Meet Your Surveying MSc Academics

Meet some of the experienced and knowledgeable team of academic staff behind our distance learning Surveying MSc programmes.

No matter which of our distance learning Surveying MSc programmes you choose – Quantity, Building or Real Estate Surveying - you’ll be taught by experts with years of industry experience.

Julie Clarke

Julie Clarke is the course lead for our Surveying MSc courses. Prior to joining Northumbria University, she worked in the social housing sector, holding senior level roles with a number of organisations. Most recently she held a series of non-executive director posts within large housing associations.

Julie is passionate about understanding the impact that the external environment has on housing organisations, which informs her academic research. Her most recent publication explores housing association strategic decision-making around investment in private rented housing. She is also interested in sustainable regeneration, neighbourhood renewal, community involvement, organisational development and measuring the social return of financial investment into our communities.

Julie is also an ardent advocate for distance learning. She is currently undertaking a PhD in Technology Enhanced Learning, and is particularly passionate about understanding the online learning experience from a student’s perspective.

Discover more about Julie’s career, links with industry and what she likes about teaching on this distance learning course here.

Dr Rachel Kirk

Dr Rachel Kirk is a senior lecturer in our Architecture and Built Environment department. Teaching predominantly on the Research Methods and Dissertation modules, she supports students to develop their own research skills, putting them into practice by completing a dissertation topic of their choice. She has recently co-authored a paper on the role of the dissertation process with helping students to develop key employability skills.

Housing policy provides a varied and dynamic focus for her own research interests. Working in conjunction with Julie Clarke, her recent research has explored the strategic decision making of housing associations as they operate in a rapidly changing and challenging environment. Over the course of an academic research career spanning over two decades, she has also explored social housing management, regional responses to a changing context in housing associations and market renting, and co-authored handbooks on residential property and regeneration. Find out more about her academic biography here.

Kenneth Kelly

Starting his career with a spell in the Royal Engineers, Kenneth Kelly has over 15 years experience of managing construction and refurbishment projects for both private and public sector organisations. A specialist in Building Surveying, before joining Northumbria he was employed as Durham Constabulary’s Property Services Manager, overseeing a very interesting and diverse estate.

Kenneth teaches predominantly on our Law and Professional Practice module, a core unit which every Surveying MSc student studies during their time on the course. He also oversees the Facilities Management module on our Building Surveying pathway, which draws heavily on his industry knowledge and experience. Find out more about Kenneth here.

John Holmes

John Holmes is one of the primary academics on our Sustainable Construction and Technology module, which delves into the fundamentals of construction technology in the context of mitigating climate change. First joining Northumbria in 1988, John has honed a strong research interest in construction technology and land economics. A member of the Association of Building Engineers and Society for the Environment, he is also a BREEAM accredited professional and has carried out a number of assessments for large scale projects in the region, focusing on environmental, social and economic sustainability performance. Discover more about John’s expertise here.