Dr Richard Fitzpatrick

Biomedical Sciences Lecturer (Zhejiang)

Contact details

Address

Street

ZJU-UoE Institute (ZJE)
University of Edinburgh
Hugh Robson Building
George Square

City
Edinburgh
Post code
EH8 9XD

Biography

Background

I'm a lecturer with a specific interest in how learning and memory works. I am especially interested in how brains, bodies, and environments interact. My background is in animal behavioural neuroscience and computational modelling, where I explored rodent spatial memory and rule-based modelling of synaptic biochemistry respectively. 

After my PhD I became a Curriculum Developer as part of the University of Edinburgh's partnership with Gujarat Biotechnology University. For 4.5 years I got to think more on the learning ecosystems we educate in, and how to harness these. It has given me a keen understanding of the holism of teaching, and the importance of narratives, concepts, and open communication.

I also do a lot of public engagement. I am the creator of Neuron Safari and was one of the supervisors in the creation of Minecraft: Disease Detectives. Minecraft: Disease Detectives. My postdoc work involved the day-to-day delivery and workshop development of one of the world’s largest Bioinformatics in Schools projects (4273pi.org), reaching over 700 pupils across Scotland.  

I love video games, and I have spent a lot of time designing video games for teaching and research, mainly in Minecraft. One of these, Minecraft Millport, has run at UoE since 2021 and is a virtual field trip for 3rd year Zoology undergraduates.  

Qualifications

2021 Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Integrative Physiology, The University of Edinburgh 

2016 Master of Science (MSc) in Cognitive Science, The University of Edinburgh 

2013 Bachelor of Science (BSc Hons) in Biological Sciences (Neuroscience), The University of Edinburgh 

Undergraduate teaching

Current Courses include:

Edinburgh

  • Field Zoology (via Project Millport)
  • Infection and Immunity (via Disease Detectives)

ZJE Institute

  • Integrative Biomedical Sciences 
  • Infection
  • Principles of Neuroscience
  • Computational Modelling & Machine Learning

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

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