I am an experienced leader, policy adviser and practitioner in HE. Passionate about promoting social justice and enhancing student engagement and improving the skills, insights and confidence of staff. As Senior Academic Practice Adviser at the University of Chester and leader of a HE Citizenship module on the PG Cert programme, I aim to engage staff in critical dialogue on the forms and nature of service in higher education.

As a former editor-in-chief of a peer reviewed institutional HE journal, I greatly enjoy engaging with early career and experienced practitioners to encourage dissemination of research findings and reflections on their practice. I have guided several institutional curriculum and student-led projects and am passionate about all aspects of student representation and engagement. I am a member of the University of Chester's Student Sucess Subcommittee and Wellbeing Steering Group.

Outside Chester, I am a Trustee at Liverpool Hope Students’ Union and a Charter Assessor for the mental health charity Students’ Minds. Stemming from experiences of international fieldwork, I devote time to championing sustainability in HE, and serve as a Green Impact Assessor for SOS-UK.  I am an active member of the editorial committee of SEDA's Educational Developments (since 2018) and have served as a member of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (ISSoTL) Advocacy Committee, supporting the Calgary, Bergen and Atlanta conferences.

A selection of recent academic opinion pieces and magazine columns:

Mistry, V. (2024) Hygieia unbound: Nursing education and the making of the NHS. Educational Developments, 25 (2), pp. 4-7.

Mistry, V. (2023) Recognising the therapeutic university: Challenges and opportunities. Educational Developments, 24 (1), pp. 6-10. 

Mistry, V. (2022) Atrocity exhibition: Crisis in Ukraine and its insights for educational developers. Educational Deveopments. 23 (4), pp. 1-4

Mistry, V. (2022) De-CO2-lonising the curriculum after COP26. Educational Developments. 23 (1), pp. 22-25.