Teaching Experience
Rachel is Senior Lecturer in Historical and Critical Studies, and Critical Design Thinking Co-Ordinator, working across Design and History disciplines.
Design
Rachel co-ordinates the Critical Design Thinking Modules (formerly Historical and Critical Studies in Design) which focus on wicked problems, systems thinking, design futures, and critical design thinking (a combination of critical and analytical thinking and research alongside design thinking).
She works on large scale modules with 200+ students, providing module leadership as well as programme level leadership. These modules are taken by a variety of programmes: Interior Design, Fashion Design, Fashion Textiles, Product Design, Graphic Design, Fashion Marketing Management, Fashion Photography and Architecture.
History
Rachel has taught on a variety of history modules, including core history modules on primary sources, gender history modules, emotions and gender modules, and currently co-runs a Year 3 Open Module (open to any student) called Society, Culture and Consumption. This module aims to get students to understand how consumption, and related histories such as capitalism and cultural histories aid us to understand the complex wicked problem of consumption today so students can consider advocacy for change projects. This module has received excellent feedback from students, and led to my colleague receiving a VC Award for Sustainability Champion of the Year 2026.