Dr Melanie Petch

Organisation

University of Leicester

Job title

Postgraduate Researcher Development Manager

Melanie leads the Postgraduate Researcher Development Programme at the University of Leicester. Her main teaching areas involve such topics as doctoral writing, critical thinking and project management. In 2015, a writing programme she co-developed was nominated for a Times Higher Education Award for Outstanding Support for Early Career Researchers. She is currently in the process of developing a suite of online materials and a programme of webinars for distance learners. Particular interests include developing communities of practice for researchers, creating inclusive learning environments, and facilitating peer learning.

Melanie completed her PhD in Anglo-American Literature in 2008. Since then, she has worked in Higher Education teaching in areas of English literature, writing development, and more recently, researcher development. She completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education in 2014 and has a Certificate in English Language Teaching for Adults. She became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2014, and is now a Practice Assessor for HEA Fellowship applicants. She also co-facilitates the Midlands Researcher Development Forum. She has published in the areas of philosophy and writing groups, reflective writing, and communicating with researchers. Her work also shows a keenness for the intersection between creativity and space, which has been developed into a chapter for the Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-Century British and Irish Poetry.