Dr Anca Dafina Covaci
- Title
- Lecturer in Life Sciences
- Location
- Science Learning Centre
- Role
- Module Leader for Foundations in Life Sciences, Student Experience and Support Officer, Wellbeing Champion
- Contact me
- Phone
- 07404934515
- a.covaci@keele.ac.uk
Biography
Dr Anca Covaci is a Lecturer within Foundation Year (FY) Centre where she teaches within different Life Sciences modules. She graduated her PhD in Romania where she studied the biology and ecology of a pest insect, commonly known as western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis). While a PhD student she came across an interesting paper published by a researcher from Keele University. The waves of life brought her at Keele University and joined the Thrips Research Group. While a member of this group, she was involved in both research and teaching activities. Later on, she decided to study thrips' chemistry in order to investigate their chemical profile and detect potential pheromones that could be further use in their biological control. Because this investigation involved the use of gas-chromatograph linked to mass-spectrometer (GCMS), in order to learn to operate the GCMS, she started (and finished) a MPhil course in Chemistry (at Keele University). In the same time, she was pursuing a teaching career and in 2022 she was appointed a Lecturer within FY. She continued her professional development and during 2022 she joined the Master in Higher Education Practice or MAHEP program and has been awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education.
Research and scholarship
At the moment I am involved in two scholarship projects. One of them aims to study how FY students can be successfully integrated into the university community and the other project is testing the effectivness of Labster (a virtual environment teaching platform) and a belonging event.
Teaching
I teach Foundations in Life Sciences and Practical and Academic Skills in Science and Advancing in Life Sciences. I teach across the accademic year to both September and January cohort.