Raf Benato

Overview

Since joining City, University of London in 2005, Raf has developed and led numerous educational initiatives at a School and university level.

Raf is the Lead for Teaching Excellence (LTE) for the Health Services Research and Management Division in the School of Health Sciences. This is a substantive role where they work with the other three LTEs and the Associate Dean for Education (Innovation and Technology) on developing and implementing the School's Learning and Teaching Strategy as well as promoting and enhancing excellent teaching and learning practice in her division through training, mentoring and supporting divisional colleagues.

Raf is the School lead for Erasmus partnerships and activities, playing a key role in developing international partnerships and raising the profile of the School's international activities.

Raf chairs the Community Engagement Committee, (CEC), a committee overseeing the development of all community engagement and user and carer involvement activities within the School. As part of this work, she led the establishment of the Service User and Carer Advisory Group (SUCAB), an innovative sub-committee of the CEC, comprised of health service users and carers which she also chairs. The SUCAB's remit is to support and advise on user and carer involvement across the School's entire teaching and learning portfolio, from curriculum planning and student recruitment to assessment practices.


Raf has extensive experience of programme and module development. She led the development and validation of the School of Health Science's new flagship programme, the BSc Health and Social Care, and previously led the development of two joint Masters programmes with Queen Mary, University of London: the MSc in Primary Care and the MSc Public Health. She was Programme Director for the MSc Primary Care for two years.

Before starting at City, and following an early career in landscape gardening, Raf worked in primary care as a general practice manager before joining the School of Medicine and Dentistry at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) in 1999, where she led a team of clinicians and facilitators in the Clinical Effectiveness Group (CEG). Raf facilitated the development of a set of clinical and administrative performance indicators, a local initiative and a precursor to the GMS Contract. The CEG additionally adapted clinical guidelines for local use and provided support and training to primary care practitioners across east London. During this time, Raf was also a sessional Primary Care Tutor in City and Hackney, organising and facilitating education for GPs as well as being a fully trained Kings Fund Organisational Auditor, travelling around the UK and carrying out organisational audits of NHS trusts which had applied for Kings Fund accreditation. Raf was also lead of the Hackney Practice Development Project, a local scheme matching practice managers to general practices requiring organisational or management support.

Qualifications

Senior Fellow, Fellow, MSc Primary Care, PG Cert. Academic Practice and BSc (Hons) Applied Social Science (Cultural Studies).

Administrative roles

1. Chair, SHS Community Engagement Committee
2. Chair, Service User and Carer Advisory Board (SUCAB)
3. Representative of HSRM Division on SHS Teaching and Learning Committee
4. Representative of HSRM Division on SHS Internationalisation Committee
5. Representative of HSRM Division on SHS Athena SWAN Self-Assessment Team
6. Lead for Teaching Excellence, HSRM Division

Employment

1. Co-Chair, LGBTQI+ Staff Network, City, University London, Sep 2019 – present
2. Coach and Mentor, City, University London, Jan 2018 – present
3. Lead for Teaching Excellence, School of Health Sciences, City, University of London, Aug 2016 – present

Memberships of professional organisations

1. Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy
2. Member, Society for Academic Primary Care

Languages

French (can read, write, speak and understand spoken), Italian (can read, speak and understand spoken) and Spanish; Castilian (can read, write, speak and understand spoken).

Teaching

Introduction

Rosa's main areas of teaching include commissioning, public health and primary care policy, health promotion theories and equality and diversity. She additionally leads 2 modules on the implementation of educational theory in clinical and research settings. Rosa also leads the award-winning Public Health Simulation module, a module delivered collaboratively with Hackney Community College for pre-registration nurses.

Educational Leadership

Lead for Teaching Excellence, HSRM Division

Module Leader for

- APM 035: Commissioning for Health and Social Care
- NMM 961/NMM 109: Leading and Facilitating Learning in Practice
- CRM 001: Work-Based Clinical Research Placement
- SC1002: Poverty, Housing and Welfare

Modules taught on

- NM 1729: Introduction to the Delivery of Professional Care (Public Health Simulation week)
- HS 2446: Communities and Health
- HSM 101/HSM 301/HS 1001: Engaging in Practice
- PHM005/PH 3001: Health Policy and Politics
- NA 1001: Introduction to Health and Wellbeing
- SL 3008: Professional Studies

Awards

- 2016. Shortlisted for VC Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
- 2015. Shortlisted for the VC Award for Contribution to the Local Community for collaboration with Hackney Community College
- 2015. Shortlisted for a Nursing Times Student Award for collaboration with Hackney Community College
- 2015. Health Has Got Talent Award for collaboration with Hackney Community College
-2014. Health Has Got Talent award for Public Health History Walk

Other educational activity

Rosa successfully led and delivered an educational needs assessment project in Togo, west Africa, in 2016. Funded by the Tropical Health Education Trust (THET), Rosa led a visit to Togo to identify gaps in educational provision in nursing and midwifery training. The visit has led to an educational partnership with the Togolese Department of Health, where Rosa is leading on the development of a jointly validated teacher training programme. This has additionally led to a close working relationship with the Togolese Embassy in London.

Rosa has devised a local public health history walk around Shoreditch and Hoxton which she delivers to new public health students. Visiting academics often ask to be taken on the walk, which serves as an excellent introduction to British social and cultural history, as well as providing valuable insights into an ancient part of the east end of London. The walk is available as a narrated film and as a downloadable file so that anybody can take the guided walk.

Rosa has also devised a short podcast summarising the month's key health stories, The Health Flash, available via Soundcloud.

Since joining City, University of London, Rosa has run short courses, workshops and modules on commissioning and developed joint international educational initiatives with Queen Mary, University of London (delivered in St Petersburg, Russia and Zagreb, Croatia) as well as with Erasmus partners in Greece and Sweden.

Rosa developed the concept of the interprofessional teaching practice, which has enabled the School to place pre-registration students directly into general practices. She is also a Community Link Lecturer in the City and Hackney Community of Practice area, working with and supporting mentors and students on community placements.

Research overview

Rosa's main areas of research include transgender health and social issues and alternative teaching and learning practices. In addition, Rosa is interested in queer and feminist research methods, LGBTQ sexual health, national and international health policy and the impact of migration on the health of migrants. The latter is the basis of an Erasmus Mundus agreement and collaboration with Linkoping University in Sweden and the University of Athens in Greece. She also collaborates with colleagues in the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden via an Erasmus partnership agreement.

Research areas

- Transgender health and social issues
- Queer and feminist research methods
- LGBTQ sexual health
- National and international health policy and the impact of migration on the health of migrants

Research centres

-Maternal and Child Health
- Public Health, Social Diversity and Inequality

Principal collaborators

- Dr Jennifer Fraser, University of Westminster
- Dr Lars Eriksson, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
- Professor Katarina Hjelm, Linkoping University, Sweden
- Professor Panayiota Sourtzi, University of Athens, Athens, Greece
- Dr Elena Frolova, Medical Academy of Postgraduate Studies, St Petersburg, Russia

Publications by category