Dr Glenn Hurst

Profile

Biography

Glenn Hurst completed a MChem from Durham University and PhD from Newcastle University. He was appointed Associate Lecturer in Chemistry at the University of York in 2014, was promoted to Assistant Professor in 2017 and to Associate Professor in 2020. He is chair of the Natural Sciences Teaching Committee where his role consists of managing enhancements in teaching, learning and assessment for Natural Sciences students. He is also chair of the University Learning and Teaching Forum, which nurtures and shares creativity and good practice in learning and teaching across the institution.

His research interests lie within chemistry education, specialising in adopting systems-thinking approaches within all levels of green and sustainable chemistry education, which forms part of his work in the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence. Hurst is also focused on utilising social media for technology-enhanced learning and developing new mobile applications for game-based learning. He regularly presents his work internationally and publishes in chemistry education literature together with serving on the editorial board of multiple journals where he has curated a special issue.

Hurst delivers multiple modes of teaching across the undergraduate curriculum with a focus on organic chemistry and green chemistry. At the postgraduate level he delivers transferrable skills training as part of MSc Green Chemistry and Sustainable Industrial Technology, together with delivery of a bespoke Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) training programme in Chemistry and supervises postgraduate students completing the York Learning and Teaching Award. Hurst frequently delivers continuing professional development training for staff in teaching across the institution and beyond.   

He was recognised by Jisc as one of the top ten social media superstars in higher education in 2017, was a finalist in the Times Higher Education ‘Most Innovative Teacher of the Year’ category in 2018, highly commended for ‘Teaching Excellence’ in the Educate North Awards 2019, won the American Chemical Society Committee on Environmental Improvement Award for Incorporation of Sustainability into Chemistry Education in 2019 and won the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Higher Education Teaching Award in 2020.

He is a Senior Fellow of the HEA, a Chartered Chemist and is currently chair of the RSC Higher Education Group where he chaired the associated national conference, ViCEPhEC, in York in 2017.

Research

Research

Our research embraces a students-as-partners approach to use innovative pedagogical tools and methodologies, conferring a deep understanding of subject matter using holistic systems thinking frameworks. Through this, learners are enabled to visualise the interconnections and relationships among components of complex and dynamic systems together with being able to examine how the system may change over time and how systems-level phenomena emerge from interactions between associated constituents.

By utilising a blend of top-down and bottom-up approaches designed to engage students while providing them with rich contexts, learners can access a more integrated and interdisciplinary understanding. Such approaches have included programme and module design together with facilitating new technology-enhanced learning opportunities through social media and gaming.  

Systems thinking approaches are highly applicable towards addressing the most pressing global challenges such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals given the interconnected nature of the goals, requiring interdisciplinary collaboration at an international level and the consideration of entire dynamic systems. Through an integrated systems-level understanding, this can create opportunities to evoke change in accordance with the goals where the impact can be enhanced through demonstrating synergies and potential conflicts between goals as a result of system perturbations.

Systems thinking approaches to education are particularly well suited for integration with green and sustainable chemistry because applying the principles of green chemistry and devising molecular design strategies all depend upon considering the reliance of reactions and processes on one another with local and global systems. Much of our work is focused on employing an overarching systems thinking framework within green and sustainable chemistry education.

Publications

Publications

Research Papers

• Online group work with a large cohort: Challenges and new benefits
  G A Hurst J Chem Educ, 2020
• “Making every second count”: Utilizing TikTok and systems thinking to facilitate scientific public engagement and contextualization of chemistry at home
  C Hayes, K Stott, K J Lamb, G A Hurst J Chem Educ, 2020
• Organic Fanatic: A quiz-based mobile application game to support learning the structure and reactivity of organic compounds
  J Shoesmith, J D Hook, A F Parsons, G A Hurst J Chem Educ, 2020
• Green Tycoon: A mobile application game to introduce biorefining principles in green chemistry
  M Lees, M T Wentzel, J H Clark, G A Hurst J Chem Educ, 2020, 97, 2014–2019
• Editorial overview: Education in green and sustainable chemistry and green and sustainable pharmacy: An integrated approach
  G A Hurst, J H Clark Sustain Chem Pharm, 2020, 16, 10072–10073
• Valorization of Sour Milk to Form Bioplastics: Friend or Foe?
  M T Jefferson, C Rutter, K Fraine, G V B Borges, G M de Souza Santos, F A P Schoene, G A Hurst J Chem Educ, 2020, 97, 1073–1076
• Systems thinking approaches for international green chemistry education
  G A Hurst Opin. Green Sustainable Chem, 2020, 21, 93–97
• International Perspectives on Green and Sustainable Chemistry Education via Systems Thinking
  G A Hurst, J C Slootweg, A M Balu, M S Climent-Bellido, A Gomera, P Gomez, R Luque, L Mammino, R A Spanevello, K Saito, J G Ibanez J Chem Educ, 2019, 96, 2794–2804
• Industry-Informed Workshops to Develop Graduate Skill Sets in the Circular Economy Using Systems Thinking
  L Summerton, J H Clark, G A Hurst, P D Ball, E L Rylott, N Carslaw, J Creasey, J Murray, J Whitford, B Dobson, H F Sneddon, J Ross, P Metcalf, C R McElroy J Chem Educ, 2019, 96, 2959–2967
• Green Machine: A Card Game Introducing Students to Systems Thinking in Green Chemistry by Strategizing the Creation of a Recycling Plant
  J L Miller, M T Wentzel, J H Clark, G A Hurst J Chem Educ, 2019, 96, 3006–3013
• Valorization of Waste Orange Peel to Produce Shear-Thinning Gels
  L S Mackenzie, H Tyrrell, R Thomas, A S Matharu, J H Clark, G A Hurst J Chem Educ, 2019, 96, 3025–3029
• Chemical Bioconjugation of Proteins in an Undergraduate Lab: One-Pot Oxidation and Derivatization of N-Terminus
  N D J Yates, R L Brabham, R J Spears, T Keenan, P A Helliwell, D S Pugh, A Parkin, G A Hurst, M A Fascione, J Chem Educ, 2019, 96, 1245–1249.
• Facilitating active learning within green chemistry.
  L Summerton, G A Hurst and J. H. Clark,  Opin. Green Sustainable Chem., 2018, 13, 56–60.
• Utilizing Snapchat to Facilitate Engagement with and Contextualization of Undergraduate Chemistry
  G A Hurst, J Chem Educ, 2018, 95, 1875–1880.
• An App for Applicants
  G A Hurst, A. F. Parsons, K Sayer, J. D. Hook and C Fulford. FORUM Learning and Teaching Magazine, 2017.
• Green and Smart: Hydrogels to Facilitate Independent Practical LearningInvited Article in Special Issue
  G A Hurst, J Chem Educ, 2017, 94, 1766-1771.
• Using Greener Gels to Explore Rheology.
  B Garrett, A S Matharu and G A Hurst, J Chem Educ, 2017, 94, 500–504.
• The rheological properties of poly(vinyl alcohol) gels from rotational viscometry.
  G A Hurst, M Bella and C G Salzmann, J Chem Educ, 2015, 92, 940–945.
• An interdisciplinary summer for interdisciplinary students
  G A Hurst, B Garrett, J Webb and A F Parsons. FORUM Learning and Teaching Magazine, 2016.
  https://www.scribd.com/document/330391856/Student-Work-UoY-Forum-41-Autumn-2016
• GRASPing opportunities for our postgraduate and undergraduate students
  G A Hurst and A S Matharu. FORUM Learning and Teaching Magazine, 2016.
  https://www.scribd.com/doc/314357046/Value-Added-Graduates-UoY-Forum-40-Summer-2016
• Inclusive postgraduate teaching in the Department of Chemistry.
  G A Hurst* and R A W Smith. FORUM Learning and Teaching Magazine, 2015.
  http://yorkforum.org/2015/04/14/inclusive-postgraduate-teaching-in-the-department-of-chemistry/
• Genipin cross-linked chitosan-polyvinylpyrrolidone hydrogels: influence of composition and postsynthesis treatment on pH responsive behaviour.
  C J Nwosu, G A Hurst and K Novakovic. Adv Mater Sci Eng, 2015. 5.
• A facile in situ morphological characterisation of smart genipin-crosslinked chitosan-poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) hydrogels.
  G A Hurst and K Novakovic. J Mater Res, 2013, 28, 2401-2408
• Electroless deposition of multi-functional zinc oxide surfaces displaying photoconductive, superhydrophobic, photowetting, and antibacterial properties.
  T J Wood, G A Hurst, W C E Schofield, R L Thompson, G Oswald, J S O Evans, G J Sharples, C Pearson, M C Petty and J P S Badyal. J Mater Chem, 2012, 22, 3859-3867. 
• Using electron induced dissociation (EID) on an LC time-scale to characterize a mixture of analogous small organic molecules.
  A S Prakash, M J P Smith, Z Kaabia, G Hurst, C Yan, M Sims, A W T Bristow, P Stokes, D Parker, J A Mosely.  J  Amer Soc Mass Spec, 2012, 23, 850-857.

Book chapters

• The green formula for international chemistry education
  G A Hurst, Integrating Green and Sustainable Chemistry Principles into Education, Elsevier 2019, 205–228.