ASK Academic Skills
Brunel University
ABOUT
ASK Academic Skills is a Learning Development unit based in the Library at Brunel University.
The team consists of Richard Bond, Sandra Eyakware, Craig Johnston, Dr. Afiqah Ab Rahman, Dr. Inna Namestnikova, Dr. Monica-Cristiana Hess, Dr. Noel Parnis and Lauren Wigmore.
Click here to visit our website for more information about who we are and what we do.
Writing and Learning
Richard
Richard joined the ASK team in April 2017, having previously taught English Language and Study Skills for Engineering and also taught Academic Writing. Richard’s teaching experience includes Australia, the UK, Vietnam and China. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and his interests include the effects of internationalisation on pedagogy and Academic Writing. He has qualifications in Economics, Psychology, Education (specialising in TESOL) and an MA in Linguistics.
Richard is the Head of Academic Skills Development is the ASK contact for Arts & Humanities.
Sandra
Sandra joined the ASK team in 2018, having taught academic writing at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels at other Higher Education institutions in the UK. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has an interest in academic writing, dissertation writing and generally developing students’ writing style.
Sandra is the ASK contact for the College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences, in particular the departments of Education and Business.
Craig
Craig joined the ASK team in 2018 having taught academic writing at several Higher Education institutions in the UK, Japan and the United States at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has a special interest in critical thinking, memorisation and reflective writing.
Craig is the ASK contact for the College of Health and Life Sciences including the Medical School.
Afiqah graduated from the University of Warwick where she was awarded a PhD in Education. She joined the ASK team in 2021, having taught academic skills and academic writing at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at Higher Education institutions in Malaysia and the UK. She has a wide teaching experience in schools and HE in both countries. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and has an interest in language learning strategies, vocabulary learning strategies, academic skills, and special education needs.
Afiqah is the ASK contact College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences and Economics and Finance in CBASS.
Maths and Numeracy
Inna Namestnikova is the advisor for maths and numeracy. Inna graduated from M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University where she was also awarded PhD in Applied Mathematics. She has many years' experience of teaching mathematics at several Russian and British universities and joined Brunel in 2009. Her teaching interests include different areas of mathematics and her main research interests are in theoretical solid mechanics.
Statistics and SPSS
Dr Monica-Cristiana Hess
Dr Monica-Cristiana Hess (re)joined the ASK team in 2018, having previously worked at Brunel University London between 2015-2016. She has worked at different UK universities, supervising undergraduate dissertation projects and teaching on a variety of modules, including Research Methods and Statistics. Monica-Cristiana Hess is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and her teaching interests include quantitative research and working with statistical software such as SPSS and AMOS. She has qualifications in Psychology and Education.
Monica is the adviser for Quantitative Research Methods, Statistics, and SPSS and the ASK contact for College of Health and Life Sciences.
Dr Noel Parnis
Noel joined the ASK team in August 2018, having previously supported quantitative and experimental research at the University of Essex, and worked in the telecoms industry. An electrical engineer by profession, Noel has a Masters degree in Information Systems and Telecommunications, and a PhD in Optical Network design. He has worked on collaborative pre-competitive research projects, as well as having held various senior positions in industry in the area of technology strategy. His teaching interests include Mathematics, Statistics and Physics, as well as using technology to analyse experimental data. He is particularly interested in research on network design and mathematical modelling. In his spare time Noel enjoys watching and coaching football, as well as reading a good book.
Noel is the adviser for quantitative research, Statistics and SPSS.
Academic Skills Transition
Lauren Wigmore
Lauren Wigmore joined the ASK team in 2019 as the Academic Skills Transition Adviser. She will coordinate and oversee HeadStart week which introduces new first year students from Widening Access backgrounds to expectations of University, study skills and other University services before Term 1 commences. She will also manage the Peer-Assisted Learning scheme across the University.
