Biography
Dr Samantha Campbell Casey is a Lecturer in Biomedical Science and Programme Leader for the MSc Biomedical Suite within the School of Applied Sciences. She was appointed as a University Teaching Fellow in 2011, was made a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2016 and has a strategic research focus on employability and skills development and is an active member of the University Centre for Higher Education Research.
After completing her undergraduate studies in Molecular Biology, she was awarded a BBSRC CASE funded studentship, working in collaboration with Rhone Poulenc, investigating histidine biosynthesis in Arabidopsis to identify potential new herbicide targets at the University of Glasgow. A period of post doctoral work working on herpes viruses, and on apicomplexan parasites provided a strong background in the area of antimicrobial research, which continued on arrival at Edinburgh Napier where she has worked on investigating bacteriophages as potential new treatment options for bacterial infections.
Samantha joined Edinburgh Napier as a Lecturer in Biomedical Science in 2005 working on the CeLLs project (Collaborative e-learning in Life Sciences), an innovative, collaborative project with SQA, Dundee University, Scottish Colleges and the Interactive University to generate online materials to support undergraduate teaching in Chemistry and Biology. She has held numerous leadership roles including Programme Leader/ Deputy programme leader/ year 2 lead for the undergraduate biological sciences suite of programmes (2011 to 2020), for the MSc Biomedical Suite since 2019, has been deputy convenor of the School LTA committee, and is Convenor of the School Health and Safety Committee. Between 2014 and 2016 Samantha led the strategic review of the undergraduate programme suite to streamline provision and ensure employability was at the heart of the new programmes which were successfully approved in 2016 and accredited by the Royal Society of Biology. As programme leader for the MSc Biomedical Suite she has implemented a programme of Academic and Employability Skills sessions to support the transition of students to MSc level study and has co developed stage 1 of the new 2 year programme in Pharmaceutical and Analytical Science which was approved in 2021. She is passionate about ensuring international students are effectively supported and as PL for a programme which recruits primarily international students, is undertaking research in this area to facilitate a clearer understanding of the challenges faced by these students.
Samantha’s focus on employability and skills research developed back in 2009 when she developed a Personal Development guide for students to evaluate their skills progression and development for future employment. This developed into a long term programme of research, including the development and evaluation of the Skills Passport, which supports students to evidence and articulate their skills development in preparation for employment. This work has established Samantha as an expert in employability and established a strong commitment to employability and skills development across the school, including the establishment of employer panels and regular interaction with industry to support learning and teaching, ensuring students are effectively prepared for employment on graduation.
Samantha has taught on a range of modules at all levels across the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes both in Edinburgh and overseas, has held multiple module leaderships, and is currently module leader for undergraduate Biochemistry (Edinburgh and Sri Lanka). She has supervised four PhD students to completion across pedagogy projects and her subject discipline, and is supporting two current PhD students as Panel Chair.
As an academic leader Samantha provides extensive support through mentoring of staff on all aspects of learning teaching and assessment. As Convenor of the School Health and Safety Committee she has led on issues related to workload, ensuring staff within the School are effectively supported and their voice heard. Her commitment to the EnRoute programme as an assessor and informal mentor has supported numerous staff across the school to success. Samantha is passionate about supporting the development of new scientific talent and regularly engages in outreach work with local schools, including via the STEM ambassador scheme and other local projects, and has supported staff development in this area especially within the technical team.