Welcome to the 2022 Education Awards

The Student Choice Awards are a way for students to thank an amazing member of staff and let them know that their hard work makes a difference. Students were able to nominate academic and professional services staff for nine different award categories, including a new award for 2022 on Sustainable Education. A list of all staff who received a nomination can be found on our Roll of Honour.

Exceptional individuals and teams receive the Provost’s Education Award. These awards recognise staff making outstanding contributions to the learning experience and success of our students. 

The Academic Rep of the Year Awards celebrate those reps who went the extra mile to represent students and have worked with staff to make student’s academic experience better. 

See the shortlist for the awards - or scroll down to see today’s winners announcement.

Student Choice Awards

The Student Choice Awards are a way for students to thank an amazing member of staff and let them know that their hard work makes a difference. Students were able to nominate academic and professional services staff for nine different award categories, including a new award for 2022 on Sustainable Education.

Award for Inspiring Teaching Delivery

Winner: Ahmed Saadé

Associate Lecturer in Economics, Faculty of Social & Historical Sciences

Ahmed joined the Department of Economics at UCL in 2020 as a PGTA, becoming a Lecturer in the following year. He has studied at the American University in Beirut and Cranfield University, currently completing his PhD. Ahmed also works in other universities in the UK where he supervises dissertation modules at both undergraduate and graduate level.

“It is very hard, if not impossible, to find a teacher as engaging and enthusiastic as Ahmed Saadé. His passion for economics and for the transmission of knowledge clearly transpires and is passed upon to all of his students. He truly helps us in finding purpose and meaning in our studies. Concepts which often seem abstract, complex, and dull, suddenly become exciting and thought-provoking.”

Runner-up: Antonio d’Alfonso del Sordo

Postgraduate Teaching Assistant, Faculty of Mathematical & Physical Sciences

Antonio was born and raised in the south of Italy and joined UCL in 2017 as an undergraduate student in Mathematics and Physics. Last September, Antonio embarked on his PhD in Mathematical Physics and he was able to cultivate his passion for teaching in both the Mathematics and Physics departments.

“He went beyond and above consistently to ensure we understood content, provided extra revision material and lecture notes. On top of that he delivered the material in a fun and entertaining way as well as being incredibly friendly.”

“Brilliant, engaging tutorials. Very approachable and always eager to be of assistance”

Runner-up: Charmian Dawson

Lecturer (Teaching), Faculty of Life Sciences

After graduating from UCL in Molecular Biology, Charmian began working at UCL on a 6-month project to develop online-learning materials. Seventeen years later, she is still here, teaching Metabolic Biochemistry to students in Life Sciences and the Medical School. A particular area of interest is in using to technology to enhance the educational experience, for both learners and educators. Charmian has also worked on the project addressing the BAME Awarding Gap, which has led to an interest in improving the inclusivity of her teaching, focusing on the emotional perspectives that impact learning.

“Exceptional online teaching in an interactive, concise and effective manner. My favourite lecturer in the whole course, she’s absolutely brilliant.”

“She patiently explained everything and went over some difficult topic more than once. She even shared an anecdote in between which was hilarious. Although all the classes were online and pre-recorded, this one felt very interactive and enjoyable.”

Award for Excellent Personal Tutoring

Winner: David Scanlon

Professor of Computational Materials Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematical & Physical Sciences

David completed his BA(Mod) and PhD in Chemistry in Trinity College Dublin, graduating in 2011. He then joined UCL as a Ramsay Fellow in the Department of Chemistry, was appointed as a Lecturer in 2013, promoted to Reader in 2016 and to Professor in 2018. David leads a vibrant research group of 5 PDRA, 14 PhDs and 11 Masters students. In 2018, he was awarded the UCL Student Union Student Choice Award for "Outstanding Research Supervision". He has published over 250 papers in his career, and he is currently the Lead Editor for the new journal PRX Energy.

“Beyond the amazing personal support, David has consistently encouraged and pushed me to excel professionally and academically, while still giving me ‘room to breathe’ and allowing me to work according to the lifestyle I prefer. I think this flexibility to accommodate everyone’s work style… has really allowed myself and other group members to succeed while thoroughly enjoying the process!”

Runner-up: Abbie Bray

Associate Lecturer Centre for Doctoral Training in Delivering Quantum Technologies, Faculty of Mathematical & Physical Sciences

Abbie Bray is about to submit her PhD thesis in theoretical atomic physics, as well as being the Associate Lecturer for the CDT in Delivering Quantum Technologies. She is dedicated to accessible STEM education for all, and she prides herself in delivering fun and inclusive teaching. This passion has been cultivated from barriers she has faced in her career as someone who is neurodiverse, a woman and from a minoritized background. Abbie is Irish (traveller)-British from a working-class background, and alongside her studies has been an advocate for EDI within academia for many years. Abbie also likes cocktails, cheese, and trains!

“She has been a great help in my applications to PhD programs. Throughout the application process she had been very willing to schedule meetings outside of her normal working hours to discuss my application material and go through my statement of purpose multiple times to ensure that the application is completed at its best possible state.”

Runner-up: Ahmed Saadé

Associate Lecturer in Economics, Faculty of Social & Historical Sciences

Ahmed joined the Department of Economics at UCL in 2020 as a PGTA, becoming a Lecturer in the following year. He has studied at the American University in Beirut and Cranfield University, currently completing his PhD. Ahmed also works in other universities in the UK where he supervises dissertation modules at both undergraduate and graduate level.

“Whenever students feel insecure in their studies or face hardships in their personal lives, they know they can turn to him for guidance and great advice that isn't sugar coated, but actually works. I cannot even count the number of students who wanted to drop out of their course and changed their minds after just a chat with him.”

Award for Amazing Support Staff

Winner: Kate Moore

London NERC DTP Co-ordinator, Faculty of Social & Historical Sciences

Kate is the Co-ordinator of the London NERC DTP and support the manager with the day-to-day running of the partnership. Her key areas of responsibility are the administration of the London NERC DTP; co-ordination of the studentship competition and processes; maintaining and updating the DTP website. She is also responsible for providing general student support, overseeing the organisation of the undergraduate REP scheme and liaising with external associate partners to establish CASE partnerships and set up internships.

Kate was praised for helping students out when they had administrative difficulties, checking in on their wellbeing and making sure to find the answers to their questions. Students praised her for going above and beyond, making sure that everything runs smoothly, and that students are as informed as possible.

Runner-up: Alina Kim

Postgraduate Teaching Assistant, Faculty of Engineering Sciences

Born and raised in beautiful Almaty, Kazakhstan, Alina joined the UCL School of Management team as a Postgraduate Teaching Assistant upon her graduation from MSc Entrepreneurship in 2019. Here at School of Management she was able to cultivate her passion for teaching while staying closely connected to the exciting entrepreneurial world of London.

Witnessing students grow into confident founders ready to embark on their adventures is one of the highlights of the job for Alina. She particularly enjoys coaching students on successful pitching techniques and creating opportunities to practice them in real life setting of Dragons' Den style Pitch Day competitions.

“Alina is the most accessible and warm Teaching Assistant one can ask for. She truly makes students her first priority and helps make the learning experience fun for us!”

“She offers great guidance, actionable feedback and is very supportive of students.”

Runner-up: Stefanie Anyadi

Teaching and Learning Team Manager, Faculty of Brain Sciences

Supporting Linguistics undergraduate and Masters students has been a key part of her responsibilities since the last millennium. She loves the enthusiasm of students, and getting to know them. Seeing students develop during their time at UCL is really rewarding!
Over the years, she has also taken on other responsibilities at UCL, and the connection to students helps her see and feel the impact of policies and processes and motivates her to work towards continuous improvement.

“She provides the best advice and helps to find adjustments that are best suited to the student and each situation, and genuinely cares about helping others. I cannot stress enough what an amazing addition Stefanie is to UCL, and I have been so lucky to have her in my department.”

Award for Exceptional Feedback

Winner: Jorge Díaz-Cintas

Professor of Translation Studies, Engineering & Policy Practice, Faculty of Arts & Humanities

Jorge founded the Centre for Translation Studies at UCL in 2013, and was its director until 2016. A pioneer in audiovisual translation, he has trained translators-to-be across six continents, is a frequent speaker at international conferences and events, and has offered consultant services to the European Parliament, European Commission, NATO, OOONA and Netflix, among others. He is the author of numerous articles, special issues and books on audiovisual translation, including Subtitling: Concepts and Practices (with Aline Remael, 2021), and the recipient of the Jan Ivarsson Award (ESIST, 2014) and the Xènia Martínez Award (ATRAE, 2015) for invaluable services to the field of audiovisual translation.

“He always provides constructive, inspiring, tailored feedback on my essays, helping me to progress and succeed in a timely manner. My warmest appreciation and gratitude go to him for his tireless academic supervision and personal support, especially for paving the way to discovering my research avenues and potential in audio-visual translation, which have laid a solid foundation for my current PhD.”

Runner-up: Alvina Lai

Associate Professor, Faculty of Population Health Sciences

Alvina G. Lai is an associate professor at the UCL Institute of Health Informatics. She leads a multidisciplinary group of data scientists and has won multiple awards for her research, including an award from the Royal College of Physicians. Her work has been featured in a BBC Panorama Documentary "Britain's Cancer Crisis". Alvina has wide-ranging experience across many topics and enjoys discovering connections and bringing them all together. She is also an illustrator, science communicator, writer and content creator for the Zero to Data Science YouTube channel. Her journalistic pieces are featured in Nature, Science and PLOS. Alvina harnesses the magic of visual storytelling to bring to life what might be considered 'dry' and quite often, complex subjects, to make them more relatable to our everyday audience.

“She gives exceptional feedback for my research work by taking the time to understand every detail and providing comprehensive suggestions with multiple options to consider. Alvina always supports her suggestions by referencing published research, which is very helpful and allows me to read and understand the matter even better.”

Runner-up: JD Carpentieri

Associate Professor of Social Science and Policy, Institute of Education

JD is an Associate Professor of Social Science and Policy in the Department of Education, Practice and Society. He teaches on the BA Education studies programme, also serving as that programme's International Student and Study Abroad Coordinator. He supervises dissertation students at Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral levels. JD is an Honorary Research Associate at UCL's Centre for Longitudinal Studies, where he conducts qualitative and mixed methods research using UCL's British cohort studies. He is currently leading a six-cohort qualitative longitudinal study of Britons with long-Covid, and is also investigating long-Covid in Japan.

“JD does not only provide feedback in a formal sense, but in every interaction with him. In seminars he highlights aspects of discussions that are strong and those that could benefit from improvement - always linking them to further study and how they could benefit us in our summative essay.”

Award for Outstanding Research Supervision

Winner: Zhifu Mi

Associate Professor, Faculty of the Built Environment

Dr. Zhifu Mi is an Associate Professor in Climate Change Economics and Director of Research of The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University College London. He has published papers in leading journals, such as Lancet, Science Advances, Nature Energy, Nature Food, and Nature Sustainability. He was awarded the 2018 World Sustainability Award for his leading research in the methodological developments and applications of carbon footprint. He was named in the Forbes '30 Under 30' Europe in recognition of his innovative research in the economics of climate change.

Zhifu was praised for always being approachable to discuss students’ research when in doubt, providing critical feedback to refine students’ research ideas in order to hone their academic abilities. It was also noted that he offers patient guidance for student upgrades and thesis preparations, even as work moved remotely due to Covid.

Runner-up: Mehran Moazen

Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Sciences

Mehran obtained his PhD in Medical Engineering at the University of Hull in 2008. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Leeds 2009-13 and then RAEng Research Fellow 2013-18 before joining UCL Mechanical Engineering, in 2015, as a Lecturer in Biomedical Engineering. He currently holds an EPSRC Open Fellowship (2022-27) and 2 prestigious awards by HFSP (2019-24). He is a member of a number of societies and associations including Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE - Fellow) and has been a trustee of Headlines Craniofacial Support charity since 2019. His research mainly focuses on the biomechanics of musculoskeletal system.

“I can say confidently Mehran is trying to not only support us in our PhD but is also trying to help us with our issues, those might have direct effects on both our PhD and our daily lives. I can say with confidence that if it weren’t for him, I would have given up on my PhD a long time ago.”

Runner-up: Vijay Chudasama

Professor of Chemical Biology, Faculty of Mathematical & Physical Sciences

Prof. Vijay Chudasama obtained his MSci degree and PhD from University College London (UCL) in 2008 and 2011, respectively. Following post-doctoral studies under the supervision of Prof. Stephen Caddick, Vijay obtained a Ramsay Memorial Fellowship. During this time, he was made Technical Director of a biotechnology spin-out (ThioLogics). In April 2015, he was appointed as a Lecturer at UCL Department of Chemistry, before being promoted to Reader (2017) and then Professor (2019) at the same institution. Vijay's research has been highlighted by Forbes, Scientific American, CNN News, Nature Chemistry and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

“He was very understanding when I had increased workload due to many coursework deadlines approaching and was supportive of me prioritizing my mental health. With burnout and anxiety being more and more widespread issues in the highly competitive academic environment, I believe this is a key quality of a good supervisor.”

Award for Active Student Partnership

Winner: Keri Ka-Yee Wong

Assistant Professor of Psychology, Institute of Education

Keri is an Assistant Professor in Psychology at UCL, Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, and Fellow of Higher Education Academy. She received her PhD in Psychology from the University of Cambridge, and both her BA (Hons.) in Psychology and MA in Criminology from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to UCL, she was the Betty Behrens Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge, Clare Hall College. She is passionate about researching and teaching the correlates, causes, and consequences of crime, schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, and childhood mental health.

“Dr. Wong is very responsive to students and has been highly appreciated by different cohorts for her prompt replies, clear guidance and tailored feedback. Not only does she provide beyond curriculum support for students within our degree, she also welcomes students from other disciplines to enquire and assist them with their knowledge growth and academic development.”

Runner-up: Arash Nassirpour

Lecturer (Teaching) in Structural & Earthquake Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Sciences

Arash is a Lecturer (Teaching) in Structural & Earthquake Engineering at Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering of UCL and a member of EPICentre, a multi-disciplinary research centre focused on investigating risk of natural hazards on society and built environment.
He is the Programme Director of MSc Earthquake Engineering with Disaster Management. He holds a PhD in Structural & Earthquake Eng. with an extensive experience on structural vulnerability and resilience assessment in various countries around the world.

“In addition to his own course content, he often helps us with other programmes, such as tutorials for coursework. At the same time, he's very concerned about students’ life, physical and mental health and study planning. He is very active in answering student’s questions, and always responds to questions uploaded on forum and emails as soon as possible.”

Runner-up: Kate Shobbrook

Lecturer (Teaching), Faculty of Brain Sciences

Kate has worked at UCL since 2009, combining her role as a lecturer (teaching) with clinical practice and more recently, with a part-time PhD. She works on the MSc Speech and Language Sciences, a two-year programme leading to qualification as a speech and language therapist. She is a head of year and teaches and coordinates a module on this programme. As a speech and language therapist, Kate specialises in working with children with developmental speech and language disorders. She has an interest in evidence-based practice in speech and language therapy and is currently researching this area for her PhD.

“Amazing response to feedback from the student cohort so that changes happen mid-term and there is an ongoing iterative process to how the course is delivered, all done in a good humoured and compassionate way with incredible listening skills.”

Award for Brilliant Research-Based Education

Winner: Wayne Holmes

Lecturer (Teaching) in Educational Technology, Institute of Education

Wayne Holmes (PhD, University of Oxford) is a learning sciences and innovation researcher who, as well as teaching at UCL, is a researcher on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and education for UNESCO, the International Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence, and the Council of Europe. Having been involved in education throughout his life, Wayne brings a critical studies perspective to the connections between AI and education, and their ethical and social implications. His recent publications include 'Artificial Intelligence in Education: Promise and Implications for Teaching and Learning' (2019), and, for UNESCO, 'AI and Education: Guidance for Policy-makers'. (2021).

Nominations by students singled out Wayne for using the most up-to-date studies in the classroom, while maintaining an open and accepting approach. He was praised for willingly sharing his research for student critiques, carefully listening to student recommendations and queries as the first author.

Runner-up: Alec Sanderson

Adjunct Lecturer, Faculty of Engineering Sciences

Alec is an apprenticed avionics engineer and has spent all his working life in technology. As an entrepreneur he started his first business in 1986, a software company, has co-founded several other businesses and now advises in technology. He has had many Board positions including several charities. He is a Chartered Engineer, a Chartered IT Professional and a Chartered Director. Aside from technology, he has a keen interest in art and music.

"I never, ever, thought of teaching but it is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done!"

“Alec makes a complex subject like Technology seems fun and uncomplicated especially for students who don't have a background in technology. His classes are fun, engaging and full of the latest research and knowledge. Truly appreciate him teaching us!”

“He has found innovative and research-backed methods of giving us bite-sized information as non-technical students.”

Runner-up: Nauro Ferreira Campos

Professor of Neurophysiology, Faculty of Life Sciences

Nauro F. Campos is Director of the UCL Centre for Comparative Economics and Professor of Economics at University College London. His main fields of interest are political economy and European integration. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California (Los Angeles) in 1997. He is the editor in chief of Comparative Economic Studies (the journal of the Association for Comparative Economic Studies) and of Cambridge University Press' series Elements of Economics of European Integration.

“He taught content that was at the cutting edge of the field of political economy. The content he taught was very unique from most economics modules. He had a very recent and interesting selection of papers throughout the modules. This is unsurprising since he is himself an authority in Political Economy.”

Award for Diverse and Inclusive Education

Winner: Robert Simpson and Kim Leontiev

Associate Professor and Postgraduate Teaching Assistant, Faculty of Arts & Humanities

Robert is an Associate Professor in the Philosophy Department at University College London. He writes about free speech, social epistemology, liberalism, applied ethics, and religion. He teaches courses at UCL on free speech and autonomy, epistemology in contemporary society, and legal philosophy.

Kim is a Postgraduate Teaching Assistant and PhD candidate in philosophy. His research focuses on normative justifications for legal exemptions in liberal states and issues of political legitimacy and jurisdictional boundary problems concerning religion, individual conscience and sovereignty. Kim joined UCL in 2018, coming to London from Sydney, Australia where he grew up. Prior to embarking on an academic career, he practiced law as a solicitor and spent a year abroad in China. Researching and teaching at such a dynamic and truly global institution like UCL has been an incredibly rewarding experience.

“Mr Simpson created an inclusive atmosphere in the lecture and Kim Leontiev in the seminar. Epistemology and Contemporary Society truly was the best module I ever had, providing me with many great insights. Most importantly, the teachers prompted me to question epistemic injustices and to not take dominant narratives as a given.”

Runner-up: Haydn Kirnon

Lecturer (Teaching), Faculty of Arts & Humanities

Haydn has been a professional translator and subtitler for over 30 years, including several years as an editor of bilingual dictionaries at Oxford University Press. He has taught at UCL since 2013.

“We had many fruitful conversations about the wider implications of translation regarding race, gender, and stereotypes.”

Runner-up: Sarah-Louise Quinnell

Lecturer (Teaching) in Science, Engineering & Policy Practice, Faculty of Engineering Sciences

Sarah's passion is inclusive education and neurodiversity advocacy. She was diagnosed with Autism aged 36 and ADHD aged 41 way after she had completed her education where she had always felt she was a bit broken. Since joining UCL in 2018 she has worked to develop and promote an inclusive approach to teaching and learning that creates an environment to enable all her students to work at their best, to destigmatize difference and promote the strengths that neurodivergent people have to offer society.

“With every new topic, we are incentivised to discuss who is being marginalised, who do these policies benefit, what can be changed for the policy to be more inclusive, and so on. Sarah is absolutely doing an incredible job to make sure we hear these ignored voices, or at least recognise when we are ignoring them.”

Award for Sustainable Education

Winner: Alison Macdonald and Dalia Iskander

Associate Professor (Teaching) and Lecturer (Teaching) in Medical Anthropology, Faculty of Social & Historical Sciences

Alison's teaching and research interests involve critical exploration of the meanings and structures of education, exploring questions of inclusion and equality across UK schools and higher education. She is particularly interested in collaborative research and teaching methods and finding ways to bring creativity and student-centered pedagogies into educational practice.

Dalia's research focuses on the socio-cultural and environmental factors associated with malaria and vector-borne/infectious diseases. Her more recent work focuses on nutrition, climate resilience and debt as well as creativity in health. She is particularly interested in the use of participatory visual methodologies (photography, film and mapping) and understanding how these can be used to explore health as well as potentially facilitate communities (particularly young people and women) to make changes in their lives.

“They led the way towards integrating the newest compulsory module, Anthropological Research Methods, into sustainability across different quantitative and qualitative methods. This was a great way to embed it into our programme while keeping the interest of people within their chosen research streams.”

Runner-up: Deanne Attreed

Partnerships and Projects Manager, Faculty of Medical Sciences

Deanne's role centres on building and enhancing supportive networks within the Medical School's community of students, staff, alumni and friends. She works with them to design innovative projects around strategic goals which are then embedded into the day-to-day life of the School. Climate change and the environment are issues Deanne is really passionate about, so she hugely enjoys being able to focus on these as a major project, working with inspirational students to make real changes to the department's culture, teaching and the student experience.
Deanne lives by the Essex seaside with her partner, three cats and cuddly rottweiler.

Deanne was praised for consistently bringing new opportunities to all the Sustainability Ambassadors within the UCL Medical School, working tirelessly with them on multiple projects. She was described as bringing students and staff together on issues such as food sustainability, building energy use, helping everyone at UCLMS make sustainability pledges, improving the planetary health and building a sustainable healthcare curriculum.

Provost Education Awards

Exceptional individuals and teams receive the Provost's Education Award. These recognise staff making outstanding contributions to the learning experience and success of our students.

Academic support, with a focus on personal tutoring and/or research supervision

Winner: Kalina Zhekova

Lecturer (Teaching) in International Public Policy, Social and Historical Sciences

Kalina is a Lecturer (Teaching) at the Department of Political Science and the co-Director of the UCL Centre for the Pedagogy of Politics. Her research expertise is in International Relations and particularly, Russian foreign policy. Before coming to UCL in 2019, she was based at the University of Leeds where she obtained her doctorate on Russian discursive practices of intervention and threat construction in the context of regional conflicts. She holds an MA in International Politics from the University of Hull and a BA in British and American Studies from Sofia University.

Pastoral care is a key part of our educational work at @UCL_SPP, and vital in these turbulent and worrying times. Kalina Zhekova provides first-class pastoral care, and has worked hard to create a space for students to share their feelings about the war in Ukraine. She thoroughly deserves this award!

Team Award: UCL School of Slavonic & East European Studies

Christian Emery, Aglaya Snetkov, Michael Wozniak, Robert Bodden, Alex Allsopp, Alison Davies

The work of SSEES’ student support team for students affected by the war in Ukraine has been nothing short of heroic. 

Assessment and Feedback

Winner: Corisande Fenwick

Associate Professor in Mediterranean Archaeology, Social and Historical Sciences

Corisande is an Associate Professor in Mediterranean Archaeology at UCL and Director of the British Institute for Libyan and North African Studies. She did her PhD in Anthropology at Stanford University, followed by postdoctoral fellowships at Brown University and the University of Leicester before coming to UCL where she teaches Islamic and late antique archaeology and Middle Eastern heritage. She currently co-directs excavations at 10+ sites in Morocco and Tunisia, which provide an excellent excuse to take UCL students overseas to learn field archaeology and get to know their Moroccan and Tunisian peers.

Corisande’s innovations in teaching and student support and staff-student partnership in archaeology has led to a 100% NSS student satisfaction during the pandemic and many new online initiatives including digital fieldwork in the museum and field-site. 

Outstanding Contribution

Winner: Dr Helen Matthews

Director of Academic Services, Student and Registry Services

Helen Matthews has worked at UCL since 1996 in Departmental and Faculty roles, before joining Student and Registry Services in 2018 as Head of Academic Policy and Quality Assurance. Since 2019 she has been Director of Academic Services, which involves leading the teams responsible for student lifecycle operations, assessment operations, academic policy and quality assurance, casework and regulations and student data services.

"A living example of the fundamental importance of connecting all things education at @ucl @HMatthews67 has worked tirelessly over 26 years to make excellence in education and student support the norm."

Staff-student partnership

Winner: Beth Barnett-Sanders

Assistant Teaching and Learning Administrator, Bartlett (Built Environment)

After working in a variety of roles post-graduation, Beth joined UCL in November 2020 as an Assistant Teaching and Learning Administrator in the Bartlett School of Architecture, supporting the undergraduate and accredited programmes. As Secretary for one of the school's three SSCCs, she has explored different ways in which the school could capture and respond to the student voice, including championing Unitu in the school. More recently, Beth has been working on a Changemakers project to develop student-led wellbeing and EDI workshops. In her free time, Beth enjoys cooking and tending to her ever-growing collection of houseplants.

@BartlettArchUCL Teaching and Learning Administrator, Beth Barnett-Sanders, recognised with @UCL #EducationAwards for her work in developing the students’ voice. Beth’s work in enabling Unitu and empowering our Reps has been invaluable for developing architectural education. 

Team Award: UCL Medical School

Rupa Lakhani, Tina Nyazika, Sarah Bennett, Eloise Evans, Kiran Mehta, Charlotte Casteleyn

Not only is @Targetmedicine widening access to medicine, but they are also building skills, creating opportunities, and enhancing the experience of @UCLMS students of all years! #wideningaccess #WPinmedicine #theUCLdoctor @DiscoverUCL 

Openness and Inclusion

Winner: Dr. Cathy Elliott

Associate Professor (Teaching), Social and Historical Sciences

Cathy teaches in the Political Science Department at UCL and has a longstanding interest in politics and pedagogy and in inclusive curriculums. This has led her to develop modules that allow students to explore and question the power dynamics that minoritise and exclude some people. She has also worked on numerous joint projects with students to combat antisemitism and racism, diversity curriculums and research how we make the university more inclusive and open. Most recently, this has included the Political Science's Inclusive Curriculum project and her most recent work on queer pedagogy. She has published jointly with students on this work, including supporting them to co-author a peer reviewed journal article with her in the UCL London Review of Education.

"Cathy’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity knows no bounds. She has helped @UCL_SPP immensely through her work on decolonising our readings lists and provided wonderful support to both our students and to her colleagues around the Department over the years. A thoroughly deserving winner of the teaching award for openness and inclusivity!"

Team Award: UCL Medical School, Quality Assurance and Enhancement Unit (QAEU)

Rima Chakrabarti, Kavita Jaidev, John Hines, Tor Wright, Maylani Appasamy

#Raising Concerns #Challenging the norm #QAEU #UCL Medical School 

Postgraduate Teaching Assistants (PGTAs)

Winner: Lotte Hargrave

PhD Candidate in Political Science & PGTA, Social and Historical Sciences

Lotte is a fourth-year PhD candidate in Political Science at UCL and a former Senior PGTA in Quantitative Data Analysis. Her research makes use of innovative quantitative designs to study the role of gender in elite and voter political behaviour in the UK. In her research and teaching alike, she is passionately committed to developing best practices to communicate about quantitative analysis and research methods in a way that is engaging and understandable to a wide variety of audiences. In particular, to those who may not be the traditional audiences for, and consumers of, statistics, quantitative information, and programming.

Lotte has been an outstanding PGTA, showing a fantastic dedication to her teaching, and a kind and patient mentor to her fellow PhD students. On top of all this, she has also helped change how we teach quantitative methods. All in all, a highly valued member of the Department’s teaching team, and a worthy candidate for a UCL Education Award!  

Innovation and Transformation, with a focus on building learning communities

Winner: Sarah Bennett

Associate Professor (Teaching), MBBS Admissions Tutor and Deputy Programme Lead, Medical Sciences

Sarah has worked at UCL Medical School for 11 years and has held a variety of leadership positions including Deputy Lead for Year 6, lead for Case of the Month and for the postgraduate Training to Teach programme. Currently she is the Admissions Tutor and Deputy MBBS Programme Lead. Sarah has a passion for widening access to Medicine, supporting students' learning on their programme, and helping them to develop as lifelong learners. She is currently working on transforming the Personal Tutor programme at UCLMS and is studying a Doctorate in Education, exploring the impact of competitiveness on learning.

"The new @UCLMS Toolkit module explores a range of areas of inclusivity and inequality within society and healthcare, preparing our students for being active citizens in our community. Knowledge and awareness can make a difference."

Team Award:

UCL School of Pharmacy

Dr Stephen Hilton, Dr Zoe Waller, Dr Gary Parkinson, Mr Cory Beckwith, Dr Benjamin Bowles, Miss Mireia Benito, Miss Sophie Schafhauser, Mr Jean Charles Sarraf, Miss Tamara Fajinmi, Mr Nazrul Bin Abdullah

"Tomorrow’s training today - #VirtualReality based undergraduate practical experiments at UCL School of Pharmacy enhance student learning and provide practical training on high end instrumentation. The #metaverse realised for education at UCL."

Department of Chemistry

Liz Munday, Tamara Alhilfi, J.L. Kiappes, Martyn Towner, Claire Gacki, Crosby Medley, Alan Philcox, Dave Webb, Luka Nunar, Helena Wong, Katherine Holt, Gopinathan Sankar, Yang Xu

"Workout?! ?️ More like work-up! ?‍??‍?The Chemistry Department brings in practical boot camps to help students quickly build lab skills ? and friendships."

Sustainability

Winner: Paolo Taticchi

Professor (Education) in Strategy and Sustainability Deputy Director (Global Engagement, MBA), UCL School of Management, Engineering Sciences

Paolo Taticchi is Professor (Education) in Strategy and Sustainability & School Deputy Director (MBA, Global Engagement, Executive Education) at UCL School of Management. Paolo's research on corporate sustainability and performance measurement is internationally recognised. Paolo's last book is titled 'Corporate Sustainability in Practice' and was published in January 2021. Outside of the academy, Paolo has significant consultancy experience in the fields of strategy, education, and sustainability. He has worked in this capacity for firms of various sizes, and in a range of different industries. Today, he advices (or serves in the advisory board) influential organisations and is one of the scientific advisors of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition in Italy.

He has received numerous awards for the impact of his work. His projects, quotes and opinions have been featured over 300 times in international media outlets. In 2021, Paolo was indicated by Italian's leading business daily Sole 24 Ore as the most influential Italian under the age of 40.

"UCL SoM nominates Prof Taticchi for his exceptional work in the field of sustainability that elevates our brand. Paolo’s work has been instrumental in fostering a culture of excellence at UCL, inspiring and educating students to be responsible leaders of business and society."

UCL nominee for the National Teaching Fellow Scheme (NTFS)

Winner: John Mitchell, PFHEA

Professor, Co-Director Centre for Engineering Education, Engineering Sciences

John E. Mitchell is Professor of Communications Systems Engineering in the UCL Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering and Co-director of the UCL Centre for Engineering Education. Between 2015 and 2022 he was Vice-Dean Education in the UCL Faculty of Engineering Sciences. In 2012 (until 2016) he was seconded to the UCL Engineering Sciences Faculty, where he led the introduction of the Integrated Engineering Programme. The team that led this major revision of the curriculum across the engineering faculty was awarded the HEA Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE). He has published widely on curriculum development, active learning and issues of diversity within engineering education. Professor Mitchell is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Member at Large of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Education Society and was until recently a Member of the Board of Directors of the European Society for Engineering Education. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Education.

"Innovative and world-leading curriculum developer who is transforming engineering education in the UK and with partners worldwide to address diversity, responsible innovation and social need."

Academic Rep of the Year Awards

The Academic Rep of the Year Awards celebrate those reps who went the extra mile to represent students, and have worked with staff to make student’s academic experience better.

Overall Winner: Martin Lopez Howe

Course Rep, History, Faculty of Social & Historical Sciences

Martin has a three-year track record of high impact initiatives improving the student experience within the Faculty of Social & Historical Sciences. He has influenced the alteration of his degree’s module requirements; improved availability of resources for students, set up an undergraduate journal due to a lack of research opportunities; and organised and facilitated additional academic lectures by external speakers for interested individuals, within and outside the department.

Martin has “been an immensely successful point of contact between staff and students, making their academic lives livelier.”

Through his time and energy, Martin has “fundamentally changed the relationship between the students and the Department of History”.

Runner-Ups and Winner of Faculty Awards

Faculty of Arts and Humanities: Freya Proudman

Lead Department Rep, School of Slavonic and East European Studies

Freya has been nominated for her tireless and selfless efforts in organising the SSEES Society’s humanitarian aid response to the war in Ukraine. She has worked 15-hour days and organised truckloads of donations to Ukrainian refugees. She was the only student representative of a SSEES delegation at a meeting with the Provost to discuss the UCL response to the war in Ukraine. She has also been incredibly proactive as lead representative on her SSCC meetings.

Through her commitment and dedication “the sense of student community at SSEES has never been so strong.”

Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment: Malgorzata Rutkowska

Lead Department Rep, Bartlett School of Architecture

To capture a wide range of student views, Malgo set up a dinner party that any student could attend to discuss the changes they wanted to see. These suggestions fed directly into the next SSCC meeting and actions were implemented as a result. The judges were impressed at the variety of engagement approaches used by Malgo and her commitment to improving the student experience.

Malgo was described as going “above and beyond to ensure all students are represented and that changes are made.”

Faculty of Brain Sciences: Heather Sampson

Faculty Rep, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Heather has been dedicated in her role as a Faculty Rep and has worked hard to ensure that students are represented in decision making. She has implemented several positive changes for students such as: arranging a faculty PGT party, ensuring the new AssessmentUCL Project allowed for testing prior to formative assessments and confirming that students can claim back travel expenses from their projects. Heather has consistently collected student feedback and is passionate about representing students. The judges felt that she was actioning relevant issues that made a difference to students, in a variety of ways.

Faculty of Engineering Sciences: Andrea Franchini

Faculty Rep, Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering

Andrea has been nominated for his commitment to improving the postgraduate research student experience in the Faculty of Engineering Sciences. To combat feelings of isolation often felt by research students, Andrea organised multiple social events and ran the #KnowYourPGRrep campaign. Andrea has also worked with department PGR tutors to prepare a faculty wide survey to monitor whether PhD students are satisfied with their supervision and to identify critical cases. The judges admired Andrea’s initiative and how much he cares for the research student community.

Institute of Education: Molly Edwards and Harriet Israel [co-winners]

Lead Department Reps, Education, Practice and Society and Psychology and Human Development

Following student feedback, Molly and Harriet initiated a pronouns badges project and are working hard to create content to explain how to use them. “Molly has worked well beyond the requirements of the rep role,” especially when chairing a difficult staff-student panel on the UCU strikes. Harriet has worked to enhance the sense of community among reps by establishing termly meetings between Lead Department Reps and Course Reps – improving rep engagement.

“Molly and Harriet are two students who are creating a legacy that the upcoming student reps can follow up on.”

Faculty of Laws

Laura Beaumont (Course Rep), Angel Foster (Course Rep), Angela Brown (Course Rep), Charlotte Choy (Faculty Rep), Laws

These four reps are driven and enthusiastic in their work representing over 700 students. They have worked constructively with the faculty to follow up on feedback from students by managing a very busy Unitu platform. In Term 2 they helped implement changes to ensure the combination of asynchronous and synchronous teaching replicated lectures previously delivered in-person.

These reps are consistently “going above and beyond to propose ideas to support their cohorts.”

Faculty of Life Sciences: Azure H Lo

Course Rep, Division of Biosciences

Azure is highly respected and has been proactive in his role as a Course Rep to get a range of feedback from his peers, eloquently representing them at his SSCC meetings. He works with staff individually to share new ideas that ultimately improve the student experience. Azure has taken the lead on numerous events and initiatives, such as the Year 1 party, playing a key role in its success.

“Azure has practiced and encouraged inclusiveness so that no student voice is left unheard.”

Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences: Qasim Afghan

Lead Department Rep, Space and Climate Physics

Qasim has demonstrated sustained engagement with Academic Reps and students in his department. Qasim organises coffee mornings prior to SSCCs so he can effectively gather feedback from students. By running a survey and understanding demand for the service, he has made a trial-run of transportation to the Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL) possible. Qasim is also working to establish societies at MSSL and re-build a sense of community there after a long period of remote working.

Qasim’s hard work has made “extraordinary differences” to the department.

Faculty of Medical Sciences: Anna-Dimitra Kataki

Research Student Rep, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science

Across each campus, Anna worked with staff to solve problems and remove obstacles students were facing. She is passionate about improving the sense of community amongst PGR students. Anna played a key role in running and organising the Annual Divisional Student Research Symposium, attended by over 500 people, and proactively worked to engage PGR students in the event.

Nominated for her "energy, enthusiasm and willingness to work with both staff and students to improve the education experience," Anna has worked hard to represent PGR students across all three of the Division’s campuses.

Faculty of Population Health Sciences: Whitney Wells

Lead Department Rep, Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care

Whitney has been an exemplary Course Rep on the MSc Social Epidemiology course and has also served as Lead Department Rep for the Institute of Epidemiology and Healthcare. She has proactively worked with both staff and students throughout the year. She has set up various student led initiatives such as social media training and a workshop on misuses of epidemiology. The judges were particularly impressed by the Changemakers project she led on improving the inclusivity and decolonising the curriculum on the MSc Social Epidemiology course.