PRIZES AND AWARDS

2019 - Best Postgraduate Teacher Award.  Awarded at the Oxford Students Union Annual Teaching Award. The Students’ Union Annual Teaching Awards recognise the teachers, tutors and staff who make a positive difference to students’ experience and lives while at Oxford. Students make nominations and vote for the winners. (Mrs Celine Jones).

2018 – Bronze Employer Award for excellent engagement with local school children interested in careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). Awarded by Science Oxford and the Careers and Enterprise Company (Mrs Celine Jones & Dr Kevin Coward).

2018 - OxTALENT Award in the category of 'Teaching & Learning Enhanced with New Technology' for the development of integrated online tools to develop deeper learning styles and provide interactive feedback routes (Mrs Celine Jones, Mrs Laura Rose, Dr Rebecca Dragovic and Dr Kevin Coward).

2017- Bronze Employer Award for excellent engagement with local school children interested in careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). Awarded by Science Oxford and the Careers and Enterprise Company (Mrs Celine Jones & Dr Kevin Coward).

2014 - University Teaching Award for the design of a novel method for poster presentation that uses electronic video-enhanced posters projected by a mobile interactive whiteboard  (Mrs Celine Jones, Dr Natalia Barkalina & Dr Kevin Coward).

2014 - OxTALENT Award in the category of ‘Interactive Infographics’ for the use a novel method for poster presentation that uses electronic video-enhanced posters projected by a mobile interactive whiteboard (Mrs Celine Jones, Dr Natalia Barkalina & Dr Kevin Coward).

2013 - University Teaching Award for innovative use of information technology in teaching and learning (Dr  Kevin Coward, Mrs Celine Jones).

2013 - OxTALENT Award in the category of ‘Innovative Use of Technology in the Classroom’ for the HEA-funded project ‘Mobile interactive board technology for wet laboratory practical teaching’ (Dr Kevin Coward, Mrs Celine Jones).

2012 - University of Oxford Major Educator Teaching Excellence Award (Team Award).

Educated in France, I began my scientific career with Professor John Heath at Birmingham University investigating the molecular processes that control the behaviour of cancer cells. In 2004 I joined Professor Helen Mardon at the University of Oxford as a research technician to study the molecules involved in early human embryogenesis. I was appointed as Laboratory Manager for the NDWRH’s new MSc in Clinical Embryology in 2008 and played an instrumental role in setting up the course. In addition to my teaching and managerial duties for the MSc, I undertake research into cellular, biochemical and molecular mechanisms of oocyte activation at fertilisation. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, member of the Society for Reproduction and Fertility, the Association of Reproductive and Clinical Scientists and member of the Royal Microscopy Society. 

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• The role of phospholipase C zeta (PLCζ), a testis-specific molecule responsible for oocyte activation. Particularly in understanding how this molecule relates to male infertility
• The use of mesoporous silica nanoparticles as a cargo-delivery system to introduce specific compounds to gametes and embryos
• The implication and potential detrimental effects of Assisted Reproductive Technology upon sperm-specific proteins
• The use of laser micro-manipulation techniques to enable the heat activation of molecular constructs in gametes and embryos
• The development of a versatile exosome-based platform for the delivery of molecular compounds to mammalian sperm