Biography
Dr Sophie Foley (PhD, SFHEA) is Associate Professor in Microbiology and Associate Dean – International in the School of Applied Science.
As Associate Dean – International, Sophie leads on the School’s international agenda, including TNE and online provision, international student recruitment to Edinburgh campus and student/staff mobility. Sophie has 20 years’ experience as an academic leader with success in leading teams within and out with her discipline, in programme development and approaches to teaching and assessment design to support learning and enhancement of both student experience and attainment. This is driven by her interest and scholarship focussed on the transition points experienced by a diverse student body, be that advanced entry to undergraduate, transition from undergraduate to postgraduate and/or transition between culturally different forms of education, and a belief that enhancements to support student transitions lead to better attainment for all students.
Sophie is an internationally recognised leader in education development. Sophie has a long track record of influencing educational practice both home and overseas. Sophie’s track record working with the British Council has resulted in a number of impactful programmes of work in Sri Lanka, Egypt, Malaysia and Ghana to name a few. Sophie is currently leading on a British Council Egypt funded project in collaboration with Ahram Canadian University (Egypt) on the co-development of a professional diploma in pharmaceutical sciences, through academia and Egyptian industry participation, based on skills gap analysis and development of a competency framework. This builds on Sophie’s focus in her own teaching practice in microbiology and the life sciences of developing industry-informed curriculum and learning materials, reflecting also Sophie’s industry experience, prior to joining the university, and her current discipline-based research at Edinburgh Napier. Sophie was a facilitator for the first Scottish Life and Chemical Science Skills Summit (2023) (co-organised by Edinburgh Napier, Skills Development Scotland and Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance) and has delivered a number of training events to industry, invited and funded by Interface (Scottish government), e.g. the delivery of a ‘Learning Journey’ for SMEs and associated government bodies in the dairy sector.
Sophie has taught and led on a range of microbiology/biomedical science modules in Edinburgh and overseas. She has extensive experience in programme leadership, undergraduate and masters level, and for programmes delivered in Edinburgh and in Hong Kong and Sri Lanka. She has led on the development of a number of Masters programmes and on the expansion of the School of Applied Sciences TNE portfolio across the School’s disciplines. Commissioned by the British Council (Sri Lanka) as part of the Sri Lanka government’s plans for education reform, Sophie led on the delivery of several workshops to the senior leadership of Sri Lankan universities and the University Grants Commission, on quality enhancement-led approaches to undergraduate, taught postgraduate and research postgraduate education (2018-2019). She has made significant impact on institutional practice through mentoring of colleagues, leading on initiatives to provide fora for sharing and developing practice and contribution to cross-university policy development, including recent development of the University’s new franchise model for TNE delivery. She has also contributed as an external reviewer of provision, nationally and internationally.
Sophie has combined her international work with engaging with initiatives to support girls in STEM. Sophie is currently co-leading a British Council Ghana funded project in collaboration with University for Health and Allied Sciences (Ghana) including research and design of activities for schools under the Gender Equality in STEM funding call. Sophie was an invited panellist in the British Council (Malaysia) Celebrate the Difference: Women in STEM 2022 webinar on International Women’s Day, has hosted as part of the British Council Pakistan Scottish PhD Research Travel Grants for Women scheme (2018-2019), and is currently an academic adviser for the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission.
Sophie continues to engage in research with her microbiology discipline, successfully securing both direct industry funding and Scottish government funding for research/knowledge exchange to support SMEs in the food and drink sector. In recognition of her standing in her field Sophie was appointed as an independent UK government Scientific Adviser with membership of the UK Foods Standards Agency Advisory Committee for Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP) (2024-2027). She successfully integrates this with her teaching through development of case studies, changes to learning resource, and provision of opportunities for students to directly present and converse with industrial partners.
Sophie continues to secure external funding from a range of sources (e.g. Scottish Funding Council, Scottish Whisky Research Institute, British Council, Society for General Microbiology, Nuffield Foundation, French Ministry of Education, HBLB) to support her work and continues to make contributions to the academic literature through academic publications, reports and presentations.
Career History:
Sophie graduated from University College Cork (UCC, Ireland) with a BSc (Hons) Microbiology. Following this, she undertook a PhD investigating plasmid DNA replication in lactic acid bacteria spending time at both UCC and the University of Groningen (The Netherlands), funded by an EMBO Fellowship. On completion of her PhD , she worked at the National Food Biotechnology Centre, Cork (Ireland) supporting R&D projects for local dairy companies, followed by three years as a research scientist at Nestle, Switzerland. Sophie joined Edinburgh Napier University in 1999 as a lecturer in microbiology and was promoted to Senior Lecturer and Subject Group Leader (2007), followed by Associate Professor (2016). She has held numerous senior leadership roles including Head of Subject, School Director Postgraduate Provision, School Head of International and is now Associate Dean International, leading on the School’s strategy for international student recruitment to campus, the development and support of TNE partnerships, and student mobility.