Jon is a higher education consultant with extensive current experience in quality assurance and developing practice in learning and teaching. His most recent academic role was as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Student Experience) at the University of Leicester where he now holds an emeritus chair in Bioscience Education.
Jon is currently engaged with various organisations in particular as a longstanding Reviewer for the Quality Assurance Agency and an Accreditor of the UK Professional Standards Framework for AdvanceHE. He is an adviser on quality assurance and staff development for several higher education institutions in the UK and internationally. He was also a member of the Teaching Excellence Framework Main Panel.
Jon initially read biological sciences at Durham University where he stayed for his PhD on sensory feedback in movement control. He then moved to Paris as a research fellow at the Collège de France before returning to Durham as a lecturer in zoology.
From Durham, Jon moved to a lectureship in physiology at Leicester, working on the control of hand movement. During this time he became increasingly involved in developments in learning and teaching and became Academic Director of the College of Medicine, Biological Sciences & Psychology in 2009. In 2012 he was elected to a personal chair as Professor of Bioscience Education and in 2014 took up the role of Academic Registrar. In 2015, Jon was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor with responsibility for Student Experience a post he held until 2019.
Jon has led on a range of projects, including assessment and feedback, academic integrity, belonging and retention and the student experience. He also strongly advocates for reward and recognition for teaching-focused staff. In 2011 he was named UK Bioscience Teacher of the Year, a National Teaching Fellow in 2012 and Principal Fellow of AdvanceHE in 2013.
When not at his desk, Jon is a choral conductor and singer, and a not very successful grower of vegetables.
