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Health Sciences

Mr Mark Cole BSc MSc MCPod FHEA

Principal Teaching Fellow, Podiatry Programme Manager,Professional Lead for Podiatry

Mr Mark Cole's photo

Mr Mark Cole is a Principal Teaching Fellow within the School of Health Sciences and is the Programme Manager for the Undergraduate Podiatry Programme. Mark’s career to date has provided a broad range of podiatric and inter-professional experiences in the clinical, managerial and education fields, enabling a wide perspective of the healthcare landscape. Mark’s clinical expertise and academic experience can be demonstrated by 37 years of practice during which he has undertaken virtually all aspects of modern podiatric care, in a variety of clinical and educational environments.

The acquisition and application of podiatric knowledge and skills are inextricably linked and provide the basis for solving the unsolvable, thereby enhancing and extending the quality of patient care.

Mark qualified as a podiatrist in 1983 and in the early part of his career Mark developed a specialty in diabetes and subsequently ran high dependency clinics in an acute unit and two community hospitals. Mark operationally managed an NHS podiatry team in Hampshire for 20 years. Mark maintains an active interest in high risk diabetic, vascular and neurological cases with particular reference to managing care in the community setting. Mark moved into an academic career at the University of Southampton in 2010 following a close connection with the Podiatry programme since its inception. Mark became Programme Manager in 2014.

Research interests

Mark is a member of a research team led by Prof Ashburn studying the effects of footwear worn by people with stroke and Parkinson’s disease ( SHOES -People with Stroke and Parkinson’s disease: H ome and O utdoor Sho ES ).

Mark’s research interests include the effects of footwear worn by people with stroke and Parkinson’s disease and the foot and lower limb in space and other extreme environments.

Research group

Active Living and Rehabilitation

As Programme Manager for the BSc (Hons) Podiatry programme, Mark fulfils the responsibilities of programme representative for assessments, admissions, placements and student support. Mark is the first point of contact for all internal, external and international issues in relation to the podiatry programme. Mark is responsible for the strategic and day to day operation of the podiatry programme. Mark is accountable for the quality and academic coherence of the educational programme, promoting an effective and supportive learning and teaching environment for students and associated module leads. Mark is responsible for ensuring quality assurance processes and standards are adhered to, and that there is appropriate preparation and support for all staff engaged in the delivery of the programme. Mark reports on all programme issues to the Director of Programmes.

Mark is deputy Chair of the undergraduate Allied Health Professions Exam Board.

Mark provides a range of teaching and learning activities across the majority of the podiatry programme and interfacing with the occupational therapy, physiotherapy and cardiac physiology programmes in specific modules. Mark’s past experiences working in an inter-professional environment and providing teaching sessions to nursing and medical colleagues, provide an appropriate underpinning for such a strategy.

Mark works closely with all modules leaders and contributors to ensure an excellent learning environment for students of all abilities and learning styles. Mark’s extensive experience of clinical practice enables the students to experience a closer simulation of real life scenarios.

Having experienced the shortcomings of purely didactic teaching methodology during his professional training, Mark has always sought to discover more effective ways to engage and inspire students on their journey of discovery. Mark believes that teaching and learning process can be effectively planned, delivered, assessed and evaluated in an aligned and innovative manner that provides students with an in depth learning experience, which is eminently transferable to real life situations.

Mark has been responsible for leading the podiatry team though two successful revalidation processes (2015 and 2018) for the BSc (Hons) Podiatry programme.

Mark currently provides teaching input to the following modules:

  • Level 4: Clinical Practice 1 (Module lead)
  • Level 5: Healthy Discussions
  • Level 5: Chronic Conditions (Module Lead)
  • Level 5: Clinical Practice 2 (Module Lead)
  • Level 6: Future Professional Practice
  • Level 6: Complex Clinical Management (Module Lead)
  • Level 6: Clinical Practice 3 (Module Lead)
Mr Mark Cole
Health Sciences Student Office University of Southampton Highfield Southampton SO17 1BJ
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