Gemma Ford is a Teaching Fellow in the School of Clinical Sciences. She has recently returned from maternity leave, during which  Gemma came into work on several occasions as part of the University’s ‘keeping in touch’ scheme, an initiative enabling staff to keep in contact with their colleagues and jobs while on maternity leave.

“Women are generally considered as the primary carers, often facing conflicting pressures of balancing family needs with their professional lives,” said Gemma. “‘Keeping in touch’ is a great initiative. I was able to come in on  a number of days, so I was able to provide input to the postgraduate programmes at critical points.”

Gemma is also the course director of the popular distance-learning taught MSc programme in Reproduction and Development. She manages the day-to-day running of the programme, and is responsible for the delivery and quality of the syllabus and academic standards on the programme. She also contributes to teaching and marking, and provides educational support for the other taught Master’s programmes in the school.

“The summer period is a particularly important time for a course director, with student project dissertations being submitted for marking, final preparations for the September residential workshop and deadlines for selecting candidates for the programme. It was a relief to be able to keep the momentum going with the ‘keeping-in-touch’ initiative while I was officially on maternity leave. At the end of the day, it was much less daunting when I returned to work,” she said.

After completing a PhD in Neuroendocrinology at the University of Bristol, Gemma took up a four-year postdoctoral position in Galway, Ireland, researching the neurobiological mechanisms underpinning supraspinal modulation of pain and the neural substrates involved in both the affective and the cognitive modulation of pain.

 “During my postdoctoral studies, I was specifically interested in understanding the mechanisms underpinning the reciprocal relationship between stress, inflammation and pain. My research focused on the role of different receptor types (cannabinoid, orexins) in mediating and modulating behavioural, neurochemical and neuroendocrine responses relevant to both pain and inflammation”

She returned to Bristol on a temporary contract as a colleague’s maternity cover in August 2011, before achieving a permanent teaching position in the school in November 2012.

“I’m particularly interested in e-learning technologies and applications and how we can use these to develop effective online teaching tools. The Reproduction and Development MSc is a distance-learning programme which uses a ‘blended learning’ approach – essentially a combination of residential workshops comprising two to four weeks of face-to-face teaching, followed by a home study period using online tools to complete assessments. We already use Blackboard and Question Mark as e-learning platforms but I am keen to use new technologies to make our teaching approaches even more innovative,” said Gemma. This course has received very positive feedback for the way it allows students to gain further knowledge and skills whilst continuing in a job or caring role.

Returning to work on a full-time basis at the end of July 2013, was Gemma worried about how she was going to manage full-time work and home life?

“No not really,” she said. “I was able to arrange child care locally, and was supported by the school to return on flexible working hours, outside specific teaching commitments. This enables me to do early starts and finishes, and work from home on Fridays, giving me more opportunity to find a balance between family life and work. I really enjoy being a mum, but I want to maintain my professional life as well.”

The School of Clinical Sciences encourages and supports flexible working and has introduced core hours (10 am to 4 pm) to facilitate attendance at meetings for those with caring responsibilities.

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