Outreach, Education and Diversity

Dr Peter Moult was appointed lecturer (Learning & Teaching) in Neuroscience at the University of Glasgow in 2018 and now leads year 3 of the Undergraduate Neuroscience degree.

Peter graduated with a BSc(Hons) in Pharmacology from the University of Aberdeen, before going on to complete an MRC funded PhD in Cellular Neuroscience at the MRC Centre for Synaptic Plasticity at the University of Bristol. Originally remaining in Bristol as a postdoctoral research assistant, Peter then moved on as a postdoctoral research assistant and research fellow to the University of Dundee & University of St. Andrew’s respectively. 

Peter was awarded his first learning & teaching focussed lectureship in Biomedical Sciences at Abertay University in 2013 before moving to his current role at the University of Glasgow as a Lecturer in Neuroscience in 2018.

Whilst originally training and working in cellular neuroscience across several universities he has developed a keen interest in the scholarship of teaching and learning, particularly pertaining to collaborative curriculum design with practical skills applications within the life sciences.
Peter is a keen advocate of widening participation, leading the Life Sciences college articulation program for the university of Glasgow which facilitates a direct entry route for college students into level two the life science programs.
Peter has taught and led a variety of Life Sciences courses over the years both in Glasgow & Dundee with a wide range of experience in course leadership, external examining and QA work. 

Why I would like the role and what I plan to achieve

I am passionate about supporting educators at all stages of their careers, with a particular focus on those new to teaching roles. I believe strongly in embedding colleagues within a supportive community where best practice can be shared and the scholarship of teaching and learning can be actively advanced.

I bring extensive experience in securing external funding, reviewing grants, and managing projects—having successfully supervised three PhD students to completion while holding teaching-focused lectureships. I also serve on the reviewing committee for Glasgow’s annual Learning and Teaching Conference. This background equips me to contribute to strengthening SEB’s community of practice by enhancing support for grant writing, peer review, and project management. Whilst we all deliver excellent teaching, I believe our strong community can be enhanced further by helping colleagues secure more of the limited external funding needed to develop innovative SoTL projects that can further inform and enrich our teaching practices.

I did my doctoral research on abscission with Daphne Osborne in Oxford and then went to Lancaster to work on crop ecophysiology with Bill Davis, but since 2000 I have been a plant science lecturer at Westminster in a department mostly focussed on human health and biomedicine. As a result, I have become a “Jack of Trades” in my teaching, lecturing on subjects including (but not limited to) abiogenesis, exobiology, climate change, and quantum biology, as well as things closer to home such as food security (and pretty much anything we teach that involves plants). I also lead modules on bioethics and scientific history and philosophy. I therefore feel that I can bring curiosity and enthusiasm (and at least a little knowledge), about a very wide range of aspects of biology and science, and the intersection of science and society. I have also written several popular science articles for The Conversation, a number of which have been republished by the iPaper. I think that these articles have shown that I understand how to make science interesting and accessible for lay audiences.

Science and technology have probably been the most important drivers of change in society since at least the start of the twentieth century. However, the public’s understanding of science and, at least as importantly, how to make reasoned judgements about scientific claims has lagged behind. The consequences of this are having wide impacts on key issues such as vaccine uptake, living healthily, or behaviours to mitigate climate change. It is therefore critical that we make scientific knowledge, the process by which it is created, and what it means, widely available and transparent. What I would hope to achieve is to help make SEB members (and colleagues outside the Society) more visible, communicating what they know, why they are confident that this is the best interpretation of the available information, and in some cases what reasonable ethical or policy choices this might lead to.