Todd Landman's philosophy of teaching, education and delivering a good student experience rests on a fundamental commitment to the Socratic method. He firmly believes that students learn best when challenged to think on their own, where core content can be shared and learned in innovative ways; where students engage in progressive learning in ways that develop their knowledge and skills necessary for them to compete in an increasingly competitive and changing job market. At the University of Essex, he held the top teaching scores in the Department of Government and went on to deliver high quality content across numerous international teaching opportunities around the world.
He has been teaching since 1991 when he was engaged in his PhD program at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He was a teaching assistant for the large first-year course on comparative politics, delivering lectures for 400 students and leading seminar discussions. After a year as a senior research officer at the University of Essex (1993-1994) he has taught across a wide range of topics at all levels in the higher education sector.
His first teaching at Essex was to deliver first, second, and third-year courses on Latin American Politics and Development, Democracy and Human Rights. This content was then joined by specialist courses on social movements, comparative politics, comparative methods, and the philosophy of social science. He has supervised more than 10 PhD students to completion and has served on numerous supervisory boards across a wide range of PhD projects on Latin American politics (with a particular focus on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico), human rights, conflict, social protest, electoral behaviour, women’s political representation, and democracy.
While at Essex he developed new modules for undergraduate and graduate students. He led the development of a suite of undergraduate human rights degree programs. He led the development and consolidation of the MA in the Theory and Practice of Human Rights, and was one of the key architects of the European Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democratization , established in Venice in 1997. He led the PhD professional development course, and developed a curriculum for parliamentary strengthening for a £5 million project led by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID).
He has developed an engaging and energetic teaching style borne of many hours in lectures and seminars with fantastic professors at the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Essex, and University of Nottingham. He has drawn on the additional insights of exciting delivery of educational and substantive content through studying and performing magic and mentalism. In addition to being a professor of political science, he is also a visiting professor of performance magic at the University of Huddersfield.
As education becomes increasingly digital and more customized for the demands of the current generation of students, he is committed to providing the knowledge and skills for students to be successful in life. As Executive Dean at the University of Essex (2013-2015) he helped develop the Education Strategy, which included a mandatory third-year project for all undergraduate students. As Pro Vice Chancellor at the University of Nottingham (2015-2023) he was responsible for delivering excellent education and student experience, including maintaining staff-student ratios, suitable infrastructure, and high quality delivery of content and supportive materials for successful learning outcomes and strong prospects for employment.
The work undertaken at Nottingham helped contribute to the University receiving a top award of institutional gold in the United Kingdom’s Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). Each year, the Faculty works across schools to maximize its scores in the National Survey of Students (NSS), and in his role as PVC he worked with the senior leadership team from the Students Union. The changing demographic in the world sees increased demand for programs from students in Asia, Africa and Latin America. His experience at Nottingham, with mature campuses in Ningbo, China and outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia has broadened his understanding of the contours of internationalization.
He supervises three PhD students at Nottingham working on the origins of the UK and Australian modern slavery legislation, anti-slavery frameworks in post-conflict societies, and comparative anti-slavery law in Latin America. He has mentored four Nottingham Research Fellows (NRFs), and has taught on the module The Politics of Human Rights.
He has been teaching since 1991 when he was engaged in his PhD program at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He was a teaching assistant for the large first-year course on comparative politics, delivering lectures for 400 students and leading seminar discussions. After a year as a senior research officer at the University of Essex (1993-1994) he has taught across a wide range of topics at all levels in the higher education sector.
His first teaching at Essex was to deliver first, second, and third-year courses on Latin American Politics and Development, Democracy and Human Rights. This content was then joined by specialist courses on social movements, comparative politics, comparative methods, and the philosophy of social science. He has supervised more than 10 PhD students to completion and has served on numerous supervisory boards across a wide range of PhD projects on Latin American politics (with a particular focus on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico), human rights, conflict, social protest, electoral behaviour, women’s political representation, and democracy.
While at Essex he developed new modules for undergraduate and graduate students. He led the development of a suite of undergraduate human rights degree programs. He led the development and consolidation of the MA in the Theory and Practice of Human Rights, and was one of the key architects of the European Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democratization , established in Venice in 1997. He led the PhD professional development course, and developed a curriculum for parliamentary strengthening for a £5 million project led by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID).
He has developed an engaging and energetic teaching style borne of many hours in lectures and seminars with fantastic professors at the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Essex, and University of Nottingham. He has drawn on the additional insights of exciting delivery of educational and substantive content through studying and performing magic and mentalism. In addition to being a professor of political science, he is also a visiting professor of performance magic at the University of Huddersfield.
As education becomes increasingly digital and more customized for the demands of the current generation of students, he is committed to providing the knowledge and skills for students to be successful in life. As Executive Dean at the University of Essex (2013-2015) he helped develop the Education Strategy, which included a mandatory third-year project for all undergraduate students. As Pro Vice Chancellor at the University of Nottingham (2015-2023) he was responsible for delivering excellent education and student experience, including maintaining staff-student ratios, suitable infrastructure, and high quality delivery of content and supportive materials for successful learning outcomes and strong prospects for employment.
The work undertaken at Nottingham helped contribute to the University receiving a top award of institutional gold in the United Kingdom’s Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). Each year, the Faculty works across schools to maximize its scores in the National Survey of Students (NSS), and in his role as PVC he worked with the senior leadership team from the Students Union. The changing demographic in the world sees increased demand for programs from students in Asia, Africa and Latin America. His experience at Nottingham, with mature campuses in Ningbo, China and outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia has broadened his understanding of the contours of internationalization.
He supervises three PhD students at Nottingham working on the origins of the UK and Australian modern slavery legislation, anti-slavery frameworks in post-conflict societies, and comparative anti-slavery law in Latin America. He has mentored four Nottingham Research Fellows (NRFs), and has taught on the module The Politics of Human Rights.
