Dr Victoria Taylor

Senior Lecturer In Biology

School of Life, Health & Chemical Sciences

vicky.taylor@open.ac.uk

Biography

Professional biography

I joined the OU in late 2006 from the Department of Metabolic Medicine, Imperial College London. Prior to that I have held positions at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) field station and the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW). I started as a Lecturer in Health Sciences and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in Biology in 2015.

I was elected Fellow (FRSB) of the Royal Society of Biology (RSB) in 2021, having previously held Chartered Biologist (CBiol) status with the Institute of Biology (IoB).
I've been awarded Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Authority (SFHEA).
I served on the SRF (Society for Reproduction & Fertility) Council of Management 2013-6.

See links on the right for detailed publications info.

Research interests

My broad research interests involve the inter-relationships between nutrition and reproduction, with a particular focus on the gastrointestinal (GI) system. Current research efforts are focusing on the mouse gut microbiome and whether we can unlock volatile organic compound (VOC) signatures from their faecal waste material and relate them to gut bacterial diversity and composition to apply them as non-invasive indicators/signals for a clearer understanding of how they alter during health and disease. This is interdisciplinary work with colleagues at Brunel and Lancaster Universities.

Earlier research has revealed the more involved roles of the recently discovered appetite hormones (ghrelin, peptide-YY, glucagon-like hormone-1) produced by the GI tract in feeding and structural changes that occur during the reproductive cycle, pregnancy and lactation. The poster: Gut hormones and the regulation of appetite held first place in an ORO download list and more recently, our Reproduction (2019) publication from this prize-winning work (2015) has been cited in Nature (November 2020). Understanding the mechanisms behind physiological shifts and the influence of maternal energy status on developing offspring provides important insights for human health management. Some aspects of this are covered in my invited review article for the 2022 Special issue on: Perspectives on Homeostasis of Lactation: back to the mother in Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology.

Previous research interests have included:

revealing the roles of the appetite hormones (ghrelin, peptide-YY: PYY, glucagon-like hormone-1: GLP-1) produced by the gastrointestinal tract of rodents in feeding and structural changes that occur during the reproductive cycle, pregnancy and lactation;
the endocrinology, metabolism and reproductive health of high yielding dairy cows and interactions between their nutritional status and ovarian function;
reproductive health in captive Asian elephants;
immune responses in common and grey seals.

Active research areas cover: microbiome and VOCs; hormone interactions during different metabolic states, focusing on appetite regulation by gut-brain hormones, especially during development, pregnancy and lactation.

Subject specialities include: reproductive physiology; endocrinology; nutrition; metabolism; obesity.

Teaching interests

Royal Society of Biology (RSB) Accreditation Lead (achieving first accreditation of R58 and Q64 biology degrees in May 2020 with annual reporting until 2024 and re-accreditation with first R58 graduates)
Biology Qualification Director (R58) from university first approval in November 2019 to August 2020
Associate Programme Director (APD)/Qualification Lead (QL) for the Biology pathway (Q64) from February 2014 to August 2020
- www.open.ac.uk/biology
- https://twitter.com/Biology_OU
Production Module Team Chair, author and critical reader: S286 Biodiversity: Survival in a Changing World
Presentation Module Team Chair and Award Board Chair 2014-2023: S295 The Biology of Survival
Presentation team member for biology on SXB390 and precursor SXL390 Researching biology and health science
Production team member - critical reader SK190 Human Biology: a body in balance
S285 Investigative Approaches in Biology and Chemistry Production team member - critical reader
SK299 Human Biology Production team member and author of Reproduction and Fertility topic
Production Module Team Chair and author: S295 The Biology of Survival
Production team member and critical reader S317 Biological Science: from genes to species
Topic leader, author and Topic Specialist: SXL288/SXHL288 Practical Science: Animal Physiology - Cold Adaptation, a virtual practical based on real experiments
Author on Long term health conditions courses: SK121 Understanding Cardiovascular Diseases and SDK122 Challenging Obesity.
S210/211/212 Health Sciences iCMA assessment
Courses during presentation: S104 Exploring Science; SDK122 Challenging Obesity; SK277/SK(YN)277 Human Biology; SXL390 Project course
Study adviser S829 Medical Physics (2010-12)
Tutor on SXR374 Residential school, Fat - the physiology of adipose tissue (2007)

I also work on multiple teaching assets within The OpenScience Laboratory: http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/open-science/

and the OpenLiving Lab.

OSL was awarded Queen's Anniversary Prize 2023/4 (see profile photo!)
OpenScience Laboratory THE Awards Outstanding ICT Initiative of the Year Project Leader and Academic Investigator (Dept of Life, Health & Chemical Sciences)

Scholarship posters and talks

Gauci, H, Robson, J, Golding, J, Wallace, J, Taylor, V, Dyson, M, Lawson, C, Waters, L, Hayley-Mirnar, V (2021) Impact of introducing new practical and dataset project options to the science undergraduate capstone project module (S390). eSTEeM project poster.

Janet Haresnape, Vicky Taylor, Hannah Gauci (2021) S295: A successful assessment strategy for even in times of Covid, 2^nd Annual STEM Teaching Conference, 3^rd March 2021, Parallel session 2, meeting room 3, talk 3, recording available on webpage: video starts at 44:08

Robson, J, Crabb, E, Lotz, N, Loughlin, AJ, Taylor V (2019) Student buddies – one to many peer mentoring. eSTEeM Annual Conference 2019 poster, The Open University.

Catherine Halliwell, Vikki Haley, Julie Robson, Vicky Taylor and Elaine Moore (2016) Study of online modules – impact on the tutors. Poster abstract p58. The 5th eSTEeM Annual Conference 2016 STEM Futures: Lifelong Learning in the Digital Age Conference Booklet 14-15 April 2016 www.open.ac.uk/esteem, poster on p83.

Vicky Taylor, David Robinson, Adele Clegg and Manfusa Shams (2016) Can webcam video of animal behaviour offer students practical experience? Poster abstract p53. The 5th eSTEeM Annual Conference 2016 STEM Futures: Lifelong Learning in the Digital Age Conference Booklet 14-15 April 2016 www.open.ac.uk/esteem, poster on p69.

Moore, E, Taylor, VJ, Everett, B, Maseyk, K, Haley, V, Halliwell, C, Moffat, J and Moat, R (2015) Students’ study of online modules. 4^theSTEeM Annual Conference; Thursday 16^th April 2015, The Open University.

Taylor, VJ and, Phillips, J (2011) Virtual Animal Research Facility with embedded Interactive Screen Experiments. The OpenScience Laboratory launch, 24 July 2013, The Royal Society, London. Laptop and iPad demonstration of SX(H)L288 animal physiology rat lab.

Scholarship Research (and funding)

2021 Impact of introducing new practical and dataset project options to the science undergraduate capstone project module (S390) | eSTEeM (open.ac.uk), eSTeEM project 2021

2015 WOSL 2.0 and OpenSTEM Lab Wolfson bid

2014-5 eSTEeM-funded project Student’s study of online modules [see Scholarship posters]

2015 Haresnape, J (2015) Use of a Moodle Questionnaire on a module website, to gather feedback from students on an online activity they had undertaken, 4^theSTEeM Annual Conference; Thursday 16^th April 2015, The Open University. [based on SEP project, 2014 below]

2014 Student Experience Programme (SEP) Analytics Project: real-time student feedback

Impact and engagement

I work on a range of BBC/OU co-productions, that have included: BBC Radio 4 Rare Earth series (as LHCS Sustainability Lead) and BBC Ideas at The Open University - Nature and the environment | BBC Partnership

I have been an Academic consultant on the BBC/OU Planet Earth III, The Hunt and Life Story natural history series and am involved with a new wildlife series for 2025 (watch this space!).

Outreach Broadcasting Awards (and nominations) Summary with full details following below:

BBC/OU co-productions: The Hunt (Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, Royal Television Awards, The Grierson Awards, Wildscreen Panda Awards, BAFTA Craft Awards, Thomson Reuters Award for Communicating Zoology, RTS South West Awards)
Life Story (Royal Television Awards, Wildscreen Panda Awards)

2024 OU/BBC win at the 2024 Shorty Awards: the Habitat Explorer app produced to support the OU/BBC series Planet Earth III won the Gold Honour in Creative Use of Technology at the 9th Annual Shorty Impact Awards (scroll down to watch video)

2023 The OU Playlist on BBC Ideas - The Open University - Partnership or Collaboration Winner - Anthem Awards

2015-17 The Hunt (BBC/OU co-production broadcast series) nominated and winners of:

Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival 2017 - https://www.jhfestival.org/2017-film-competition.html
- Winner of Best Conservation Film: The Hunt: Living with Predators and Winner Best Editing: The Hunt: Hide and Seek
Royal Television Society Awards 2017 www.televisual.com/news-detail/C4-shows-dominate-RTS-Awards-shortlist_nid-6427.html
- The Hunt: The Hardest Challenge won in the Science and Natural History category.
The Grierson Awards 2016
- The Hunt: The Hardest Challenge were winners of the Televisual Best Natural History Documentary announced at a ceremony on 21 March, awards videos here. OU Life coverage: https://intranet.open.ac.uk/ouintra/story.aspx?id=30760
Wildscreen Panda Awards 2016
- The Hunt scooped three awards at this prestigious event in Bristol on Thursday 13^th October 2016.The awards celebrate and honour the very best talent in the industry. Sir David Attenborough made a special appearance to open the ceremony. OU Life coverage: http://intranet.open.ac.uk/ouintra/story.aspx?id=30698. Also video on https://twitter.com/Biology_OU
BAFTA craft awards
- The Hunt won two craft awards and was nominated for Best Specialist Factual programme and the TV BAFTA awards but didn’t win those. http://ounews.co/around-ou/tv-radio/bafta-success-ou-documentary/
Thomson Reuters Award for Communicating Zoology 2015. The Hunt won this important award by the Zoological Society of London.