Dr Luciana De Martin Silva is a Principal Lecturer and the Teaching Development Scheme (TDS) Lead at Hartpury University. She has extensive experience teaching from level 4 to 7 as well as of leading three different academic programmes including undergraduate and postgraduate level. Principal duties within her role as the Teaching Development Scheme Lead include co-planning, implementing, developing and evaluating the TDS and co-leading support sessions to a team of 22 mentors/coaches who work with all University teaching staff as part of the scheme. Luciana also leads a research project that aims to explore University teaching staff's experiences of engaging in the TDS at an Institutional level. Findings have been key in contributing to further integration between the TDS and other staff development initiatives. Research findings have been shared at different prestigious conferences such as the Advance HE Conference (2018), QAA Insights Conference (2020), Landex Conference (2022) and BERA conference (2023). The scheme has been used as a case study by different Institutions to inform their strategic review and/or Code of Practice and contributed to both Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) submissions which were awarded Gold (2017 and 2023).

Luciana became a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (Advance HE) in 2014 and has experience as an External Examiner/Validation panel member at five UK Institutions. Within this role, she engaged in continuous dialogue with other Institutions with the aim to identify positive practice as well as enhance teaching and learning provisions (eg., "Luciana’s feedback has been incorporated into the Sport & Exercise team’s assessment and feedback strategy which, since implemented in 2020, has seen our assessment and feedback NSS scores exceed University and Faculty medians and score consistently in the high 80%’s across all programmes" - 2019-2023).  

Luciana is a critical friend of the National Teaching Repository and a freelance endorsement moderator completing work for CIMSPA. She also has experience of working as a female coach mentor for Gloucestershire FA and Coach Developer for UK Coaching and the Football Association.

Luciana's most recent research projects include the exploration of a coaching approach to enhance the quality of teaching and learning at an institutional level as well as the use of collaborative and authentic learning environments to engage students, staff and industry. She has developed research with colleagues from different countries including Portugal, Brazil and the UK which resulted in a number of peer reviewed articles, book chapters and presentations at international conferences. She is a Reviewer for different peer reviewed journals. She has also worked with a number of undergraduate and postgraduate students in a research project supervision capacity. This includes the supervision of a PhD to completion as well as currently supervising a PhD student at the University of Porto, Portugal.

Areas of interest:

- Coaching/Mentoring in Education and in PE/Sports Coaching;

- Teaching and Learning approaches in PE, Sports Coaching and HE;

- Student learning experiences and Identity development.

-Social aspects in coaching/education.

*I also work with students and consider their own interests when supporting them in their academic journey*

Luciana has extensive experience teaching from level 4 to 7. The main focus of her teaching currently is on Pedagogy and the research process.

Level 5 - Pedagogy in Action

Level 5 - Coaching and Teaching portfolio

Level 7 - The Scientific Coach (Research process)

Level 7 - Pedagogy in Practice

Level 6 (3rd year), 7 (MSc) and 8 (PhD) research supervision.

Luciana has developed an increasing interest in supporting social inclusion projects. For example, she is currently leading an initiative to support teachers and coaches who are involved in social inclusion projects in Brazil, catering for over 1,000 participants. Luciana also has experience engaging in community initiatives to enhance youth participation in sport and generate student placement opportunities. For example, she created opportunities for Hartpury students to engage in the delivery of Futsal sessions to hundreds of local girls during the winter months from 2014 to 2019 via the successfull partnership she created with the Gloucestershire County Girls Football League and a grant received from the Football Association.

Luciana has experience as a qualified PE teacher in Brazil and has experience as a Futsal Head Coach in a variety of settings including community as well as national and international level. The highlights were winning a Gold medal in the World University Games in Beijing in 2001 with Brazil, FA Cup champion twice (2010 and 2015), co-leading the England Deaf Women’s Futsal team to 4th place in the Futsal European Championships in 2018 and recently winning the FA Women's Super Series Northern Futsal division in 2021.

Luciana founded the Hartpury University Women's Futsal team in 2012, starting with two players. Since then, she played a significant role in supporting the planning and creation of our Women's Football and Futsal Academy. Luciana led the team for 10 years and created partnerships with other clubs (eg., Bristol City) which led to the team winning the FA Cup in 2015, the link with Worcester Futsal Club in the Women's National League club in 2021 and promotion to the top level of the BUCS competition (Premier Tier) in 2022.