Cecilia Medupin SFHEA, PGCE, MIEMA is a Reader in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, in the Teaching and Scholarship career pathway. Cecilia is the Discipline Lead ACD (Appeals, Complaints and Disciplinary) for the Department of Earth and Environmental Scienced and, coordinates the Student Ambassador Programme.

Cecilia teaches in the areas of environmental biology, freshwater ecology and pollution studies contributing to first and second year practicals, second and third year UG lectures and, postgraduate courses including MSc Pollution and Environmental Control. Cecilia has coordinated the 1st year Introduction to Ecology Unit, coordinates the 2nd year UG Ecology and Conservation course. She has been involved in field courses in the UK, Greece, Tenerife, Costa Rica and Myanmar. Cecilia brings her experience from working and livinhg in Nigeria and the UK in industry, environmental regulation into her lecture deliveries.

Benthic macroinvertebrates as pollution indicators in urban freshwaters

Using benthic macroinvertebrates to investigate the role of human activities on freshwater ecosystems.

Benthic macroinvertebrates are a diverse group of freshwater organisms widely studied with regard to their ecology. They are extensively used as river pollution indicators, although their abundance and distribution are also impacted by other anthropogenic stressors in urban environments which influence their ability to respond to pollution. Given the challenges to freshwater ecosystems, there are losses to river biodiversity. I am interested in looking at the diverse impact of flow, water chemistry impact on the abundance and distribution of benthic macroinvertebrates and the implications for their use as pollution indicators. The project will provide training in water quality assessment, field survey, the identification of benthic macroinvertebrates and various multivariate statistical techniques.  

Ecology and Environmental Sustainability

Cecilia is interested in citizen science and public engagement, exploring the basis of nature's ecology to understand human interactions.

Cecilia carries out impactful research which strongly links environmental sciences with sustainability in education through her initiatives of Communities of Practice (CoP) in higher education i.e. the Women In Environmental Sciences (WiES) and Connectivity and Inclusivity (C & I) in higher education. As convener for the WiES network, she built on its legacy when she designed, led and delivered the innovative project on C & I project supported by grant awards including National Environmental Research Council for Engaging Environments, Diversity and Inclusion (Wellcome) and from the University of Manchester EDI grants. 

She fostered co-creation of new knowledge with diverse academics, non-academics, students, and professional level students, attracted professionals from outside of the academia and members of the public through conferences and knowledge exchange sessions. The CoP contribute to improving teaching deliveries and teaching policies as related to EDI and showed the need to create dedicated spaces to share and learn from real-life stories and lived experiences of staff, students as a means to enhance the services of the higher education community. She has published tool kits for organising community of practice workshops and open access resources for teaching, learning and research.

Cecilia is passionate about citizen science as a way of engaging with school students, women and minority communities and has received a number of awards for her role in public engagement. She has carried out many public engagement activities within the UK and abroad. She is passionate about the involvement of research in knowledge-exchange and public engagement. She has contributed to Blastfest science project, Earthwatch, a member of the British Ecological Society and, was a member of their equality and diversity working group, the Irwell Catchment Partnership and, a committee member of the Northwest and North Wales region for CIWEM. She was co-lead with the National Community for Engaging Environments.

Cecilia completed a BSc degree in Biochemistry at Bayero University, Kano-Nigeria and then worked for a Nigerian soft drinks company as a Process Control Officer. Following her MSc programme at the UK, Cecilia worked as an Environmental Auditor for a UK rubber recycling company, Environment Officer with the UK Environment Agency and Environmental Compliance Adviser with Sellafield Limited (Formerly BNFL), Cumbria. Upon returning to Nigeria, she worked at the National Open University as a Lecturer/Course Coordinator. Cecilia was awarded a Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy and, an honorary award of the Fellowship of the Institute of teaching and Learning. She gained a PG Certificate in Education from the National Teachers’ Institute-Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, Nigeria.