Encarni Montoya Profile Image

Encarni Montoya

Lecturer in Physical Geography

Tell me a little about your position and what you do on a day-to-day basis

I teach primarily about environmental change, long-term dynamics of human-environment interactions and tropical forests.

What is the best thing about working at the University of Liverpool?

My department colleagues.

You say that working with your colleagues is one the best things about working at the University – can you tell me a bit more about them?

This is by far the best thing I have found since I started working in Liverpool. The Geography and Planning team is the most welcoming, supportive, and positive environment in which I have worked so far. Special attention to my discipline-based closest colleagues, the physical geography staff.

What is the most challenging part of your job and how do you overcome this?

Finding time for carrying out my other duties besides teaching; you can always improve/modify a prepared lecture, tweak a bit the reading list, look for some interesting online resource to link to a lecture, etc… To overcome this, before the lockdown I tried to set up a fixed teaching-free day each week to secure a task balance, but now I just try my best in coping with whatever comes.

Which part of your role do you enjoy the most?

It might sound surprising after the former answer, but it’s the teaching. I really enjoy the interaction with students, to see their engagement with the content and discussions, to be part of their learning and growing as a person. I feel it can be a very nice contribution to society.

What is your proudest accomplishment so far?

I think I’m a good person.