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Dr Ali Mozaffari is an Associate Professor in Natural Sciences.

When did you take up this position? What was your position beforehand?

I was promoted to Associate Professor in October 2023, prior to this I was a Lecturer in Natural Sciences.

When did you join ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº and where were you before?

I arrived at ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº in January 2017, before my time here I was working in several other universities, including Imperial College (my alma mater), the Open University and Birkbeck.

Tell us about your work at ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº - how do you spend your days, and what makes your role different to similar positions elsewhere?

A bit of a cliche to say but my days are really mixed. In term time I have a lot of teaching on (I lead four modules and teach on a few others), so that takes up a great deal of my time in the first two terms. 

Our degree is designed to offer students an interdisciplinary way to study science, so whilst my background is in Theoretical Physics, I have to think carefully about how the ideas I’m trying to convey could be used in disciplines like Chemistry or Life Sciences. This is a real change from just teaching Physics to physicists as I did in the past.

In addition to giving lectures, running tutorials, marking and meeting students for office hours, I am also attending our student partnership committee and chairing our department teaching committee, as well as feeding all the outcomes of these back at the MAPS faculty education committee. 

I like to spend time not glued to my office desk, so I am often out teaching or having meetings when I am on campus.

I am also the admissions tutor for our programme, so May to August is a really busy time with offer holder activities and making sure A level results time goes smoothly.

What are some of your favourite things about working at ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº? How have you found it different to previous jobs?

¹û¶³Ó°Ôº is a really mixed, diverse and open place, people here have quite a different attitude to a lot of the other places I have worked at. 

It is also nice to see departments like Science and Technology Studies, and Arts and Sciences - not a lot of the UK universities offer the breadth of study that our sorts of degrees offer, and it is really exciting to collaborate with a variety of colleagues from these different backgrounds, rather than everyone being more uniform in mindset.

Can you tell us about any projects that you're currently working on?

My big projects at the moment involve getting new modules up and running. This year that is an introductory Mathematics module for some of our students who have not taken A level Maths and still want to do sciences. 

Thinking carefully about all their backgrounds, what will be useful for them in their future studies, and also tying to make sure they leave the module with a good feeling about Maths is a tall order!

The Natural Sciences degree, as part of the college Programme Excellence Project, is also undergoing a period of review and evolution, where we focus on further developing our graduates’ scientific and employable skills, infused with an interdisciplinary mindset.

Developing a degree that is broad enough to attract students, but deep enough to do this, is no small task!

Have you always been based in London? If not, when did you move here, and how did you find adapting to living in London?

I am a proper Londoner! I have lived here all my life, went to school in South East and to university in South West. 

One of the really nice things about coming from London is that there is always a new part to discover and a new place to visit, I am always in need of London restaurants recommendations!

I have lived abroad for a bit on sabbatical in Copenhagen, but there’s something about London that makes it hard to escape! One thing I do not miss (and try hard to avoid) is the rush hour, but post-pandemic this does definitely feel like a busy vibrant city again!

Finally, tell us about your non-work life. Do you have any hobbies, or favourite places to go in London?

I really enjoy going to see live music at the Albert Hall, Southbank Centre and Barbican, also a big fan of theatre and musicals in the West End - often I am making use of the short walk from work to the theatre on weeknights! 

A secret London theatre tip is to get the £10 preview tickets at the Old Vic theatre in Waterloo – you get good seats to see new productions in their first week, although it does mean having to see A Christmas Carol in mid-November every year!