Pre-sessional Senior Team

The Senior Pre-sessional Team are responsible for developing the course and ensuring it is delivered effectively. We are also there to support you while you are studying on the Pre-sessional course. You can find out more about us below.

Robert Hughes

Head of Pre-sessional Programmes

Robert holds a BA (Hons) in English Literature from the University of Sussex and an MA in Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching from King’s College London, for which he was awarded the Language, Discourse & Communication Outstanding Master’s Student Prize. He also has the Trinity TESOL and the Cambridge DELTA (distinction).

Robert has been working on the Pre-sessional since 2016, and began writing materials and helping coordinate the programme in 2018. He is responsible for the development, delivery and management of all academic aspects of the CLIE Pre-sessional programmes.

Yasha Sosenskiy

Pre-sessional Senior Coordinator (Digital Development)

Yasha has a first degree in International Relations from the University of Edinburgh, an MA in English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics from King’s College London, and the Cambridge DELTA.

He has been teaching for about 15 years and has worked as an English language teacher in Colombia, Chile, France, Turkey, Cambodia, and the USA. In the UK, he has taught Digital Literacy, Academic English, and Politics at various Higher Education institutions.

Yasha has been working at CLIE since 2018. He is responsible for the development and design of the digital platforms, systems, and processes in use on the course. He specialises in task automation and data management using Microsoft Power Platforms and is working towards his PL-100 Microsoft Power Platform App Maker certification.

Janeane Owens

Pre-sessional Senior Coordinator (Student Experience)

Janeane has over 20 years experience teaching at universities and educational institutions in China, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Tunisia, Poland and the UK. She has been working at CLIE since 2011 and has taught on and coordinated the Pre-sessional Course since 2015. She is responsible for student support and ensuring Pre-sessional students have a positive experience on the course.

Janeane has a Bachelor's degree in History and a Master’s in Applied Linguistics for Language Teaching. In addition, she holds a Trinity Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CertTESOL), a Cambridge Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (DELTA), and a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching English for Academic Purposes. She became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2015.

Ian Newby

Pre-sessional Senior Coordinator (Assessment)

Ian has been involved in teaching and coordinating pre-sessional courses at CLIE since 2008 and has worked on pre-sessional assessment development and validation since 2018.

Ian has a first degree in Earth Sciences and a Master's degree in Information and Communications Technology in Education as well as the Cambridge Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (DELTA). He is currently carrying out post-graduate research on test development and validation in EAP.

Heather McClean

Pre-sessional Senior Coordinator (Academic)

Heather has over 25 years’ English teaching experience, and worked in Japan, the USA, and Spain before settling in the UK. For the last 11 years, she has been working in Higher Education, teaching and leading Pre-sessional English programmes and Academic English programmes at other UK institutions, and working as an IELTS examiner. Most recently, she worked in Educational Development at Queen Mary University of London.

Heather has a first degree in International Business Communication, an MA in Applied Linguistics and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and the Cambridge Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (DELTA). She was awarded Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2021.

Melissa Corlett

Pre-sessional Associate Lecturer

Melissa is a teacher, teacher trainer and educational materials writer. She holds an MSc in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition from the University of Oxford and a Cambridge DELTA. She has also completed a certificate in Effective Online Course Design at the University of Oxford.

Melissa has been teaching for over 16 years and has worked in the United Kingdom, Russia and Italy. Before joining CLIE in 2020, she taught Academic English at the Royal College of Art and trained new language teachers for the Trinity TESOL and Diploma teaching qualifications. She is a published materials writer and has written English Language Teaching materials for Pearson and Oxford University Press.

Ben Nazer

Pre-sessional Associate Lecturer

Ben has been teaching for over 17 years. He has worked on UCL Pre-sessional courses at CLIE since 2018. Previous to this, he taught Academic English at the University of Greenwich and at various international colleges.

He has an MA in Applied Linguistics and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education and a Diploma in English Language Teaching. He was awarded Fellowship of Advance Higher Education in 2020.

Andrew Hewitt

Pre-sessional Associate Lecturer

Andrew graduated in English and Philosophy (Hons) from the University of Leeds and then completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) in Secondary English. He also completed the CELTA qualification with Trinity College and the DELTA with the University of Cambridge.

He has been teaching since 2002 and has worked at language institutes in the UK, Japan, Oman, Libya, Colombia and the UAE, mainly working for the British Council. He has been working at CLIE since 2019 as a Teaching Fellow and Digital Materials Writer.

Heather Spence

Pre-sessional Associate Lecturer

Heather has been an English language teacher since 2007 and has specialised in English for Academic Purposes since 2014. Prior to joining the Pre-sessional team at the CLIE in 2021, they taught in Japan, Slovakia, Germany and in the UK at the University of Bristol and University of Dundee.

Heather completed the CELTA in 2008. They have a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry with Pharmacology from the University of Dundee and an MSc in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from the University of Stirling. Heather became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2019.

Thomas Hayward

Pre-sessional Associate Lecturer

Thomas started writing teaching materials for the CLIE in 2021. He has over 10 years’ teaching experience, including at UCL, the Freie Universität Berlin, the Berlin School of Economics and Law, and the University of Sheffield. He has also worked as an IELTS Examiner for the British Council.

Since graduating with a First in German and History (University of Sheffield), Thomas has completed a Cambridge CELTA, a Cambridge DELTA (Distinction), and an MA in Applied Linguistics with TESOL (Distinction, University of Sheffield).

Cameron Dean

Pre-sessional Associate Lecturer

Cameron has been teaching and involved in education since 2005. In that time, he has taught in Australia, the United States, the UK and for over 10 years in Türkiye as well as being an accredited IELTS examiner for the British Council and IDP. He has worked on a variety of pre-sessional, in-sessional and IFP programmes with experience in writing curricula, materials, assessments and teacher training. He has worked on CLIE pre-sessional courses since 2019 and prior to joining the team full-time in 2024 was at the University of Bristol.

Cameron holds an MA TESOL from UCL’s Institute of Education, a Cambridge CELTA & DELTA, a BA in History & Politics (Curtin University, Australia) and is currently working towards an HEA Fellowship.