College of Arts, Humanities and Education staff

Paula Needham is an Associate Lecturer in Teacher Training. She has a career spanning 25 years in education, teaching initially in secondary schools, but the majority of her teaching has been in the primary sector. Her experience ranges across a variety of contrasting schools and covers various management responsibilities.

Suzanne Nelson teaches across the university's Journalism, Magazine Journalism, Specialist Sports Journalism and Football Journalism courses, specialising in online journalism, work-based learning and media law, regulation and ethics. Before joining the University of Derby, she worked in the regional news industry for 18 years.

Tom is Head of the Discipline of Humanities, responsible for managing programmes in History, English, Creative and Professional Writing, Publishing, American Studies, and Popular Music in Society.

Ryan Nutting is a Lecturer in History and leads the MA Programme in Public History and Heritage. Ryan is eager to help our students understand and engage with the current issues and controversies facing the heritage sector.

Crispin Owen is a Technical Manager with responsibility for the strategic development, operation and management of high-quality and complex technical resources and support services across the College of Arts, Humanities and Education, College of Science and Engineering, and the Institute of Innovation in Sustainable Engineering.

Christine Parker is an Associate Professor of Art Practice. This means her writing and directing for the screen has achieved international reach and recognition.

As Programme Leader and Senior Lecturer on the BA (Hons) Technical Theatre and Performance Design, Dr Penna is bringing over twenty years of professional performance design expertise and her research to teaching within Derby Theatre, contributing actively to its mission to engage, empower, inspire and enable audience through transformational learning and theatre.