Dr Jonathan McConnell
School of Health & Society
Current positions
Senior Lecturer
Biography
Jonathan qualified as a radiographer in 1986 and performed multiple radiographic roles including forensic imaging and providing a service for the prison service. In this first clinical spell he became a radiographer practitioner (an early term for advanced practice reporting radiographer) and clinical tutor as one of the first UK reporting radiographers in 1995.
From 1997 to 2001 he lectured at Bradford University and led the MSc Radiography course. There he developed the famous Bradford Red Dot course, adding to the postgraduate reporting course and creating a vascular and interventional postgraduate certificate. Moving on, between 2001 and 2005 as inaugural principal lecturer, he developed a new campus in Carlisle for radiography education and helped initiate the Higher Education Network for Radiography in Europe (HENRE) – the forerunner of the Educational Wing of the European Federation of Radiographer Societies. In 2005 he moved to Christchurch New Zealand to Head up undergraduate radiography and sat on the registration board for New Zealand. While in NZ he used the opportunity to work with colleagues nationally and helped develop an early form of a virtual teaching platform called VIPER. As academic advisor to the New Zealand registration board he performed course accreditation duties. In 2007 he took a senior lecturer post at Monash University in Melbourne Australia. Here he served on the Victoria State registration board education panel and the Australian Institute for Radiography and advised on Queensland Health’s radiographer image commenting system. Studying for a PhD with Monash University began in 2009 and continued as a part time student until successful completion in 2015, investigating how radiographer role development in image interpretation could enhance the professional position of radiographers in Australia.
Returning to the UK in 2011 via a lecturing position at Robert Gordon University Aberdeen, he took a Consultant Reporting Radiographer post at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in 2013. He sits/has sat on multiple UK professional body groups including Consultant Radiographers Advisory Group, the College of Radiographers (CoR) Diagnostic Imaging Advisory Group, the CoR Assessment and Accreditation Board and contributed to the editorial panels of Imaging and Therapy Practice (now called Insights) as well as an international Advisory Group member of ‘Radiography’ journal. Jonathan has reviewed submissions for multiple international journals. He has held/currently holds under and postgraduate external examiner roles at Teesside, Cardiff, London South Bank, Ulster and Derby Universities and is a CoR accredited assessor and consultant practitioner. Jonathan is supervising PhD students in areas of eye tracking linked to a teaching tool for chest image interpretation and evaluating radiographer confidence in Artificial Intelligence (AI) system use for commenting/reporting with Ulster University. He has examined PhD theses and contributes widely to various government and health board groups for advanced practice development and previously chaired the Reporting Radiographers Interest Group Scotland. He led the reporting team in Glasgow which received a national team award in 2016. Jonathan has held roles within the Scottish Clinical Imaging Network and the Scottish Radiology Transformation Programme. In July 2019 Jonathan received the Fellowship of the College of Radiographers reflecting service to the profession.
Lately Jonathan was the lead radiographer for the Yorkshire Imaging Network following a return to his home region and most recently took a Senior Lectureship at Salford University whilst maintaining an Honorary Professorial position at Ulster. Finally, Jonathan is a member of several steering groups including most recently the National Institute for Health Research Radiographer Research Incubator and internationally joining colleagues on the International Academic Network of the International Society for Radiographers and Radiologic Technologists (ISRRT).
Jonathan has published two books – ‘Interpreting Trauma Radiographs’ and ‘Index of Medical Imaging’, with chapters in three other books and is currently working on a new title aligned to AI He .has over 100 papers and presentations that are both national and international in nature. Jonathan is passionate about his professional area, strongly believing good education for radiographers will be a key component in ensuring the NHS can respond to the many challenges it faces.
Qualifications
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PhD
2009 - 2015 -
PgC Learning and Teaching in Higher Education
2003 - 2004 -
MSc Professional Studies (Radiography),
1995 - 1999 -
PgC Radiographic Image Interpretation
1995 - 1996 -
BSc (Open) Biomedical Sciences
1989 - 1998 -
Diploma of the College of Radiographers (Diagnostic)
1983 - 1986