Biographical Details
Fiona Gentle is a lecturer, researcher and creative practitioner having worked across Creative and Performing Arts, and Learning Development. Her interdisciplinary work brings together over two decades of professional creative arts experience and higher education teaching, with a particular interest in embodied learning, experiential pedagogy and the transformative potential of creative practice in education.
Her research investigates how practice-led actor training and embodied learning approaches can enhance students' conceptual understanding, engagement, confidence and development of academic literacies. Drawing on professional theatre-making, movement, improvisation and collaborative storytelling, she explores ways of making learning processes visible and supporting more inclusive, participatory and authentic educational experiences.
Fiona's scholarship focuses on curriculum innovation, student-centred learning, academic literacies, inclusive education and evidence-informed student success initiatives. She has developed and led academic support programs, embedded learning interventions and creative approaches to teaching across disciplines. Her work connects principles of professional artistic practice with contemporary challenges in higher education, including academic integrity in an AI era, student engagement, belonging and the development of independent learners.
Alongside her academic work, Fiona has an extensive professional background as a performer, puppeteer, director, dramaturg, writer and creative collaborator. Her practice spans theatre, film, television, children's media, arts education and community-based creative projects. She has created original works for national touring theatre and children's television, directed numerous productions, and collaborated with international artists on interdisciplinary performances combining live theatre and digital media.
Her creative practice informs a distinctive pedagogical approach in which the actor's processes of experimentation, reflection, collaboration, embodied inquiry and creative problem-solving become valuable tools for learning across disciplines.
Fiona's work contributes to an emerging interdisciplinary conversation about the relationship between artistic practice, cognition, academic literacies and educational transformation. Her broader professional interests include creative resilience, actor wellbeing, inclusive pedagogies and the role of imagination in higher education.