For list of all nominees (Roll of Honour) click here.
For more info about SCTA click here.
Outstanding Support for Teaching
Outstanding Researcher Development
Outstanding Teaching
Ms Caren Levy - The UCL Bartlett Development Planning Unit
Caren Levy is a Senior Lecturer at The Bartlett DPU, UCL. An urban development planner, she has over 30 years’ experience of teaching, research, training and consultancy. She works on planning, community-led development and governance, with a focus on transport, housing and land management in urban areas in the Global South. She has a special interest in the institutionalization of social justice in policy and planning, particularly related to the crosscutting issues of gender, diversity and the environment. Strongly linked to practice, she has developed innovatory approaches to planning methodology, planning education and capacity building. She works both in London and in a range of countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. She is currently the Co Director of the MSc Urban Development Planning and Vice Dean International for the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, UCL, and was a former Director of the DPU.
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Dr David Thornalley - UCL Department of Geography
David is interested in understanding the role of the ocean in past, present and future climate change. He has a particular interest in the North Atlantic and the causes, consequences and likelihood of abrupt changes in its circulation (think The Day After Tomorrow movie - but less extreme!). David obtained a MSci and PhD (Geological Sciences) from the University of Cambridge before taking up postdoctoral research positions at Cardiff University and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA. He moved back to the UK in 2013 to take up a lectureship at UCL. The majority of David’s teaching is on final year undergraduate and MSc courses in paleoclimatology and paleoceanography. Key aims of these courses are to introduce students to ongoing scientific debates and how to evaluate the relevant evidence, but more importantly, to enthuse students about the ability of scientific research to discover something previously unknown about the world around us.
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Dr Leun Otten - UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences
Leun Otten is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience where she leads a research group on human memory and the brain. She joined UCL in 1999 after training in the Netherlands, UK, United States, and Canada. Passionate about integrating research and teaching, Leun makes widespread contributions to educational excellence at UCL. She developed and teaches courses on neuroimaging methods and cognitive neuroscience at undergraduate, Masters and PhD levels, and is Programme Director of the MSc and MRes in Cognitive Neuroscience. Leun’s teaching is characterised by an ability to explain complex material in an accessible and engaging way, and by employing diverse methods for teaching delivery and assessment such as personalised video feedback, social media, quizzes, and podcasts. Leun is dedicated to the personal development of students and their wellbeing, and inspiring colleagues in their teaching. She holds various supporting and administrative roles to improve educational policies and practices at UCL.
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Mr Tim Williams - UCL Institute of Archaeology
Tim Williams is an urban archaeologist who worked for the Department of Urban Archaeology (Museum of London) between 1981 and 1991, and then was Head of Archaeology Commissions at English Heritage before joining UCL in 2002. Over the years, he has undertaken long-running research projects in Beirut, Lebanon and Merv, Turkmenistan. As a current International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) expert member, Tim is working on the UNESCO ‘South Asia Silk Roads’ project, which includes the development of Bhutan’s national inventory. Tim also specialises in the management of archaeological sites and their relevance to 21st century communities. Alongside these commitments, Tim is Programme Co-ordinator of the MA in Managing Archaeological Sites and (with Dominic Perring) the MA in Urban Archaeology. He is also Editor in Chief of the journal Conservation & Management of Archaeological Sites.
Outstanding Support for Teaching
Mr Andrew King - UCL European Social & Political Studies
Andrew King has been working as the European Social and Political Studies (ESPS) Programme Administrator for almost three years, having previously worked in the UCL German Department. Andrew very much enjoys working in student-facing roles and gets a lot of satisfaction from providing support to students and helping them with their queries and issues. ESPS is a multidisciplinary degree programme in which students pursue a varied programme of study combining at least one foreign language and one social science specialism. This results in some complex and challenging problems and queries to be dealt with but also makes the role very interesting and rewarding. ESPS attracts an international and high-achieving cohort of students who are (for the most part!) a pleasure to interact with. Andrew is currently half-way through a part-time MA at Birkbeck so can also partially encounter the student experience from the other side.
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Dr Angela Poulter - UCL EGA Institute for Women's Health (IfWH)
Angela has worked at the UCL EGA Institute for Women’s Health for four years as Graduate Administrator, supporting the Department’s MSc programmes and looking after research students. Although currently based in the Faculty of Population Health Sciences, Angela received her PhD in ancient history. So, while leaving the delivery of scientific and clinical education to the Institute’s world class academics and clinicians, she is delighted to play a part in ensuring UCL students have a quality experience. Prior to life as a teaching administrator, Angela has had a variety of administrative and academic roles in higher education at UCL and at Birkbeck College. She has also worked for a global engineering consultancy, and briefly for Ofsted. After many years of part time study, Angela recently completed her training as a psychotherapist and has experience as a volunteer counsellor at City Lit and with the mental health charity Mind.
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Dr Maria Carmen Vida - UCL Institute of Archaeology
Originally from Spain, Carmen moved to the UK to study Archaeology. She later trained as a Conservator at UCL’s Institute of Archaeology, and graduated from the MSc with Distinction. She has completed internships at the British Museum and the Museum of London, and has worked as a project conservator for the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge. She is currently the Teaching Assistant for the MSc in Conservation for Archaeology and Museums, where her much enjoyed role involves, among other things, supervising the lab work of MSc students, one to one object-based teaching, demonstrations, and being there to help students with any queries. She is also a researcher for the UCL-Qatar ‘Coming Clean Project’, and for UCL’s ‘Transitional Objects Project’. Carmen has volunteered twice with ‘Heritage without Borders’ to teach and run conservation schools in Sarajevo and Kosovo, and to train local heritage professionals from post-conflict areas in conservation skills. She has also been involved in other conservation and museum public engagement activities in the UK.
Outstanding Personal Support
Mrs Anna Casey - UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences
After graduating with a first class honour degree in Modern Languages, Anna relocated to London and embarked on a career in administration. Her first post at the International School of London brought many challenges as well as many opportunities to learn new skills. After five happy years at ISL, Anna moved to UCL where she has been on and off for the last 20 years. She joined the division of Psychology and Language Sciences in 2009 as course administrator for the MSc Speech and Language Sciences. Anna maintains a harmonious flow of applicants, students, graduates and academics through this demanding and much demanded course. Pastoral care is a big and gratifying part of her role, which takes her contact and relationship with students beyond the realms of administration, to enjoying their successes and supporting them through crises. Outside of work, Anna loves singing, though singing definitely does not love her back, technology, which loves her back a little more, travelling, and has a very happy relationship with good food and fine wines.
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Ms Judy Medrington - UCL Institute of Archaeology
Judy Medrington has been working with students at the Institute of Archaeology for 40 years. She is responsible for the academic administration of the Institute, but regards the pastoral care of students as the top priority. She operates an Open Door policy and is particularly concerned with the promotion of student satisfaction and ensuring that students in difficulties receive prompt, constructive support. She stresses to students the importance of volunteering and of becoming involved in a wide range of activities whilst at UCL. She works closely with the Department’s elected student representatives who play a very active part in the Institute, as well as with the Director, those who hold Tutorial Posts (especially the Departmental Tutor) and her administrative colleagues in the Department, Faculty and Registry. She is the Institute’s Disabilities Co-ordinator and an Equal Opportunities Officer, and liaises with UCL’s Student Support and Wellbeing staff on a regular basis.
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Dr Wendy Kirk - UCL Department of Earth Sciences
Wendy Kirk came to UCL into what was then the Geology Department in December 1976, at a time when there were around 5,500 undergraduate students at UCL. Wendy started as Curator for the Geology Collections, but gradually took on demonstrating, a part-time PhD, fieldwork and teaching. There have been lots of changes over the years: the Geology Collections now form part of the UCL Museums and Collections and have a much higher profile than formerly. There are many more students, bigger classes, and a personal tutor system that didn’t exist when she joined. A decade ago Wendy was asked to take on the role of Undergraduate Tutor in Earth Sciences, and then four years ago to act in a similar capacity as Programme Tutor for Natural Sciences. Wendy believes that being able to interact with students is one of the best parts of her job, and often the most rewarding.
Outstanding Researcher Development
Prof. Frank Kozielski -UCL School of Pharmacy
Frank Kozielski studied chemistry with an emphasis on biochemistry at the University of Hamburg, Germany and the University of Seville, Spain. He received his PhD from Hamburg University while working at the Max- Planck Working Groups for Structural Biology at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg. After his PhD he moved to Grenoble, France where he worked for 10 years at the French Atomic Commission (CEA) on human kinesins. In 2007 Frank joined the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, Cancer Research UK, Scotland as a senior group leader and became professor at Glasgow Medical School at the University of Glasgow. In 2013, he moved to the School of Pharmacy, University College London, to become chair at the Department of Pharmaceutical and Biological Chemistry. He currently teaches “Cancer Therapeutics” for 3rd and 4th year undergraduate students and “Drug discovery” for postgraduate MSc Drug Discovery students. His current research interests involve kinesins as potential targets for drug development in cancer chemotherapy.
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Prof. Paul Basu - UCL Institute of Archaeology
Paul Basu has a long-standing association with UCL: first as a Masters and PhD student in the Anthropology Department, then as a postdoctoral fellow, also in Anthropology, and finally as a Reader at the Institute of Archaeology, where he returned in 2009 after a few years teaching at Sussex University. Paul is an anthropologist specializing in cultural heritage, material culture, memory and landscape. For the past 12 years his research has focused on West Africa. He is the coordinator of UCL’s internationally recognised MA in Museum Studies. Between 2009 and 2012 he ran a large AHRC-funded research project entitled ‘Reanimating Cultural Heritage’, which explored the ability of museum collections and heritage to contribute to strengthening civil society in post-conflict Sierra Leone. His books include Highland Homecomings (2007), Exhibition Experiments (2007) and Museums, Heritage and International Development (2015). Of the various challenges and responsibilities of academic life, Paul rates working alongside research students as one of the most fulfilling. He recalls his own PhD research being a life-changing experience and considers it a privilege to share in the learning journeys of his supervisees.
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Dr Gabriel Moshenska - UCL Institute of Archaeology
Gabriel Moshenska has remained attached to UCL with limpet-like tenacity since arriving in 2001 to start a BSc in Archaeology. Alongside fieldwork in London and Hampshire, Gabriel’s research focuses on the history of scientific studies of Egyptian mummies; the archaeology of Second World War air raid shelters; and the public understanding of the past. Having written an assortment of books and articles, Gabriel is currently trying to publish most of his research as comics: an experiment in both public engagement and professional self-sabotage. Gabriel coordinates the MA in Public Archaeology and teaches the archaeology of modern conflicts as well as supervising PhDs across a range of topics. He derives a great deal of satisfaction from his students’ intellectual developments and achievements.
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