Mark has a near-unique position of being a current full-time academic and parent bereaved by student suicide. A convert from industry to academia, Mark spent over 20 years in journalism and corporate communication before moving into Higher Education. He then spent 10 years at the University of Reading where he lectured in Politics and International Relations. He was Director of Teaching & Learning for Politics & IR from 2016-2018 before becoming Head of Department from 2018-2021. Mark joined the University of Surrey in the Summer of 2022 to lead the FASS Social Sciences Foundation Programme.
Mark’s son Rory took his own life in 2018. Subsequently, Mark joined other bereaved parents to form the LEARN network, sharing his lived experience of suicide. The group was behind the petition to Parliament for a statutory duty of care for students in HE, a petition that gained over 128,000 signatures and led to a Westminster Hall Debate. Mark is currently a member of the Department for Education’s Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce.
