Tom serves as Director of Student Experience in the Chemistry Department and Academic Lead for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) at the University of Warwick, where he has become a leading voice in inclusive STEM education and AI integration in chemistry teaching. His unique background as a historian working in a Chemistry Department brings interdisciplinary perspectives to transforming student experiences and building belonging in STEM education.

Tom completed his PhD at the Centre for the History of the Sciences on a Collaborative Doctoral Partnership between the University of Kent and the Science Museum in London, and holds a Masters in Science, Medicine, Environment, and Technology in History. He has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship (2025-2026) to advance research on AI integration in inclusive chemistry and STEM education at Elon University, collaborating with Duke University and NC State.

Current Work at Warwick

At Warwick, Tom serves as Director of Student Experience in the Chemistry Department, where he is currently working on:

• 'We are Chemistry' - a transformative co-created inclusive education programme that has significantly enhanced student success by fostering a thriving community focused on four themes: 'Feel Good', 'Have Fun', 'Learn More', and 'Get Active'. Since 2022, this programme has run 200+ activities focused on academic skills, community, resilience and well-being, receiving over 20,000 attendances from students and staff. The programme - developed in partnership with students - has contributed to a 45% reduction in students leaving the department, an 8% rise in first-year student academic success, and a 30% increase in applications with a 20% increase in admissions in 2024. This project has been recognised with a CATE Award (2025), an RSC Inclusion and Diversity Award (2025), and a Warwick Social Inclusion Award for Innovation through Diversity (2025).
• The Warwick Building Belonging Framework - working with AdvanceHE, Tom is co-leading the creation of a new Warwick Belonging Framework to enhance the student experience across the institution.
• Beyond Science - a 1st year module co-created as part of the Curriculum Review, which teaches students to develop research projects to tackle UN Sustainable Development Goals, collaborating with mentors from different disciplines.
• Innovation 101 - a 3rd and 4th year module that equips students with the skills to become innovators and develop value solutions for real-world problems, incorporating design thinking, AI, and entrepreneurship into chemistry education. Students have scored this module 4.96/5.
• The AI Revolution: Ethics, Technology, and Society - a 2nd and 3rd year interdisciplinary module delivered via IATL that equips students with critical AI literacy skills, engaging them in speculative future-casting to develop policy briefs for AI-enabled SDGs.
• Design Thinking for Social Impact - a module that gets STEM students to apply sustainable and ethical design principles to innovation projects.

Awards and Recognition

• WATE Award for Teaching Excellence in SEM Faculty (2025)
• Butterworth Award for Early Career Impact (2025)
• Fulbright Scholar (2025-2026) - "Transforming Inclusive Chemistry Education in an AI-Enabled World" at Elon University and collaborating with Duke University and NC State on AI integration in STEM, belonging, and inclusive education
• CATE Award for 'We are Chemistry' project (2025)
• RSC Inclusion and Diversity Award for 'We are Chemistry' project (2025)
• Warwick Social Inclusion Award for Innovation through Diversity for 'We are Chemistry' project (2025)
• Collaborative WATE Award (2023) - highly commended for 'We are Chemistry' programme
• 'Student of the Year' and 'Intercultural Initiative of the Year' (University of Kent, 2017)

Leadership Roles and Impact

Tom holds several university-wide leadership positions:

• SEM Faculty Representative on the University's Student Success Committee
• Chair of Warwick's Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Action Group
• Academic Lead for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) at Warwick
• Academic Lead of the Warwick Building Belonging Framework

His signature pedagogy focuses on Mode 3 knowledge production, connecting curricular, extracurricular, and pastoral components of the student experience. As a trained professional coach and mentor (2023-24), he has conducted over 300 individual coaching sessions, helping students with diverse learning needs overcome challenges and reach their goals.

Key Achievements and Projects

Curriculum and Departmental Leadership:

• Co-led the departmental review into curriculum design, focusing on embedding DEI principles, student co-creation, and skills development
• Co-wrote departmental submission to Institutional Teaching and Learning Review (ITLR) on 'Inclusive Student Communities', which was recognised as a case study for the University's Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) Gold Award in 2023
• Led creation of Chemistry Employability Strategy and departmental Inclusive Education Plan
• Redesigned peer-mentoring programme, boosting student engagement with lectures and workshops by 25%

Research and Collaboration:

• Co-leading RSC-funded multi-university research project investigating the 'British-Asian Chemistry Student Experience and Awarding Gaps in Higher Education' (findings to be published early 2025)
• Secured funding for UCL collaboration project exploring co-creation techniques in higher education, leading to '#GetWarwickTalking' mental health initiative
• Supervising PhD student on 'Gamification of Chemistry Lab Experiments'
• Co-leading project with Monash University colleagues investigating AI-powered tools' impact on student learning outcomes

Student Community Building:

• Collaborated with Black students to establish the Warwick Black Chemistry Society
• Co-created and co-hosted 'Pathways' podcast with students, highlighting voices of women in chemistry and exploring diversity themes
• Developed national student-led humanities teaching network ('Radical Pedagogies') during postgraduate studies

Public Engagement and Communication:

• Host of 'AI Ethics Now' podcast, exploring ethical considerations and implications of AI in education and society

Previous Experience

Before joining Warwick, Tom worked at the University of Exeter as Project Manager at the Education Incubator, where he:

• Provided strategic and operational oversight of 47 projects in 2020-2021 that transformed pedagogic practices during COVID-19, with one project winning a Times Higher Education Award for Technological and Digital Innovation (2021)
• Worked on Erasmus+ project 'Communities and Students Together (CaST)', co-authoring publications including "Engaged Learning in Europe" and state-of-the-art reviews on engaged learning
• Developed and delivered the Education Innovation Lab programme using Design Thinking Principles
• Formulated business cases for new funding calls worth up to £75,000, empowering eight student teams with one (Active Together) receiving the University of Exeter's EDI prize (2021)
• Worked for Canterbury Christ Church Students' Union, implementing Teaching Quality and Student Outcomes policies and publishing research on BAME attainment in healthcare courses
• Created student engagement programmes at Kent, leading to recognition as 'Student of the Year'
• Taught four undergraduate and postgraduate modules across History and Politics, developing the UK's first national student-led humanities teaching network
• Co-authored 'HE Outreach: Guidance on Good Practice for Academics' (British Journal of Educational Studies, 2019).