Dr Nigel Francis graduated from the University of Bath in 2004 with a MPharmacol (Masters in Pharmacology) having spent an intercalated research year in the Nephrology Department at the University Hospital, Cardiff, under the supervision of Professor Nick Topley. In 2008, he completed a PhD in immunology from the University of Birmingham in the lab of Professor Janet Lord, investigating the role of the iron binding protein, lactoferrin, in neutrophil survival in rheumatic joints. Nigel then returned to The University Hospital, Cardiff, working for Professor Claire Harris in the Complement Biology Group looking at the structure-function relationship of polymorphic variants of factor H.

In 2011, Nigel moved to Swansea University Medical School where he helped establish immunology teaching across all years of their undergraduate programmes. During his time at Swansea, he completed a PGCert in Teaching in Higher Education and acted in a wide range of administrative roles including Deputy Programme Director for Biochemistry.

Nigel re-joined Cardiff University in August 2021, where his teaching focuses on immunology and supporting the provision of physiology.

Nigel is an award-winning lecturer having received Swansea University’s Excellence in Learning and Teaching Award and the British Society for Immunology’s Teaching Excellence Award in 2020. In 2021, he was honoured by the Royal Society of Biology for his work creating the #DryLabsRealScience network, winning their Higher Education Bioscience Teacher of the Year Award. In 2022, Nigel was awarded the prestigious National Teaching Fellowship by Advance HE.

Nigel’s educational research interests focus around online education, online assessment, group work in assessments. He is also an expert in addressing the challenges of generative Artificial Intelligence.