Lansdown Centre

Alan is Principal Lecturer and a Teaching Fellow. He is Coordinator for The Centre for Excellence in Work Based Learning in the School of Arts and Education.

Alan was trained as a designer at Hornsey College of Art. His professional career has included work as a designer and craftsman in the jewellery and optics industries. He has run his own design and manufacturing companies, as well as being a manager for a large wholesale and manufacturing jewellery company. Further experience in the games design industry has included publication of a number of game products. His academic career has included senior roles in learning and teaching development, curriculum management and programme leadership.

Research Interests

Current research is focused on professional development and work based learning in the creative and cultural industries and he is studying for a Doctorate of Education with the Institute of Education, University of London. He is a registered Practitioner of the Higher Education Academy.

Recent Work

He has worked on a number of curriculum development projects at Institutions in the Near East and Pacific Rim including The Royal University for Women (Bahrain) and Raffles La Salle Design Institute. In the UK, he has worked on curriculum and teaching development projects for a range of partners and clients including the Environment Agency. Major projects include the use of Web 2.0 technologies to support communities of learners in the performing arts sector and he is currently working on two books on work based learning. He is also external moderator for work based learning for The North Thames Ministerial Training College.