Sam Smidt

Sam Smidt is a Professor and Academic Director of King’s Academy, the education development team at King’s College London. She holds a background in physics and has extensive experience in online/distance learning, capacity-building projects in Central Asia, Russia, and Bangladesh, and programme design. Her roles include leading similar initiatives at UCL and the Open University’s Faculty of Science.

She specializes in whole-programme approaches to learning design, having developed MOOCs on FutureLearn and short courses on UCL’s eXtend platform. As a member of AdvanceHE’s Fellowship and Accreditation Expert Advisory Group, she contributes to educational standards and accreditations through her work with the Institute of Physics.

Her professional recognitions include Principal Fellowship of the HEA, reflecting her leadership in higher education innovation and pedagogy.