Gary C Wood

I am a National Teaching Fellow and senior academic leader specialising in learning, teaching, and educational transformation. My work focuses on the design of high-quality, inclusive learning and assessment, and on developing educational systems that enable students to build capability, apply knowledge in meaningful contexts, and progress successfully into professional roles.

I am currently Academic Director of NMITE (New Model Institute for Technology & Engineering), Hereford, UK, where I provide strategic leadership for teaching, learning, curriculum, and academic portfolio development within a specialist, start‑up higher education institution. I co-led the successful application for New Degree Awarding Powers and led the transition to operation as an autonomous HE provider. My role combines leadership of distinctive curriculum design – including challenge-led, industry-linked programmes delivered through block delivery – with oversight of academic quality, Registry, and student services, ensuring coherence, standards, and a high-quality student experience. I also contribute to regional skills development through NMITE’s mission in employability, entrepreneurship, and skills.

Prior to joining NMITE, I held teaching and leadership roles at the University of Sheffield. As Head of the Sheffield Engineering Leadership Academy (SELA), I led the strategic development of a distinctive co-curricular programme focused on leadership, professional capability, and student agency. I was also professional skills lead in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, where I designed and embedded a programme-level approach to professional skills development, integrating capability development across degree programmes and strengthening students’ ability to apply their learning in authentic contexts. Through this work, I acted as a curriculum advocate, extending applied, practice-focused approaches into mainstream provision.

I began my career as a linguist, completing my PhD in language development at the University of Sheffield and teaching for seven years in the School of English. This work informed a sustained interest in how people learn and develop capability, and in how educational design can support that development. I have applied this perspective across disciplines and contexts, including through education and academic development roles, supporting colleagues to enhance their teaching practice and embed innovative approaches to learning and assessment.

My work has also had an international dimension. I have led and contributed to EU‑funded projects across Central Asia (UNIWORK) and Vietnam (V2WORK), supporting the development of employability provision and influencing policy at institutional and national level. I am an active contributor to the higher education sector through research, publication, and conference presentations, and have delivered over 60 invited workshops, talks, and keynotes in the UK and internationally.

I have been recognised through a University of Sheffield Senate Fellowship in 2012, Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2015, and a National Teaching Fellowship in 2019.

Academic Director/Professor of Learning & Development, NMITE

Committee Member and Logistics Lead for UK Linguistics Olympiad

Chair, Enactus UK University Adviser Steering Group

UK Lead, Enactus Worldwide Faculty Forum

National Teaching Fellowship (2019)