Social Sciences and Counselling

Meet the team

A warm welcome from the Social Sciences and Counselling Higher Education team at University Centre South Devon.

Hannah Davies BSc (Hons), PGCE, FHEA, Dip.Counselling (MNCS Accred)

Main areas of teaching

  • Forensic psychology
  • Offending
  • Victimology and Trauma
  • Integrated Counselling
  • Psychotherapy and Working with Trauma
  • Humanistic Therapies

Bio

Hannah has been teaching at UCSD for the past 5 years. She has helped to develop our range of psychology degrees and has taught across all 3 programmes. Hannah’s background is in Criminology, Sociology and Forensic Psychology. She achieved her BA in Criminology with Sociology in 2014 and her PGCE teaching qualification in 2018. Since working at the college, Hannah has trained to become an accredited Counsellor and now teaches on our range of counselling qualifications that run from level’s 2 to Foundation degree level. Hannah is now the lead for our Access to higher education and counselling qualifications at South Devon College.

Research and scholarly activity

Achieved Fellowship status with the Higher Education Academy.
Current practising counsellor who is a registered member of the National Counselling Society.
Specialises in working with young people and is currently in practice at a further education college.
Research interests are on offending behaviour, developmental trauma and working in an integrative way in counselling practice with young people.

Geoff Jaggs

Main areas of teaching

  • Psychology: Module Lead for Individual Differences and Quantitative Research
  • Marine Technology: Module Lead for Developing Research and Practice with Work Related Research
  • Civil Engineering: Professional Development

Bio

After completing a PhD in English Literature I took a range of teaching jobs in FE colleges before being appointed as Curriculum Area Manager of a cross-college Department of Learning Support. I was responsible for introducing and overseeing entry-level courses in all curriculum areas. I also managed the college’s provision of additional learning support at all levels. Following a year’s enforced absence due to a serious car accident I returned to the college as a lecturer in Initial Teacher Education, where I helped set up a PGCE programme with the University of Teesside and other partner colleges. In 2015 I moved to Devon, and took up a part-time post with UCSD teaching Research Skills and Statistics on the Psychology BA. I’ve since taught on a range of HE programmes, including Marine Technology, Civil Engineering, Criminology and Education. My teaching tends to focus on generic research skills rather than on any specific curriculum area.

Research and scholarly activity

My current research centres on the various ways in which research is integrated into different curriculum areas.

Hannah Kam-Radcliffe BA (Hons) FdSc DET

Main areas of teaching

  • Criminology and Psychology (HE and FE)

Bio

I returned to education after having my first son, some 20 years after leaving school with no FE qualifications. I enrolled on the Access to HE Social Science course, which I completed with distinction. By the end of the course, I had changed my degree choice to Criminology and Psychology FdSc, which I would not have considered had it not been for Access. I then went on to the BA (Hons) Education, Development and Society course, for which I received first class honours. I have returned to the classroom teaching the subjects I graduated from, my ambition is to provoke, inspire and educate the next generations of learners.

Research and scholarly activity

Diploma in Education and Training.
My dissertation research focused on first time offenders of low-level crimes, and if positive intervention, rather than custody, could affect reoffending rates. I hope to continue in this area of research with a Masters.

Anne Nevill BA (Hons) Dip.Counselling, (MNCS Accred)

Main areas of teaching

  • Counselling theory and skills
  • Cognitive behavioural therapy
  • Pain management and recovery

Bio

I initially trained as a musician and then spent twelve years in London working in live music – as an agent, a tour producer/promoter, and a festival organiser. And I loved that work, but as time went on what I loved most about it was less the music and more the people. It was as much about emotional support as it was about negotiating fees. And over the years I got more and more fascinated by the way that mental health could impact on the performance and even the physical health of my artists. So when I moved to Torbay, a few years ago, I decided to lean in to that fascination and re-train as a counsellor. It was a truly life-changing experience and now, alongside my private practice, I’m a passionate advocate for counselling training. The benefits of taking some time out to pause and think about who you are and why you’re doing what you’re doing, really cannot be overstated! And I love being part of that journey. My special interests are in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and also the treatment of chronic pain and stress illness (I’m a trained practitioner with the Stress Illness Recovery Practitioners Association).

Katrina Perkins (FdA, BA (Hons), PGCE (inc DET), MA, FHEA)

Main areas of teaching

  • Widening Participation
  • Social Justice
  • Education Inequality and Achievement
  • Social Policy
  • Globalization

I’m a dissertation supervisor and currently lead the following modules at UCSD:

  • Tackling Social Inequality
  • Global Education
  • Introduction to Sociology
  • Social Change
  • Professional Practice
  • Crime, Media and Society

Bio

I have worked at South Devon College since 2016 delivering and writing/ re-writing a variety of programmes from level 3 to level 6. I am currently Higher Education Lead for our BA (Hons) Education, Development and Society & FdSc Psychology with Sociology programmes. I am currently undertaking a PhD in Education focusing specifically on Global Citizenship in college based higher education.

Research and scholarly activity

Achieved Fellowship status with the Higher Education Academy.
Published Book Chapter: Perkins, K. (2022) ‘Global Citizenship and Global Education’, in Tarry, E. (ed.) Challenges in early years and primary education: Employing critical thinking skills during turbulent times. London: Routledge.
Child playing with lego

Sam Smith BSc (Hons), MEd, FHEA, MBPsS

Main areas of teaching

  • Social Psychology
  • Positive Psychology
  • Individual Differences
  • Research Methods
  • Undergraduate Dissertation

Bio

I have taught at UCSD for twelve years within a range of psychological and educational disciplines. I am the research coordinator for level 6 student projects within Society, Education & Development, and lecture on various research-based modules. I am currently undertaking a PhD at University of Exeter, researching the impact of cooperative learning on social harmony in post-compulsory education.

Research and scholarly activity

Smith, S. (2020) Teaching further education students the effects of naive realism, to support social development and mitigate classroom conflict. Educational & Child Psychology; Vol. 37 No. 3