David Firth

I am an Academic Skills Lecturer in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures (SALC), specialising in Cultural Studies and Academic Development. My teaching and scholarship focus on advancing postgraduate academic practice, skills training, critical theory, postcolonial studies, feedback literacy, and theoretically-informed scholarly writing across the arts and humanities.

Since 2016, I have led and delivered SALC’s Skills Training and Academic Development programme (SALC60000) for postgraduate taught students and, since 2018, co-led the design and delivery of the Artsmethods programme for postgraduate researchers in the Faculty of Humanities. Through this sustained leadership, I have supported the academic development of large interdisciplinary cohorts for almost a decade. SALC60000 is a full-year programme comprising three integrated units each semester: Study Skills and Academic Writing, Using Theory, and Peer Review. Through this work, I have developed extensive expertise in curriculum design, scalable delivery, and feedback literacies that support student success across disciplines. My approach and experience foregrounds interdisciplinary academic development well-tailored to connecting students across humanities subjects and research practices.

Within Artsmethods, I design and deliver specialist provision for humanities researchers, including extended workshops on chapter writing, literature reviews, time management, postdoctoral applications, mindfulness for academic writing and managing impostor phenomenon. Since 2018, I have led a semesterly extended workshop series on journal article writing that has supported more than 125 postgraduate researchers to achieve their first peer-reviewed publication, contributing directly to researcher development and research culture within the School and Faculty.

Since 2022, I have led SALC's School-level training in Research Ethics, supporting SALC’s research environment and departmental dissertation preparations.

Since 2024, I have led the Faculty-funded scholarship project Enhancing Feedback Provision. This major cross-School initiative evaluates student and staff experiences of feedback to drive evidence-informed pedagogical enhancement. The project foregrounds student and staff voice, develops practical enhancement resources, and supports collaborative approaches to improving feedback practice and feedback literacy across SALC.

Collectively, this work contributes to SALC and Faculty priorities around inclusive academic development, researcher support, and assessment and feedback enhancement, and aligns closely with the University’s Manchester 2035 vision, particularly its commitments to flexible learning, partnership with students, and sector-leading support for postgraduate success.