Lecturer / Senior Lecturer in Animation and Design

• Teach traditional animation and where appropriate digital animation and design

skills into the BA Animation and Games Art degree, as well as other BA and MA

Design courses.

• Contribute to the continuous enhancement of course curricula to keep them

current, relevant, agile, and distinctive.

• Collaborate with industry and across the University, to widen and enrich the

animation experience for our students and the wider creative community.

• Stay abreast of current and emerging trends within the animation and broader

creative industries, and plan for our students to stay up to date, and where

possible to lead developments in your specialist field.

• Take on the responsibilities of academic leadership as required whether for

modules or programme.

• Provide students with an authentic lens and links into the creative industries

and prepare them effectively for their future employment.

• Build excellence into all aspects of the student experience within your areas of

responsibility and expertise. Take a creative, innovative and flexible approach

to facilitating learning, with a commitment to ensuring an excellent student

experience.

• Engage in research or creative practice that will strengthen future Research

Excellence Framework submissions, which can feed back into your teaching.

• Assist in recruitment activities such as open days and schools/college visits
• Work to enhance the performance of all programmes that you lead or teach

into, in relation to NSS, Recruitment, Retention, Graduate Outcomes and other

key performance indicators.

Key Responsibilities

and Accountabilities:

Faculty Specific:

• Lead and design modules or programme as directed, whether on campus

or in TNE.

• Contribute to the teaching, assessment and feedback of design disciplines

and postgraduate teaching provision as required.

• Support off-campus, transnational and online delivery where appropriate.
• All aspects of teaching, learning, assessment and feedback for your

students.

• Develop collaborations and relationships internally and externally to support

the success and employability of our graduates

• Provide administrative and programme support as agreed with your Team

Leader.

• Provide Personal Tutoring for your students
• Participate in the full student recruitment cycle at promotion and interview

stages, actively partaking in recruitment events and activities as and when

required throughout the academic year.

• Collaborate on curriculum and programme design
• Initiate innovative recruitment activities
• Create innovative extra-curricular student experiences
• Mentor less experienced colleagues
• You may be asked to perform other duties which are not specifically

outlined above, but which will be consistent with the role

Special
Circumstances:

Part 1 B:
Generic to all Senior Lecturer roles (Building on the demands of Lecturer):

Individuals carry out a range of duties and have responsibility taken from the
following. Whilst it is not anticipated that all of the activities listed below will
be covered by one individual, it is expected that over time all individuals will
make a balanced contribution to the three areas of academic activity
(research, teaching and learning and reach-out).

Academic Practice

• Design, plan, review and innovate in activities and materials that support

student learning and deliver either across a range of modules or within a


subject area.

• Use appropriate teaching, learning support and assessment methods.
• Supervise student projects and, where appropriate, field trips and placements.
• Identify areas where current provision is in need of revision or improvement.
• Contribute to the planning, design and development of objectives and material.
• Set, mark and assess work and examinations and provide feedback to

students.

• Develop and implement personal research and reach-out plans.
• Conduct individual and/or collaborative research projects,
• Identify sources of funding and contribute to the process of securing funds and

subsequently plan and deliver projects that are funded, as Co-Investigator or
possibly as Principal Investigator.

• Extend, transform and apply knowledge acquired from scholarship and

research to teaching and to reach-out activities.

• Write or contribute to publications or disseminate research and reach-out

findings using other appropriate media such as presentations at conferences


or exhibition of work in other appropriate events.

• Maintain knowledge and understanding at the forefront of the academic

discipline and, if appropriate, also at the forefront of the relevant area of
professional practice.

• Provide expert advice through subject area knowledge, understanding and

know-how to students, researchers and other academic colleagues.

Communication

• Routinely communicate complex and conceptual ideas to those with limited

knowledge and understanding as well as to peers using high level skills and a


range of media.

• Encourage in others commitment to learn.
  

Liaison and Networking

• Participate in and develop external networks, for example to identify sources of

funding, contribute to student recruitment, secure student placements, market


the institution, facilitate reach-out, generate income, obtain consultancy


projects, or build relationships for future activities.

• Engage in some external discipline-related responsibilities such as subject

network activity, peer review, refereeing.

Managing People

• Engage in some supervisory or managerial responsibility for researchers,

other grant-funded staff or research students and provide support for other
staff in their own personal development activities including acting as mentor for
colleagues with less experience and advising on personal development.

• Contribute to effective management of the Academic Area by performing

duties outside of immediate academic practice, as agreed with the staff team


leader or Associate Dean.

Teamwork

• Act as a responsible team member in Academic Area, School and University

groups and develop productive working relationships with other members of


staff.

• Collaborate with colleagues to identify and respond to students’ needs.
  

Pastoral Care

• Could be expected to act as a module or personal tutor.
• Be responsible for the pastoral care of students within a specified area.
  

Initiative, Problem Solving and Decision Making

• Identify the need for developing the content or structure of modules with

colleagues and make proposals on how this should be achieved.

• Develop ideas for generating income.
• Develop ideas and find ways of disseminating and applying the result of

research and reach-out.

• Advise others on strategic issues such as student recruitment and marketing.
• Contribute to the accreditation of courses and quality assurance and

enhancement processes.

• Contribute pro-actively to decision making within the academic staff team and

possibly within the Academic Area.

• Comply with the University’s expectation of an individual member of academic

staff in relation to their own self-monitoring, continuing professional


development.

Planning and Managing Resources

• As module leader or tutor, co-ordinate with others (such as support staff or

academic colleagues) to ensure student needs and expectations are met.

• Manage personal tasks including planning and delivery of teaching, research

student programmes, research projects and other projects.

Sensory, Physical and Emotional Demands

• Balance the pressures of teaching, research, reach-out, academic

management/administrative demands and competing deadlines.

Work Environment

• Depending on area of work and level of training received, may be expected to

conduct risk assessment and take responsibility for the health and safety of


others.

• Adhere to academic governance, equality and diversity, relevant health and

safety and risk management requirements.

University of Sunderland

Role Profile

Part 2

Part 2A: Essential and Desirable Criteria

These criteria are
assessed at the short
listing stage.

The essential criteria
must be met in order
to be eligible for
interview.

Essential

Qualifications And Professional Memberships

• Good first degree or equivalent professional experience in a relevant design related

subject

Experience

• Significant experience of teaching, assessment, and feedback in higher education,

as well as experience of module/subject development, curriculum planning, tracking


student progression and pastoral support.

• Professional experience and engagement as an animator within the creative

industries.

• A demonstrable range of skills and knowledge of both traditional and digital

animation techniques with a key emphasis on traditional animation skills such as


stop-motion / claymation and drawn animation through ToonBoom.

• Strong skills and knowledge of Adobe suite and ToonBoom Harmony.
• Ability to work effectively on own initiative as well as part of a close-knit team.
• Experience of developing relationships and collaborations with industry and the

wider community to provide students with an authentic lens and pathways into the


creative industries.
Key Knowledge and Expertise:

• Extensive knowledge of both traditional and digital animation workflow/s.
• Strong anatomical knowledge and draftsmanship / life-drawing skills to bring into

the teaching of characters and movement.

• Strong understanding of the animation principles and their application to various

forms of media.

• A good understanding of how higher education should prepare design students for

working in the commercial and creative industries.

Desirable

Qualifications And Professional Memberships

• Higher Education teaching qualification (e.g. PG Cert)
• Advance HE Fellow or Senior Fellow status or willingness to achieve this

Experience

• Experience of module/ subject/ programme development and leadership,

including teaching and assessment at UG and/or PG level is desirable.

• Strong skills and knowledge with DragonFrame.

Key Knowledge and Expertise:Special


Circumstances:Achievement of HEA Fellowship

Senior Lecturers without Higher Education Academic Fellowship status will be


expected to achieve Fellowship within two years of commencing their role.

Part 2B: Key Competencies

Competencies are


assessed at the


interview/selection


testing stage

Key Knowledge and Expertise (generic):

• Possess sufficient breadth or depth of specialist knowledge in the discipline

to develop teaching, reach-out and research programmes.

• Able to make informed judgments on complex issues in specialist fields,

often in the absence of complete data.

• Possess the qualities and transferable skills necessary for the exercise of

personal responsibility and largely autonomous initiative in complex and


unpredictable situations, in professional or equivalent environments.

• Skills in managing and motivating staff (as appropriate) and in project

management.

Analysis and Research:

• Gathers data rigorously and conducts robust analysis, questioning

assumptions and existing knowledge.

• Develops hypotheses and concepts to explain data, events and

phenomena.

• Reports findings to wider community and is able to withstand challenge by

relying on evidence gathered and processes used for analysis.

• Ability to expand and explore specialisms that could contribute to

programme growth and

Communication:Oral

• Summarises and interprets complex, conceptual and special matters to aid

others' understanding and aimed at their needs.

• Uses appropriate styles and arguments to influence and negotiate

satisfactory outcomes.

• Monitors understanding of others, develops approach and takes corrective

action if required.
Written

• Conveys information of a complex, conceptual and specialist nature using a

range of styles and media selected to meet the needs of others.

• Presents complex information in formats appropriate to non-specialists

without comprising meaning.

• Monitors the reactions of others and takes appropriate steps to remedy any

miscommunications.

Decision Making:Independent decisions

• Considers wider impact of decisions, assesses possible outcomes and their

likelihood.

• Uses judgment to make decisions with limited or ambiguous data and takes

account of multiple factors.

• Distinguishes between the need to make a decision, when to defer and

when not to take a decision.
Collaborative decisions

• Helps others to explore options that initially appear to be inappropriate or

unfeasible and recognise when a decision is or is not needed.

• Enables others to contribute to decisions.
• Ensures that options are weighed, outcomes identified and chances of

success considered.

• Challenges decisions, appropriately to ensure consideration and processes

are robust.
Provision of advice

• Anticipates and highlights issues that need to be taken into account.
• Outlines possible impacting factors, assessing their degree of influence on

the choice of options.

• Ensures previous learning is included.

Liaison and Networking
Liaison

• Ensures that accurate information is passed on to the most appropriate

people in a timely fashion to improve working practices.

• Co-ordinates own effort with that of others so the work is completed

effectively in line with team objectives.

• Promotes a positive image of the Institution.

Participation in networks

• Works across team boundaries to build and strengthen working

relationships.

• Shares information and ideas to help others develop their practice.
• Is involved in networks to pursue a shared interest as a requirement of the

role.
Building internal networks

• Leads and builds role related external networks to enhance the work of the

Institution.

• Actively seeks to build productive relationships between external bodies to

benefit the Institution.

Pastoral Care and Welfare:

• Calms and reassures those in distress.
• Deals with difficult situations or confidential matters, according to policy and

procedures.

• Involves others or refers elsewhere for assistance if the situation becomes

more complex and if additional help or information is required.
Planning and Organising Resources

• Actively seeks information to support planning and prioritization of work.
• Ensures that time and resources are used effectively to their maximum

efficiency.

• Checks and reports on progress and achievement against plans to key

parties.

• Develops plans to take account of problems, delays and new priorities.

• Co-ordinates the work of others to improve performance and use of

resources.

• Involves other areas appropriately and co-ordinates effort and resources so

performance standards and shared objectives are achieved.

• Reviews performance and uses experience to make improvements to

planning and organisation.
Service Delivery:

• Adapts services and systems to meet customers’ needs and identifies ways

of improving standards.

• Learns from complaints and takes action to resolve them.
• Collates feedback and views from customers and keeps up-to-date with

market trends to inform service development and make changes.

• Actively promotes services.

Teaching and Learning Support:

• Contributes to the long term planning and development of learning

programmes.

• Continuously reviews areas identified for improvement and develops

content and delivery methods, learning support and assessment


mechanisms.

• Mentors other staff outside the immediate work team.
• Reflects on own and others practice and develops insights into the learning

process.

Date Completed:30th March 2023