Meet the team

Professor David Hughes.

Associate Dean
Research & Innovation
Part of Athena Swan Strategy Group

I am a Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies. My work focuses on supporting a just transition for future energy, materials and digital trade, while enabling more people to engage in research. I am committed to creating opportunities for diverse participation in research, helping to shape a more equitable and sustainable future.

Dr Helen Moore

Associate Professor
School of Social Sciences, Humanities & Law
Role with SAT: Deputy Chair

Dr Helen Moore is the lead of the Evaluation and Impact Team at Teesside University, working to facilitate collaborative research and evaluation projects between academics and external partners. She joined the Athena Swan strategy group to help further gender equality within the University.

Charlotte Nicol

AD EKE
School of Arts & Creative Industries
Role with SAT: School Athena Swan Lead

I'm passionate about gender equality and I'm thrilled to be part of driving the Athena Swan application in our school. I am a Clore Fellow, Fellow of the RSA and previously held senior positions in the public sector. I am an advocate for supporting women after maternity leave through my own experience of being a mother to two small children.

Dr Michael Knowles

PL R&I
School of Computing, Engineering & Digital Technologies
Role with SAT: School Athena Swan Lead

I am Associate Dean for Learning and Teaching in the School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies. I first got involved in Athena Swan as I believe that the best way for my School to be successful is for it to welcome the broadest range of people and to remove as many of the barriers facing them as possible to drive success.

Jeff Breckon

AD R&I
School of Health & Life Sciences
Role with SAT: School Athena Swan Lead

I am Associate Dean (R&I) in the School of Health and Life Sciences. My role includes the leadership of research across both staff and student groups and working externally with partners to generate and promote our RKE activity. I value EDI and the principles of AS and am keen that we embed these in all that we do. As a REF lead here and at my previous institution, I embedded EDI as one of the five objectives for the submission, reflecting its importance in our applied research and innovation.

Dr Victoria Bell

HoD
School of Social Sciences, Humanities & Law
Role with SAT: School Athena Swan Lead

Dr Oluwatomi Adedeji

Lecturer
Teesside University International Business School
Role with SAT: School Athena Swan Lead

I am a lecturer in Organisational Behaviour at the International Business School. I became interested in Athena SWAN because I view it as a vital pathway to support staff career development and to improve policies that promote equality. This, in turn, contributes to the overall success and growth of the school. I also see it as a valuable opportunity to contribute to the advancement of staff well-being and professional growth.

Jackie Steven

Technical Manager
School of Arts & Creative Industries
Role with SAT: Representatives SACI, [also technician representative]

As Technical Manager I try to be mindful of gendered assumptions around technical and leadership positions. HERSCHEL training has supported me to be more active in making positive changes towards more informed gender equity. I value Athena Swan as a meaningful opportunity to contribute to responsible change for all staff.

Prof Amelia Lake

Professor of Research
School of Health & Life Sciences
Role with SAT: Representatives SHLS [also Professoriate representative]

Amelia is a dietitian, a public health nutritionist and is Professor of Public Health Nutrition at Teesside University and an Associate Director of Fuse. Researching food insecurity, food environments, including energy drinks. It involves transdisciplinary collaborations to examine how the environment interacts with, and shapes behaviours. Amelia is passionate about equality and inclusivity. Amelia runs The David Ashwell Foundation in memory of her eldest son David and has two school age children.

Dr Claire Brown

Senior Lecturer and social work research lead
School of Social Sciences, Humanities & Law
Role with SAT: SSSHL rep & Gender focus group vice chair

I'm Dr Claire Brown, Senior Lecturer and Social Work Research Lead at TU. I use my academic and practice-based knowledge of gender equity to serve on the Editorial Board for two journals, Ethics Subcommittee, and as Chair of the TU Social Work Research Network. My experience as a single mum of two supports EDI development work for the Athena Swan team and as vice chair of the Gender Focus Group.

Emma Chapman

School Manager
School of Social Sciences, Humanities & Law
Role with SAT: Representatives SSSHL

Emma Chapman, 49-year-old, single mum, to a grown-up daughter. I've worked in Higher Education for the last 17 years and, being the Mum of a daughter, I am passionate about improving the working environment for women through mentoring and coaching as well as providing an environment that encourages women to not only have a seat at the table but to share their thoughts, ideas and feelings.

Professor Chrisina Jayne

Dean
School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies and Teesside University London
Role with SAT: SCEDT representative

Professor Chrisina Jayne is the Dean of the School of Computing & Digital Technologies at Teesside University (TU) and Dean of TU London. Chrisina is a highly skilled and experienced university manager with more than 15 years of leadership experience within the UK higher education institutions, including – Oxford Brookes University, Robert Gordon University and Coventry University.

Her research is the areas of developing and applying novel methods for artificial neural networks, machine learning and artificial intelligence. She authored over 80 peer reviewed papers in international journals and at leading conferences. Chrisina served on the editorial board of the Springer journal "Neural Computing and Applications", associate editor for "IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems" and associate editor for "Neural Networks".

Chrisina is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (BCS) CITP and Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. She was awarded a UK National Teaching Fellowship award in 2009 in recognition of excellence in learning and teaching.

Chrisina has chaired numerous committees of neural network related conferences. She served as the President of the International Neural Network Society (INNS) 2021-2022, Program Chair of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN) in 2017, General Co-Chair for IJCNN 2019, Technical Chair WCCI 2020. Chrisina serves at present in the BCS Council and the Board of Governors of INNS.

Chrisina is deeply passionate about gender equality, social inclusion, and diversity.

Dr Christopher Hayes

Senior lecturer & Co-Chair ECR Forum
Teesside University International Business School
Role with SAT: Representative ECR Forum

My name is Dr Chris Hayes and I am a Senior Lecturer in Tourism & Events Management. I am also Co-Chair of the University's ECR Forum. I joined the strategy group because I want to ensure that early career colleagues' voices are heard and that they are able to thrive.

Dr Samantha Gooneratne

Principal Lecturer (Staffing and Resources)
School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies
Role with SAT: SCEDT representative

I am Principal Lecturer for staffing and resources in the Engineering department, supporting my department and school with managing staff workloads and ensuring all business needs are met. I have been a member of the University Gender Focus Group for over a decade, and I recently contributed to my school's successful Athena Swan bronze award application, serving as Survey Lead and Focus Group Co-Lead. I got involved in Athena Swan because I believe it is important for me to help shape my working environment to ensure that every member of our university community has an opportunity to thrive.

Prof Stephen Cummings

Research and Knowledge Exchange
Part of Athena Swan Strategy Group

Professor Stephen Cummings is responsible for Teesside's research and knowledge exchange portfolio, prior to taking up this role he was Dean of the School of Science & Engineering from 2016, Dean of the School of Health & Life Sciences from 2019 and Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation from 2021.

He holds a personal Chair in Microbiology and has researched and published extensively on the microbial ecology in a number of environments and disease states, including, bioremediation of contaminated soils, cystic fibrosis and infections of preterm infants.

He is currently chair of the UK2070 Commission's Teesside Taskforce and a director of Teesside University Enterprise and Innovation (TUEI) venture. Previously he was a member of the Council of Governors for the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Steph Bales

Director of Research and Enterprise Office
The Research and Enterprise Office
Role with SAT: Chair

Steph Bales is Director of the Research and Enterprise Office (REO) at Teesside University. She has 20 years' experience of research and knowledge exchange and a track record of delivering transformational change in universities. As a director she has overseen the successful development and delivery of three Athena Swan submissions across two institutions.

Her national and international professional roles include four years as the Chair of the Board for ARMA UK (2016-2020) where she led on the development of their first EDI policy and Chair of the Council for the International Network of Research Management Societies (INORMS) (2018-2021) where she supported the setting up of an international network on research evaluation.

She has two children and a grandchild, and enjoys galleries, music, books, and exercise.

Emma Hoang

Business Information Manager
The Research and Enterprise Office
Role with SAT: Representatives REO

Dr Katie Wheat

Research Culture & Policy Lead
The Research and Enterprise Office
Role with SAT: Athena Swan Coordinator

Dr Katie Wheat is Research Culture and Policy Lead in the Research and Enterprise Office and takes the role of Athena Swan Coordinator. Her Coordinator role includes supporting the implementation of the University's five-year bronze award action plan and preparation for a future silver award application. Katie also works with school Athena Swan leads to help them apply for the award, embed their action plans, and collaborate across schools.

Katie's professional background is in researcher development, policy and engagement, and previously as a researcher with a PhD in psychology. Katie has a particular interest in equality of career progression opportunities for mothers, parents and carers. She has a young son and enjoys family camping holidays, knitting and running.

Courtney Davies

Research Culture Officer
The Research and Enterprise Office
Role with SAT: Athena Swan Coordinator

Courtney is a Research Culture Officer and Athena Swan Coordinator at Teesside University. She fosters an inclusive research environment, overseeing initiatives for researchers' professional development, including mentoring and networking programmes.

As Athena Swan Coordinator, Courtney supports the University's gender equality efforts, having secured the Bronze award and working towards Silver. She collaborates with schools on departmental applications and promotes Athena Swan principles campus wide.

Drawing from her background in finance and driven by a passion for equity, Courtney is dedicated to creating an environment where all researchers can thrive and reach their full potential. Outside of work, she enjoys weightlifting, gaming, and continuous learning.

Juliet Amos

Executive Director (Human Resources)
Equality & Diversity Champion (LGBT+)
Human Resources
Role with SAT: Representatives HR

Juliet Amos joined Teesside University in 2006 having previously worked at Northumbria University as Assistant Human Resources Director. Juliet is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Juliet leads the human resources strategy and management at the University including staff planning and reviews, reward and recognition initiatives, the HR Advisory function, occupational health and safety and all equality and diversity work relating to staff. She is also responsible for the provision of staffing information to inform Executive decision making and the statistical returns to the Higher Education Statistical Agency.

Philip Ratcliff

Director of HR Operations
Human Resources
Role with SAT: Representatives HR

Philip Ratcliff is the Director of HR Operations at Teesside University under whose remit Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for staff falls, alongside a wide range of HR services. He is part of the group to ensure that Teesside University is a fully inclusive and welcoming employer for all, supporting the commitment to Athena Swan alongside key other EDI initiatives for LGBTQ+, Disability, Race/Ethnicity, Faith/Belief and Gender, to enable intersectionality and equal opportunities for all staff.

Saliah Hameed

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Manager
Human Resources
Role with SAT: Representatives HR

I am the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Lead at Teesside University. Being a member of the group compliments my work, ensuring that we work in an environment that inclusive where everyone, regardless of who they are, can contribute and thrive. The Athena Swan award represents a significant commitment to gender equality.

Catherine Elliott

Digital collections librarian
Student & Library Services
Role with SAT: Unison representative

As the Women's Officer for Teesside University Unison Branch I'm engaged in championing the interests of women in all employment groups at the University. I have 24 years' experience across various roles in Student & Library Services. I'm inspired to utilise the reach of Athena Swan to drive forward Teesside University in its role as a leader in gender equality for both academic and support roles.

Michael Adewunmi

SU President
Students' Union
Role with SAT: Representative SU

As an advocate for gender equality, I am dedicated to promoting inclusivity and equal opportunity. My motivation for joining the Athena Swan strategy group stems from a strong belief in eradicating gender prejudices in academia. Inspired by a vision of a more equal future, I support projects that empower women in research and education.