Dr Alison Fisher appointed as academic theme lead for UCIL

07 Mar 2022

A message from Professor Danielle George, Associate Vice President for Blended and Flexible Learning

I am pleased to announce that Dr Alison Fisher, Senior Lecturer in the Division of Psychology and Mental Health, will be joining the Flexible Learning team as academic theme lead for University College for Interdisciplinary Learning (UCIL).

UCIL offers interdisciplinary course units, which bring together students across the three Faculties to equip them with the skills to make positive social change. Teaching effectively across subject boundaries to offer innovative courses that help our graduates tackle the challenges of tomorrow is something we want to build on as we move to embed more blended and flexible learning. I’m thrilled Alison will be joining our team, as she has long been a champion of the University’s curricular and extracurricular efforts to enhance student experience by promoting interdisciplinary study and engagement with social responsibility, working closely with UCIL for a number of years.

In her 12 years at the University of Manchester, Alison has taken on several leadership positions and played a key role in a number of University level initiatives. She served as Programme Director for the large cohort BSc Psychology degree for five years, leading significant developments to enhance teaching, learning and student experience.

Alison is committed to empowering the student voice and meaningful dialogue between students and staff. She created a mechanism to enable students to give real time feedback during course units, co-developed the University’s Academic Advising framework and toolkit, and has undertaken a number of projects in partnership with students.

I’m really excited to welcome Alison to the Flexible Learning team. Her wealth of expertise and enthusiasm will help our University to build on the success of UCIL and expand its innovative and interdisciplinary approach.