estimating the inbreeding coefficient. Heredity 80, 769 - 777.
Book
chapters:
K.L. Ayres (2002). Chapter 12: The internet.
In “Research Methods for Postgraduates” (Ed. T Greenfield),
K.L. Ayres (2002). Chapter 40: Personal home
pages on the web. In “Research Methods for Postgraduates” (Ed. T Greenfield),
Technical
reports:
R.N. Curnow and K.L. Ayres (2006). Polymorphisms can be maintained by the
interaction of maternal behaviour and competition between progeny. Section of
Applied Statistics, The University of
K.L. Ayres and R.N. Curnow (2004). Detecting
non-multiplicative disease penetrances from
transmissions of parental alleles to affected children. School of Applied Statistics,
The
Conference
proceedings:
K.L. Ayres and P. Glaister
(2012). A technique for delivering individualised formative problems and
examples. Proceedings of the HEA STEM Conference. Available online via http://journals.heacademy.ac.uk/doi/full/10.11120/stem.hea.2012.090.
K.L. Ayres, N.R.T. Biggs and P. Glaister (2012). Statistical monitoring of student
performance - an early warning system. Proceedings of the HEA STEM Conference.
Available online via http://journals.heacademy.ac.uk/doi/abs/10.11120/stem.hea.2012.061.
[Winner: best MSOR paper]
Teaching
& Learning magazine articles and blog posts:
K.L. Ayres (2015). Tailored formula sheets -
the 'cheat sheet' idea. Available online: http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/engage-in-teaching-and-learning/2015/06/04/tailored-formula-sheets-the-cheat-sheet-idea-by-dr-karen-ayres/
K.L. Ayres (2014). Flipping assessment?!
Available online: http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/engage-in-teaching-and-learning/2014/01/29/flipping-assessment-by-dr-karen-ayres/
K.L. Ayres (2013). Enhancing student engagement
through T&L seminars. Available online: http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/engage-in-teaching-and-learning/2013/07/31/enhancing-student-engagement-through-tl-seminars-by-dr-karen-ayres/
P. Glaister, K.L.
Ayres and C.J. Smith (2013). Supporting students through personal tutor
tutorials. Available online: http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/engage-in-teaching-and-learning/2013/04/30/supporting-students-through-personal-tutor-tutorials-by-dr-paul-glaister-dr-karen-ayres-and-dr-calvin-james-smith/
K.L. Ayres and P. Glaister
(2012). NSS 2012 and student engagement. Available online: http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/engage-in-teaching-and-learning/2012/12/13/nss-2012-and-student-engagement-by-dr-karen-ayres-and-dr-paul-glaister/
K.L. Ayres, P. Glaister
and C.J. Smith (2011). Maths and Stats takes UROP a stage further. Teaching
Matters 26. Available online : http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/cdotl/Teaching_Matters_26.pdf.
Research
grants:
|
2009 |
|
|
2005 |
PhD Studentship from GSK (Co-Investigator
with Dr Patrick Kelly). |
Contribution
to research at the national/international level:
|
2004-2007 |
Associate Editor for Journal of the
Royal Statistical Society Series C (Applied Statistics). |
I
have acted as a reviewer for grant applications for the BBSRC (2006) and the
NHS for a PhD application (2005), and as an evaluator for end-of-project
reports for the ESRC (2008) and EPSRC (2006). Over the course of my career I
have reviewed articles for various journals, including Forensic Science
International, Genetics, BMC
Genomics, Molecular Ecology, Human Molecular Genetics, Human Biology,
International Journal of Legal Medicine, JRSS D and Nature Reviews Genetics.
I
was a member of the Local Organising Committee for the International Biometric
Society - British Region conference in 2001.
Research
students supervised:
I have supervised two DStat
students (2009, 2013), and three PhD students (2005, 2009, 2010) through to
completion. I am currently second supervisor to one part-time PhD student.
Software:
For
programs related to Curnow & Ayres (TPB, 2007), download rnc_kla.zip.
For
files related to the e-Mark automated marking macros (Ayres &
Underwood, Bioscience Education, 2010), download e-Mark.zip.
For
the Excel file related to the anonymous marking number generation method
(Ayres, BJET, 2011), download AnonyMark.xlsm.
For
files related to the autoQs individualised
sequence of problems program (Ayres & Glaister,
Proceedings of the HEA STEM Conference, 2012), download autoQs_demo.zip.
For
files related to the student monitoring system (Ayres, Biggs & Glaister, Proceedings of the HEA STEM Conference, 2012),
download EWS.zip.
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Last
updated: October 2017