Staff profile

Jacquie Robson was born and grew up in East Yorkshire, and was the first in her family to progress to University. She obtained her B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry at Durham University, with Ph.D. research focused on X-Ray Crystallography in the research group of Professor Judith A. K. Howard CBE FRS. On leaving Durham, Jacquie went on to obtain Qualified Teacher Status via the Graduate Teaching Programme route while teaching at a school in Newcastle, moving after five years to take up a role as Head of Chemistry in a County Durham secondary school, also taking on a number of pastoral and extra-curricular roles during her teaching career. 

Jacquie was appointed as Royal Society of Chemistry Teacher Fellow for 2010-2011, returning to Durham University Chemistry Department to complete Fellowship projects focused on smoothing the student transition from school to University, including re-developing the first year laboratory courses. She was part of the Durham Chemistry team which secured a large scale curriculum innovation grant from the HEFCE HE STEM programme to complete work in this area. Subsequently appointed to a Teaching Fellow role in the Chemistry Department, followed by Senior Teaching Fellow, and later Associate Professor on the Education track, Jacquie is now Professor (Education) in Chemistry.In 2021, Jacquie was appointed to a role in the Science Faculty team as Deputy Executive Dean (Academic Student Experience). Beginning the role during covid restrictions, Jacquie initially worked with colleagues to facilitate laboratory teaching during social distancing and repeated covid lockdowns. Since then, she has worked on projects including Decolonising the Curriculum, Academic Induction and Science Engagement. She led the development team who produced the recent Science Engagement Strategy. Since July 2024, Jacquie has been Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Taught Programmes) at Durham, focusing on projects related to the implementation of the University Education Strategy. 

Teaching

Jacquie is  passionate and enthusiastic teacher and chemist and is interested in education in its fullest and broadest sense. She is actively engaged in the scholarship of teaching and learning as well as being involved in the teaching and development of both undergraduates, postgraduates and staff. Her teaching roles have encompassed chemistry lab teaching, lectures and tutorials, academic study skills, the pedagogical training of postgraduate students and contributions to staff development courses. She has held pastoral responsibilities both within the department and in a college, and was Director of Undergraduate Studies, focusing on academic pastoral support of students in the Chemistry department, for a number of years.   

Widening Access and Participation work

Jacquie has been involved with a large number of projects and programmes across the University which aim to facilitate access (and success) for our students from all backgrounds. At Department level, she has led on Sutton Trust and Supported Progression scheme delivery, and has been a involved in a wide range of science outreach and engagement activity. She is currently the academic lead, and Chemistry programme lead, for the Futures in STEM programme which caters for Year 12 and 13 school students interested in the study of Science subjects at University. 

Scholarly Interest

Jacquie is interested in all things related to the evidence-based improvement of teaching and learning, particularly in chemistry and other sciences. Deputy Head of the Evaluation and Innovation in Science Education research group.  Recent work has included a study probing the impact of covid on the practical science skills of students transitioning to higher education, and an evaluation of teaching interventions and the student experience in a science Centre for Doctoral Training. Jacquie regularly supervises Chemistry MChem undergraduate research projects in Chemical Education.  

Chapter in book

• Cramman, H., Connor, M. A., Hau, C., & Robson, J. (2021). Lessons learned from implementing blended and online undergraduate chemistry laboratory teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic. In E. Pearsall, K. Mock, M. Morgan, & B. A. Tucker (Eds.), Advances in Online Chemistry Education (177-193). American Chemical Society. https://doi.org/10.1021/bk-2021-1389.ch012

Journal Article

• Lietard, A., Screen, M. A., Flindt, D. L., Jordan, C. J., Robson, J. M., & Verlet, J. R. (2021). A Combined Spectrophotometer and Fluorometer to Demonstrate the Principles of Absorption Spectroscopy. Journal of Chemical Education, 98(12), 3871-3877. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00742
• Bruce, M., Coffer, P., Rees, S., & Robson, J. (2016). Write on the edge: using a chemistry corpus to develop academic writing skills resources for undergraduate chemists. Chemistry education research and practice, https://doi.org/10.1039/c6rp00005c