PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS/MEMBERSHIP
Member of The Landscape Institute (M.L.I.)
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Corporate Member of the Institute of Horticulture (MI Hort)
Member of The Urban Design Group
Member of iaps
– International Association For People-Environment Studies.

OTHER
CRB Enhanced Disclosure

EDUCATION
2004 - 2006 THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
Post Graduate Certificate in Higher Education

2003 to date THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
Reading for PhD, Department of Landscape.

Sept 98 LEEDS METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY
- June 99 GradDip Landscape Architecture (with Distinction)

1995 - 1998 LEEDS METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY
(Part time) MA/GradDip Bridging Course in Landscape Architecture

1994 - 1995 ASKHAM BRYAN COLLEGE YORK
BSc (with Distinction) [University of Leeds]
Land Management and Technology

1991 - 1994 ASKHAM BRYAN COLLEGE YORK
HND (with Distinction)
Landscape and Horticultural Technology

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS:
Graduate Diploma Landscape Architecture - Distinction
Attained one of five distinctions awarded on the Graduate Diploma Course.

BSc Land Management and Technology - Distinction
Achieved highest ever marks on the BSc course, and awarded one of only two distinctions.

HND Landscape and Horticultural Technology - Distinction
Achieved second highest mark amongst HND peer group.

HND design selected to represent Askham Bryan at the 1994 Chelsea Flower Show, final design received a Silver Medal.
Ibstock cup winner “Best first year Landscape Design Student”.

RECENT CAREER HISTORY:
Nov 03 to Date FREELANCE LANDSCAPE CONSULTANT
practicing as: IMS landscape consultancy

Nov 2000 to date TUTORING EXPERIENCE
Higher Education Tutoring
Taught/tutored modules at Post Graduate/Undergraduate levels:

University of Sheffield
Basic Landscape Construction – 2006/2007
Technical Drawing - 2005/2006, 2006/2007
Advanced Landscape Construction - 2004/2005, 2005/2006, 2006/2007
Special Design (Planting) - 2004/2005, 2005/2006, 2006/2007
Special Design (Master planning/Whole site proposals) - 2004/2005, 2005/2006.
Integrated Urban Design - 2004/2005, 2005/2006, 2006/2007
Landscape Construction – 2003/2004, 2004/2005, 2005/2006, 2006/2007
Urban Landscape Design – 2003/2004, 2004/2005, 2005/2006, 2006/2007
Exam Panel Moderating: Special Design – 2003/2004

Leeds Metropolitan University
Habitation Option - 2000 to 2003
Autocad additional support following departure of staff member.

Further Education Tutoring
Askham Bryan College York
September 2006 to March 2007- Northern College for Further Education (NCFE) Level 2 Certificate in Garden Design.
July-August 2006 – Course design: (NCFE) Level 2 Certificate in
Garden Design.
September 2005 to February 2006 - Open College Network Level 2
Certificate in Garden Design.
September 2004 to July 2005 - City & Guilds Level 2
Certificate in Garden Design.

Sept ’99 to Dec 02 HARTLEPOOL BOROUGH COUNCIL
Community Landscape Architect (SRB funded post)
Provision of a comprehensive Landscape Design and project management service.
• Green Corridors and Gateways Project (SRB)
Development and implementation of a landscape strategy of environmental improvements on strategic and major corridors throughout the two SRB areas. Schemes were executed with involvement of the local community, ward members, agencies and public bodies together with business stakeholders. The projects also required the maximisation of local employment, training and safety initiatives. The schemes were driven by consultation and participation of the community through workshops and exhibitions.
• Grounds for Learning Project (SRB)
This project involved a variety of landscape improvements to schools within the SRB area. The improvements were developed through workshops with pupils, teachers and governors. Proposals were then finalised and managed to completion.
• Intermediate Labour Market (ILM)
Various projects of environmental improvement implemented by the management of the ILM, basic horticultural techniques demonstrated at induction lectures and handbook compiled for reference.

July ’95 to June ’98
Freelance Landscape Designer
Provision of bespoke designs for commercial and domestic clients.

May ’97 to Nov ’97 CITY PARKS SERVICES
(Division of City of Sunderland Direct Services)
Software application design (freelance)

June ’94 – Sept’94 CITY PARKS SERVICES
(Division of City of Sunderland Direct Services)
System auditing and re-organisation.

Aug ’92 – Sept’93 CITY OF SUNDERLAND PARKS CONTRACTS SECTION
(Division of City of Sunderland Dept. of Leisure)
Assistant to Landscape Manager (undertaken as part of HND course)
Part of Landscape team that undertook all new landscaping works awarded to the department.

April ’92 LAND RECLAMATION SITE St. HELENS
A Groundwork Trust project in the reclamation of a derelict spoil heap in Lancashire.

Sub-contract Drawing
Working under the direction of the freelance Landscape Architect for the site interpreting sketches, provision of formal drawings for planning application and original detail design work.

PhD RESEARCH:
The development of tools and techniques for revealing spatial dimensions of place experience in primary school aged children.
The research is conceived to develop a design language to assist landscape architects and other environmental design professionals improve quality of life for young children by enhancing the experiential potential of places routinely encountered. The research responds to a reawakening, evident in recent publications, of the importance of encouraging an increase in young people’s use of the outdoor environment, and in particular to promote positive behaviour in children through contact with experientially rich outdoor settings.

please click here to read more.

Simkins. I.M. (2007) Listening to and understanding the voices of young children in the planning and design process, in Urban Sustainability through Environmental Design, eds: Thwaites. K., Porta. S. and Romice. O. Book commissioned by Spon Press, London.

Thwaites.K. and Simkins.I.M. (2007) Experiential Landscape: revealing hidden dimensions of people-place relations, in Urban Sustainability through Environmental Design, eds: Thwaites. K., Porta. S. and Romice. O. Book commissioned by Spon Press, London.

Thwaites K and Simkins I.M. (2007) Are you experienced? Landscape, 02.07, p.26-31.

Simkins I.M. and Thwaites K. (2006) Potential through Participation. green places, Issue 22, February 2006, pp. 22-27.

Conference Presentations
Thwaites K and Simkins I.M. (March 2007) Experiential Landscape: an approach to people, place and space. Invited key note presentation as part of the 'Seven mirrors' conference organised by the Centre for Place and Learning, Stockholm, Sweden.

Simkins I.M. and Thwaites K. (September 2006) Place experience of primary school children: revealing the spatial dimensions. Presentation at the Children, Youth and Environments meeting, IAPS 19th International Conference, Alexandria, Egypt.

Simkins I.M. and Thwaites K. (July 2006) Developing tools and techniques for revealing spatial dimensions of place experience in primary school aged children. Seminar presentation and paper at: "Planning and designing healthy public outdoor spaces for young people in the 21st century" conference hosted by the faculty of the Built Environment, University of the West of England, Bristol.

Simkins I.M. and Thwaites K. (2006) Potential through Participation. green places, Issue 22, February 2006, pp. 22-27. view article.

Simkins I.M. (April 2006) The development of tools and techniques for revealing spatial dimensions of place experience in primary school aged children. Seminar presentation at: Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Conference. Department of Sociological Studies, The University of Sheffield.

Simkins I.M. (March 2006) Reflection on Undertaking Reserach into the Spatial Dimensions of Children's Place Experience. Seminar presentation at: Practicalities of Working Inclusively with Children. Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth, The University of Sheffield.

Simkins I.M. (March 2006) Revealing spatial dimensions of place experience in primary school aged children. Presentation at: Recovering Landscape Workshop. Department of Archaeology, University of York.

Simkins.I.M. and Thwaites.K. (2004) The Spatial Experience of Primary School Aged Children: The Development of an Open Space Design Language. Paper and conference presentation at the international Open Space: People Space conference, Edinburgh, 27-29 October 2004. view paper

International Association for People-Environment Studies (IAPS)
www.iaps-association.org

IAPS Restorative Environments Network
An international network of academics, practitioners and students researching restorative environments, formed November 2007.
Conveners: Kevin Thwaites, Dept. of Landscape, University of Sheffield and Terry Hartig of the Institute for Housing and Urban Research at Uppsala University.

IAPS Children, Youth and Environment Network (CYE)
Convener: Maria Nordström, Stockholm University

Centre for Place and Learning (Centrum för Plats och Lärande)
www.placelearning.org/omoss.aspx
An interactive forum for researchers and practitioners interested in the significance of Place for Learning – and Learning for Place.
Project group: Mats Lieberg, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Pia Björklid, Stockholm Institute of Education, Lars-Owe Dahlgren, Linköping University, Gunilla Halldén, Linköping University
Suzanne de Laval, Swedish Association of Architects, Maria Nordström, Stockholm University, Susan Paget, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Anders Szczepanski, Linköping University
Petter Åkerblom, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala

Multimodal Representation of Urban Space Sensory Notations
Advisory board associate, University of Strathclyde research project.

Urban Sustainability through Environmental Design (UStED)
www.usted_urbandesign.org
UStED, is an International Consortia conceived by Dr. Sergio Porta of the Politecnico di Milano. The origins of the organisation date to 2003, with a vision to establish an initiative which includes three areas: Network, Research and Education, for the purpose of gathering, updating, co-ordination and dissemination of tools of Sustainable Urban Design, with special emphasis on ‘public space’.

Interested parties were brought together in an inaugural conference at the Politecnico di Milano in January 2004. Following the success of this event the consortia has moved to strengthen its internal relationships and a core team has developed to develop and promote the original aims and culminated into the imminent publication of: Urban Sustainability Through Environmental Design: Approaches to Time, People and Place Responsive Urban Spaces. eds: Thwaites. K., Porta. S. and Romice. O. Book commissioned by Spon Press, London.

UStED Core team members:
Sergio Porta, architect, PhD in territorial and environmental planning and is a lecturer at the Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
Ombretta Romice is a lecturer in the Department of Architecture, University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. She is an architect actively involved with the International Association for People-Environment Studies (IAPS).
Kevin Thwaites, PhD, teaches and researches urban design and landscape architecture at the University of Sheffield, UK.
Barbara Golicnik specialized in landscape architecture at Edinburgh College of Art, Heriot-Watt University, UK. She is a researcher at the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia.
Alice Mathers is a planner and landscape architect currently undertaking an ESRC-awarded PhD at Sheffield University. She is an associate of elp:rdu specializing in the creation of visual communication methods to be used as a participation toolkit for the inclusion of people with learning disabilities in the experience of public open space.
John L. Renne, AICP, is an assistant professor of urban planning and transportation studies at the University of New Orleans and an associate director of the University of New Orleans Transportation Center.
Ian Simkins