2.1 Key Contacts
Head of School of Health Sciences: Professor Kay Marshall
Head of School Administration: Mr Cameron Scouler
BSc Psychology Programme Director: Dr Alison Fisher
| Title | Name | E-mail Address |
| Programme Director | Dr Alison Fisher | alison.fisher@manchester.ac.uk |
| 1st year Tutor | Dr Doron Cohen | doron.cohen@manchester.ac.uk |
| 2nd year Tutor | Dr Laura Brown | laura.brown@manchester.ac.uk |
| Final Year Tutor and Project Coordinator | Dr Lee Wickham | lee.h.wickham@manchester.ac.uk |
| Examinations Officer | Dr Johan Hulleman | johan.hulleman@manchester.ac.uk |
| Student Experience Lead | Dr Anna Woollams | anna.woollams@manchester.ac.uk |
| Senior Academic Advisor | Dr Christine Rogers | christine.rogers@manchester.ac.uk |
| Student Support Officer | Ryan Hurst | ryan.hurst-2@manchester.ac.uk |
|
Undergraduate Programme Manager |
Saira Jackson | saira.jackson@manchester.ac.uk |
| Undergraduate Assessment and Quality Assurance Administrator | Philip Spencer | philip.spencer@manchester.ac.uk |
| Examinations Administrator | Kamar Hussain | kamar.hussain@manchester.ac.uk |
| Programmes Administrator | Sarah Myles | sarah.myles@manchester.ac.uk |
| Placement Administrator | TBC | psychologyplacements@manchester.ac.uk |
| SEPS Administrators | Team | psycredits@manchester.ac.uk |
Programme Director
Alison Fisher’s role as Programme Director is to ensure the smooth running of the BSc Psychology degree programme, and to oversee the welfare, conduct and progress of the students on it. If you would like to discuss any aspect of the course, you can e-mail Alison at any time.
Administrative Staff
The administrative staff can be found in room G15, in the Zochonis Building. You can approach the undergraduate administrative staff with any enquiry relating to your studies.
Student Support Officer
The Student Support Officer provides advice and guidance to students and staff in the school. The Student Support Officer offers assistance which complements and underpins the support provided by academic departments and can work with you to identify support options available to you within the School and the wider University (see Student Support section below for details).
A crucial aspect of the University experience is that you, as an undergraduate student, are required to take responsibility for your own learning. Success on any university degree course requires a great deal of commitment and sustained effort on your part. You will become familiar with the term ‘independent learner’, which reflects the expectation that you will be the driving force behind your own learning. As an independent learner, you are expected to (i) be motivated to learn, (ii) manage your own learning, and (iii) reflect on your learning. As staff, our role is to act as sources of expert knowledge and academic support, which you can make use of to achieve your educational goals.
2.2 Receiving Communications
At various times we will need to contact you with important information about your studies (for example; to tell you about opportunities or events which may be of interest, to announce last-minute timetable changes, to inform you of coursework submission instructions). You are provided with a University e-mail address and, in the majority of circumstances, this is how we will pass important information to you.
You must ensure that you regularly check your University e-mail and carefully read any messages or announcements sent from staff; failure to read e-mails will not be accepted as a reason for late work or non-attendance, where those messages were sent to students with reasonable notice.
To set up access to University emails on your mobile devices, see: http://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/email/student/. Under certain circumstances staff may contact you via your home address. For this reason it is important that you keep us informed if either your term-time or vacation-time addresses change.
2.3 Communicating with staff
The flowchart below outlines the channels through which you should direct questions, concerns or feedback regarding the BSc Psychology. Issues can be addressed more efficiently if you initially seek help from the first point of contact outlined below. However, if you feel that the issue has not been resolved, please forward the matter to the next appointed contact. Please note, additional sources of support for students are outlined in Section 8.
Most staff will indicate how they prefer students to contact them during their first lecture (e.g. Online Discussion Board or e-mail). Where possible, staff will respond to queries within 3 working days. If you haven’t received a reply after this time please re-direct your query to the next point of contact indicated in the flow-chart below. Please note; there may occasionally be times when staff are not available, however, such absences will be indicated using auto-reply e-mails.
2.3.1 Requesting References
Your Academic Advisor is the most appropriate person to ask to provide you with an academic reference. If you need more than one reference, you should contact another member of staff who you feel you have had good opportunity to interact with. Please request permission from the member of staff before providing their details as a referee. This is important to ensure they feel able to provide a reference, to give them the opportunity to ask you for information about the position you are applying for, and to check their availability if the reference is required within a fixed time period.
2.3.2 Email Standards and Etiquette
When e-mailing staff you should always use your University of Manchester e-mail account. Many staff teach on multiple course units, and even across different degrees, so it is important to check that you have included all relevant information, such as your Year of study or the course unit your email relates to (e.g. do not assume they will know which ‘essay’ you are talking about).
Please bear in mind that your e-mails to staff may need a different style and tone to those you would address to a friend. While some members of staff are comfortable communicating in an informal style, you should not assume that this will be the case for all staff. The following tips are intended to ensure your e-mails are positively received:
- Use a formal tone when you initially contact a member of staff, if they respond informally you can assume that your future e-mails to them can match this tone.
- Pay attention to the spelling of the recipient’s name and their title (e.g. Prof, Dr, Mr, Miss / Ms; Mrs). These details are easy to check via the University website.
- Don’t address someone by their first name unless you are on quite familiar terms with them. If they sign off with just their first name in their reply, they are probably inviting you to call them by their first name, but if in any doubt, use the more formal form of address.
- Open with a polite address, i.e. ‘Dear Dr Smith’, ‘Dear John’, etc. and avoid overly familiar or bizarre-sounding openers, e.g. ‘Hey John’, ‘Hiya’, etc.
- Similarly, don’t sign off in an overly familiar way, e.g. ‘Laters!, Jonno’, ‘Jonno xx’, etc.
- Be polite and respectful in your communications.
- Don’t send e-mails that sound curt, abusive, or demanding, or make unnecessarily personal remarks.
- Be patient and allow around three working days for a response (any urgent matters may well require a phone call to the Psychology Office); vacation periods may require more time, although staff continue to work full time during the vacations with their research and administrative commitments.