Dr Kerry Gough

Role

As Head of Academic Development and Research within the Centre for Academic Development and Quality (CADQ), Kerry leads NTU’s strategic approach to learning and teaching enhancement. Her work drives institution‑wide pedagogic innovation, grounded in research and focused on improving outcomes and belonging for all students, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds.

Kerry has delivered high‑impact initiatives that shape NTU’s educational strategy. She led Student 2025, a longitudinal study examining academic experience, social integration and belonging. As project visionary for the Team-Based Learning Pilot Project (Nicholls, 2025), she oversaw evaluation demonstrating increased academic behavioural confidence, improved module outcomes and strengthened belonging. These insights directly informed NTU’s Access and Participation Plan 2025-26 to 2028-29 and underpin the Active Collaborative Learning Project (ACL@NTU, 2025–), which aims to scale high‑quality active learning to improve belonging, continuation and attainment.

Kerry heads the Educational Development team, where she leads strategic staff capability development through the learning and teaching professional development workstreams, supporting Schools to deliver ambitious curricula aligned to Success for All. In support of this, she initiated CADQ’s Learning and Teaching Micro‑credentials (2024–), creating flexible, stackable 10‑credit opportunities that build expertise and foster communities of practice across core areas of activity. She also oversees the Planning, Operations and Projects team to ensure effective delivery against core departmental activity.

Kerry chairs the Learning and Teaching Managers’ Forum and serves as Deputy Chair of the Joint Academic Advisory Board.

Career overview

Kerry has a proven track record of effective educational leadership for innovation and change, as evidenced across a Higher Education career that spans two decades. Working in a variety of academic management and professional services roles across a range of Midlands institutions (including University of Nottingham, University of Derby and Birmingham City University), her commitment to ensuring quality support for students is evident. Acting as subject-discipline lead for Birmingham City University as a part of the Advance HE What Works? Student retention and success change programme, working in partnership with her student and staff team, Kerry led the development of the Times Higher Education Award shortlisted student transition programme, Level Up.

Since joining NTU in 2016, Kerry has worked as a Learning and Teaching Consultant within Organisational Development, before taking up a role as Learning & Teaching Manager in the School of Art & Design in 2017. Kerry led on the development of The Collaboratory, the School pedagogic innovation hub, which won the Creative Learning Guild Higher Education Institution Achievement Award in 2019. In support of the Dean’s vision for a collaborative curriculum, she worked alongside the School Executive Team to lead the School engagement strategy, which resulted in the implementation of enhanced collaboration and optional student learning opportunities across the School.

Since joining CADQ in 2021, Kerry has led the institutional Learning and Teaching Professional Development offer, and supported the launch of a number of high-profile projects, including Student 2025, the Team-Based Learning Pilot Project, the ACL@NTU Project and CADQ Learning and Teaching Micro-credentials. Kerry has also overseen the commercialisation of the University’s SCALE-UP staff development offer, with recent partnerships with London South Bank University and London Metropolitan University.

Kerry is currently taking a strategic lead for the staff development offer in response to National Student Survey outcomes and plays a key role in University governance where she chairs the Learning and Teaching Manager’s Forum and acts as Deputy Chair for the Joint Academic Advisory Board.

External activity

Kerry is a member of the Heads of Educational Development Group (HEDG) and a Committee Member of the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA) where she advocates for the value of third space professionals working within the liminal space between academia, practice and professional services. Kerry is active on the UK HE conference network and co-led the academic writing retreat programme that led to the publication of the GLAD Special Edition of the Journal of Innovative Practice in Higher Education (October 2021).