Many hats to keep things fresh

Name : Chris Megone

Age : 48

Job : Director of the interdisciplinary applied ethics centre of excellence for teaching and learning, director of the MA in healthcare ethics, knowledge transfer director for the faculty of arts, and senior lecturer in philosophy at Leeds University. I've just become a National Teaching Fellow.

Salary : Top of the senior lecturer scale - but I'm never going to be rich.

Practical training/education/background : I've always been a philosopher - I studied classics and a PhD at Oxford, then had a less happy stint at York University before coming to Leeds, which has been pretty good on the whole.

Working hours and conditions : 8.30am to at least 6pm most days with some evening and weekend work. In summer I try to play fairly serious cricket at weekends, and I try to fit family in all year round.

Number of students you teach/staff you manage or work with: In the centre we shall soon be ten staff, and I teach about 100 to 150 students a year.

In addition, knowledge-transfer work is taking me all around the arts faculty and beyond.

Biggest challenge : Organising a life wearing several different hats. People often remember what you've not done rather than what you've achieved.

How you solved it: I don't think I have - I'm a bit of a worrier.

Worst moment in university life : Being told I had a permanent job and then ten days later being told I hadn't. It was a long time ago now, and fortunately everything worked out.

What is your office like? After years of sharing rather dark offices with one or even two colleagues I still share but at least do so in a nice light space. Also, the Cetl building is great.

What university facilities do you use? Just the library and my office space really. I'd love to do more sport, but there is no time.

Do you socialise with people at the university? Yes, with colleagues in the centre and in philosophy, mainly for meals or a drink, but occasionally we go to cricket. I think I'm very lucky in that both are very friendly set-ups.

Do you interact much with other departments? One of the really good things about the centre has been its interdisciplinary nature, which has allowed for interaction with colleagues all over the university, from engineering to design to business to media studies. This has been a great breath of fresh air.