Dr Andrea Jimenez Dalmaroni

Research

My research addresses one of the defining challenges facing higher education: how universities can prepare students and educators to thrive in a rapidly changing world shaped by artificial intelligence and technological innovation. Bringing together physics education research, human–computer interaction, artificial intelligence, immersive technologies, career development, assessment, and the learning sciences, I investigate how evidence-based educational innovation can transform STEM learning, teaching, assessment, and professional development across higher education.

My research programme is organised around four interconnected themes that together investigate how educational innovation can prepare people to learn, work, and flourish in an AI-enabled world.

1. Intelligent and Immersive Learning Environments for STEM Education

This research explores how artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, and human–computer interaction can be used to design the next generation of STEM learning environments. My work investigates how intelligent and immersive technologies can make abstract scientific concepts more accessible, promote deeper conceptual understanding, and support new forms of inquiry-based learning. More broadly, I seek to understand how emerging technologies can strengthen the human processes of learning, experimentation, creativity, and scientific reasoning.

Current research collaborators

• Dr Nervo Verdezoto Dias (School of Computer Science and Informatics, Cardiff University)

• Dr Oussama Metatla (Bristol Interaction Group, University of Bristol)

• Prof. Gildo Girotto (Institute of Chemistry, State University of Campinas, Brazil)

2. Career Development and Employability in the AI Era

This research examines how university experiences shape students' career aspirations, professional identity, confidence, employability, and career decision-making in an era increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence. Drawing on Social Cognitive Career Theory, I investigate how innovative curriculum design, embedded employability education, industrial placements, and emerging technologies influence students' career development and the pathways they pursue after graduation. By integrating employability within the curriculum rather than treating it as a separate activity, this research aims to understand how universities can empower graduates to navigate increasingly dynamic, interdisciplinary, and technology-rich careers.

Current research collaborators

• Prof. Ben Zwickl (Rochester Institute of Technology, USA)

3. Assessment and Feedback for Learning in STEM Education

Assessment and feedback play a fundamental role in shaping how students learn, yet traditional approaches often struggle to capture the complex knowledge, skills, and ways of thinking required in contemporary STEM education. This research investigates how assessment and feedback can be redesigned to better support learning, inclusion, authentic scientific practice, and the development of higher-order thinking. I develop and evaluate innovative approaches that integrate assessment and feedback to promote critical thinking, self-directed learning, meaningful reflection, and equitable opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding and develop as independent learners.

4. Professional Development for Evidence-Based STEM Education Innovation

Despite decades of evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of evidence-based teaching approaches, their widespread and sustained adoption across higher education remains a significant challenge. This research investigates how academics develop the confidence, agency, and professional expertise required to implement, evaluate, and sustain educational innovation. Through longitudinal studies of professional development, I examine the personal, social, and institutional factors that enable lasting change in university teaching, generating new evidence on how academics translate education research into transformative educational practice.

Teaching

At Cardiff University:

• PX2232 - Optics
• PX2141 - Pathways to Success in the Physics Workplace
• PX3153 - Environmental Physics
• PX3315 - Physics Project (supervision of 3rd and 4th Year student projects)
• PX9001 - Professional Placement Programme
• Academic tutor for Year 1, and personal tutor for Years 1 to 4.

At University College London:

I have led an active learning project in collaboration with Prof. Ian Ford, in the module Advanced Topics in Statistical Mechanics (PHASM/G228) .

I have also run the " Active Futures in STEM Education" Workshop at the UCL Arena Centre, to provide academic staff across the STEM subjects with an introduction to the latest research on how students learn science. The sessions aims to support effective innovation in teaching practices. Therefore, the sessions take a hands-on approach, applying evidence-based ideas to the instructional activities created by the participants, and giving help and feedback on practical implementation. The workshop is based on a training programme developed in the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative (CWSEI) at the University of British Columbia, with an integrated vision of science education for the 21st century.

Biography

Honours and awards

• Cardiff University and Cardiff Students' Union Enriching Student Life Award (ESLA) "Most Outstanding Learning Experience", 2026.
• Cardiff University Excellence Award in Teaching and Scholarship 2021.
• Provost Education Award, category "Education Success for All", University College London, 2021.
• Visiting Professorship, Physics Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, 2019.
• Visiting Professorship, Physics Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, 2018.

Professional memberships

• Regular member of the Institute of Physics (IOP).
• Regular member of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT).

Committees and reviewing

External

• Ordinary member, Institute of Physics (IOP) Higher Education Group Committee, UK, 2017 - 2025.
• External reviewer in the Period Programme Revalidation for the School of Physics, University of Bristol, 2019.

Internal

• Member of the Education and Student Experience Committee, Cardiff University, 2026 - present.
• Representative of the School of Physics and Astronomy on the University committee Task & Finish Steering Group, Innovation for All project, 2017-2018.
• Member of the School of Physics and Astronomy JUNO Committee, 2018.