Ms Eileen Greenshields

I am a committed and passionate supporter of the Open University.  Having, in the past been both a student for 10 years and an associate lecturer on T840, also for 10 years.  I feel that I have sound experience of both the delivery to and from, within the Open University.

I left Napier College, Edinburgh in 1982, with a HND in Chemistry, sometime there after finding the wonderful institution that is, The Open University and went on to complete, through time a degree, a MSc and a MBA, while still working.

After Napier college, I worked for over 25 years, at various levels of seniority, in the electronics industry, predominantly in the area of process /new materials /product development.  The work was largely based around the chemistry and properties of polymers/conductors and their modifications for commercially niche products and MOD applications.

For the past 18 years I’ve been a lecturer in STEM related subjects (chemistry, maths, chemical/general engineering) across the ‘super colleges’ in the central belt of Scotland, teaching up to HNC/D level (RQF L6).  I have also been, a group /course tutor for a range of student/apprentice levels from SCQF L4 to 9 (RQF L1 to L6) in engineering and science.  For a period, I also worked, part-time in materials research and consultancy at the Advanced Materials Centre at Edinburgh Napier University.

Other previous shorter tours of duty, in the school/college sector include project posts as:-   

• The STEM Engagement Officer at the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI)
• A project post as the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult-STEM Engagement Officer at Levenmouth Academy paired with Scotland’s energy park, housing a 7MW off shore demonstration turbine
• A part-time secondment on an Erasmus Plus funded project, researching the development of mentoring skills in supervisors, within apprentice frameworks for  vehicle engineering in Scotland, Germany and Sweden.
•  A short but ‘eye opening’ spell as an equality, diversity and inclusion support assistant, supporting access and participation for students within a college network.

In recent years, in addition to lecturing, I have been involved in a number of the collaborative networks within the Scottish colleges sector, such as the Energy Skills Partnership (ESP) and the College Development Network (CDN).  In these collaborative networks, I have been involved in developing the core framework and units for professional development awards (PDA) in Advanced Manufacture and Industrial Automation.

I have also, with the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), worked as an appointee, and been co-opted onto working parties involved in the re-development of pre-existing Scottish qualification frameworks in science and engineering.  The most recent of these and currently ‘under development’ being the new series ‘ HN Next Generation’.  This new structure aims to embed ‘meta skills’ into the qualification, so supporting the learning and building of new skills faster. 

Since 2019 I have been an External Verifier for the SQA in the verification groups for Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and Food Manufacture.

I am a chartered Chemist and Scientist (MRSC, C.Chem, C.Sci) and an Incorporated Engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Mining Materials and Minerals ( IEng, FIMMM)