Dr David BoothFHEA FSS

Senior Lecturer

DArcy Thompson Unit, School of Life Sciences

Associate Dean for Quality Assurance and Enhancement

School of Life Sciences

Portrait photo of David Booth
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Contact

Email

[email protected]

Phone

+44 (0)1382 384278

Biography

Current Associate Dean for Quality Assurance & Enhancement at the School of Life Science at Dundee. Studying at R.B.A.I. and subsequently the Queen’s University of Belfast, his subject matter expertise is evolutionary biology with a strong focus on genetics and the statistical analysis of data. He has worked as a geneticist, researching sustainable fisheries at the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for Northern Ireland; is a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society; has analysed and published on ancient DNA and invasive species; and has communicated science to the public through BBC NI, BBC Radio Ulster and BBC 1 science programming.

At Dundee he has demonstrated an ongoing commitment to collegiality and have been active in several cross-school projects. Notably the Enhancement-led Institutional Review (2013); several periodic programme reviews (2014-2018); with the Quality assurance team on a degree board convenorship review (2017); Senatus Academicus; the QAA data champions group (2019-2020); and as data lead for Transforming the Experience of Students through Assessment (TESTA), which has become an integral element of programme review across the university.

Research

Collaborative work with colleagues and both post-graduate and undergraduate students.

Topics ranging through statistics education, cell biology, biometrics, nature connection and socio/psychometrics.

Selected Publications

Exemplar analytics from published work:

Two pentagons measuring moods. Left pentagon each point (from top clockwise) joyful, proud, lively, happy, cheerful. These are measured on a scale 1 - 5. Each mood measures statistically significant with four stars for all moods apart from proud that measured 3 stars. The right pentagon. Labels for each point from top clockwise are: miserable, sad, scared, afraid, mad. Only Miserable (4 stars) and Sad (3 stars) measured any significance in results.
A graph with NCl on bottom bar (x axis) with increments of 25 from 0 to 100. Count on vertical bar (y axis) with increments of 250 from 0 to 750. Blue and pink bars are across with graph. Blue bars (representing disconnected) range from 0 to 25 NCl up to around 50 counts. Pink bars (representing connected) cover around 0 to 100 NCl with most peaks lower than 250 count apart from 100 NCl which exceeds 750 count
View full research profile and publications

Teaching

As an educator, I have strived to engage with students at every stage of learning post-primary, and have tailored my teaching style towards a “What I cannot create, I do not understand” ethos. I have actively engaged with the more recognisably challenging aspects of any biology course, namely genetics and statistics; and in the accreditation of degree courses at Dundee my efforts were recognised as several of the points of good practice noted by the Royal Society of Biology. I feel strongly that developing such skills in a safe, simulated settings with subsequent practice and application, ultimately leads to a cold understanding and intuition in the early years; paying dividends many times over when students engage with their capstone research work at honours level.

Teaching Modules

  • 1st Year BI10002 Evolution and Biodiversity and BI12004 Environmental Biology
  • 2nd Year BI21008 Diversity of Life, BI22055 Animal Function and EV22002 Mechanisms and Measurements
  • 3rd Year BI32028 Ecology and Conservation Biology

Awards

Award Year
Teaching Award for Good Practice / (Highly Commended) 2016
Teaching Award for Good Practice 2016

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