Meet Your Colleagues- Alan Astbury

Here at SERC we are keen to promote internal colleagues to allow staff the opportunity to get to know each other and put a face to the name, particularly due to the size and scope of SERC.  With this in mind, “Meet your Colleagues” is a fun Q and A exercise to help raise awareness of people’s roles within SERC and allows you to get to know more about your fellow colleagues.  

This week’s, “Meet Your Colleague” is Alan Astbury. Alan is an Essential Skills Lecturer and within the School of Health, Early Years and Adult Education here at SERC.

1. What does your role at SERC involve?

As a Part-time Lecturer, I plan and deliver sessions for Essential Skills Numeracy for various programs. This includes classroom learning and also in class assessments to check knowledge.

2. Tell us a bit about your background?

I gained a First Class BSc Degree in Mathematics from the University of Bolton based in England in 2011 and have gone on from there to train as a teacher and have worked at a small independent school based in Bolton before moving over to Belfast to live with my fianceé who lived here originally.  

So far it has been amazing and I look forward to building my life here for the future.

3. What 3 words best describe you?

Logical, Nerdy, Helpful

4. What do you like to do outside of work?

I  enjoy playing Badminton for both exercise and challenge as well as playing video games now and again to relax and have fun. I also enjoy driving in the countryside as it allows me to practice my driving skills after doing an advanced driving course in England. In my spare time I am also trying to learn German.

5. If you could swap jobs for a day who would it be and why?

This is a tricky one as I can’t see myself as anything other than a teacher, probably one of my lecturers at university to teach one of my favourite modules.

6. List 3 items you would want with you if you were stranded on a deserted island?

• Phone (for games and whatnot, if there’s any signal)
• Sudoku Book
• Rubik’s cubes

7. What is your favourite film and why?

I have a few, hard to pick a clear favourite, but one would be Terminator 2: Judgement day with Arnold Schwarzenegger for the action and quips.

8. Where do you most want to travel, but have never been?

I would probably say Austria, I have visited Frankfurt in Germany and it was really interesting. I’ve seen some pictures of Austria and it looks beautiful. They also speak German so I can practice speaking it.

If you would like to partake in “Meet Your Colleagues” please contact Roisin Morgan (Marketing and Engagement Intern) at rmorgan@serc.ac.uk for more details.