DrSuja Somanadhan

As an educator, Universal Design for Learning badge holder and facilitator, Dr Somanadhan's teaching philosophy is deeply rooted in Universal Design for Learning (UDL). This framework significantly benefits all students and aims to enhance the educational experience by providing diverse and flexible learning opportunities. With over 20 years of clinical teaching experience and a decade of university-level teaching, Dr Somanadhan honed her pedagogical approach to create an inclusive and accessible learning environment that values and includes all learners.

Currently, she is the Programme Director for the Graduate Diploma in Emergency Nursing (Children), the only dedicated level-9 programme dedicated to children’s emergency care nursing in Ireland. Also, Interim Programme Director for the Higher Diploma in Children's Nursing (partnership programmes between Children's Health Ireland (CHI) at Crumlin and UCD. Dr Somanadhan utilises her breadth of research and evidence-based knowledge and skills, which have focused on the care of children, young people and their families, to add depth to her teaching and scholarship. She has developed considerable experience as a university teacher since she took up her teaching position, with much of her experience focused on the education of nursing theory in children's nursing, using a wide range of teaching-learning methods and evidence-based practice.

Dr Somanadhan's teaching philosophy is focused on a learner-centred approach based on the following objectives: (a) to foster critical thinking skills, (b) to facilitate the acquisition of lifelong learning skills, (c) to help students develop evidence-based clinical problem-solving strategies (d) to prepare students to function as highly skilled and competent. Dr Somanadhan is an active member of the UCD Teaching and Learning Community; she completed a Graduate Certificate in Nurse Education and registered as a Nurse Tutor in the Irish Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland in 2010. Dr Somanadhan maintains a teaching portfolio that allows her to reflect critically on her teaching philosophy and approaches. Dr Somanadhan has substantial experience in both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, and her teaching specialism forms a broader role within module curriculum development, module and stage coordination and scholarship.