Meet the Centre for Curriculum Enhancement and Approval Team

Professor Roisin Curran

Professor of Curriculum Design and Pedagogy - Head of Centre for Curriculum Enhancement & Approval

Roisín is Professor of Curriculum Design and Pedagogy and Head of the Centre for Curriculum Enhancement and Approval within the Learning Enhancement Directorate at Ulster University. Roisín started her teaching career in Further Education in 1997 having previously worked in the financial services industry in London for nine years.

Since 2004 she has worked as a staff and educational developer at Ulster University, was Interim Head of CHERP (2020-23), and in June 2023 took up her current position as Head of the Centre for Curriculum Enhancement and Approval. Roisín led a cross-disciplinary project team at Ulster as part of a national 'What works? Student Retention and Success Change Programme (2013-16)' involving 13 institutions across the UK.

This collaborative action research has further extended our knowledge of what works in relation to improving student retention and success. She has a particular interest in student engagement and has published papers on the impact of a 'students as partners' approach on staff-student engagement.

In 2018, Roisín co-developed Ulster’s Integrated Curriculum Design Framework (ICDF) that scaffolds the student journey and encompasses the three dimensions of curriculum design of Knowing, Doing and Being (Barnett and Coate, 2005). Roisin is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Rita Dillon

Support Assistant

Tracy Galvin

Lecturer in Higher Education Practice

Tracy started her teaching career as a secondary school teacher and moved into lecturing in Teacher Education for ten years before the shift to academic practice in Higher Education. Tracy’s key areas of expertise are initial teacher education, academic practice, and professional development in inclusive, equitable, and accessible curriculum design. Her research and professional practice within EDI in the Curriculum are underpinned by Universal Design for Learning principles (UDL). Tracy has led institutional projects and change across several universities to inform inclusive pedagogies to better support learner outcomes and experiences. She holds SFHEA and SFSEDA, where she also acts as a mentor and assessor and is currently completing a PhD at UU. She co-leads the professional development team with INCLUDE (International Collaboratory for Leadership in Universally Designed Education), an international community of practice network for UDL.

Dr Kieran Higgins

Lecturer in Higher Education Practice

Dr Kieran Higgins is a Lecturer in Higher Education Practice, based within the Centre for Curriculum Enhancement & Approval. Kieran assists course teams in (re)designing curricula that align with Ulster’s Principles and Qualities for Learning, Teaching and the Student Experience, and ensuring that curricula submitted for approval adhere to agreed processes, standards and legislation.

Institutionally, Kieran is responsible for advancing the agendas of Education for Sustainable Development and an enhanced first-year experience via induction and transition.

Kieran is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, mentoring and assessing fellowship applications under the ENHANCE scheme. He teaches across the professional learning programmes available at Ulster University, including First Steps to Teaching, the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice (PGCHEP) and the Master of Education in Higher Education Practice. He is module co-ordinator for PHE708: Designing a Contemporary Curriculum, the first module of the 2^nd year of the PGCHEP.

He was previously Lecturer (Education) in Sustainable Development at Queen's University Belfast and Programme Director of the MSc Leadership for Sustainable Development, and Lecturer in Special Needs Education at Belfast Metropolitan College.

Research Interests

Kieran in an applied psychologist working in the domain of sustainability, with particular focus on the fields of environment, food, health, and education. His early work focused on public attitudes and behaviours, particularly those of consumers, towards environmental resources.

With a growing specialisation in higher education studies and practice, Kieran is an internationally recognised scholar in the field of Education for Sustainable Development, and currently carries out SoTL-orientated research into the curriculum design methods and pedagogical approaches needed to build sustainability competencies in graduates.

Domenico Lo Nigro

Executive Assistant

Karen McCafferty

Academic Policy and Standards Officer

Helen McFall

Support Assistant

Dr Mark McGahon

Academic Policy & Standards Manager

Colette Murphy

Senior Lecturer

Lorraine Roos

Support Assistant

Lisa Taggart

Academic Policy & Standards Manager

Debbie Troy

Academic Policy and Standards Officer

Lisa Verner

Academic Policy & Standards Manager