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Bristol Teaching Awards: lights, camera, action!

The celebration showed the true grit all staff have developed over the past year, with technical glitches failing to deter anyone from enjoying the festivities.

This year saw almost 1,000 nominations for 862 staff members – a record number of nominations.

The Awards are held annually and were launched in 2013 with a remit to champion and improve teaching at the University.

This year’s awards were held by the Bristol Institute for Learning and Teaching (BILT). They were hosted by Tansy Jessop, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education, and Sarah Davies, Director of BILT.

Tansy said: “Today was a celebration not just of the 10 talented individuals who won awards, but of the whole teaching community, who have redesigned teaching at speed to give students the best possible experience in an incredibly challenging context.

“It has been inspiring reading the nominations and hearing the excitement of students about really innovative and engaging teaching.

“Thank you to every member of staff for working hard to connect with students and make learning feel personal in such a strange year, ensuring everything worked behind the scenes, and finding new and fun ways to interact with students. Many congratulations to all those staff who were nominated, shortlisted and won awards!”

Sarah said: “In this most digital of years it’s heartening to see right across the nominations such a strong theme of staff who have gone out of their way to maintain the human, the individual and the personal: reaching out to students and other staff to help them with the difficult or unfamiliar; trying a range of approaches to maintain the personal, the fun and the engaging in online sessions or through a mask in on-campus sessions.

“We’ve also seen throughout the year how keen staff are to share their tips, successes and challenges with others as we have all been adapting to the changing conditions, and that spirit of collaboration and sharing puts us in a great place for the future.”

Chris Mills was picked from among the 10 winners to receive this year’s Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Education. The award recognises the winner’s exceptional contribution to education and enhancement of the student experience at the University.

Chris, a Technology Enhanced Learning Developer at Bristol Dental Hospital, received an incredible 47 nominations from staff and students.

He said: “I feel incredibly honoured and proud to win the Outstanding Support Award. The comments I received from both staff and students from the Dental School were amazing to read, and I would like to thank everybody for being so kind.

“After hearing my name for that award I zoned out a little, so I was not prepared for the further announcement to come just a couple of moments later.

“To also win the Vice Chancellor’s Award was very overwhelming, very unexpected and once again a complete honour. Thank you to everyone involved for putting on a brilliant ceremony. It’s an afternoon I won’t ever forget.”

You can find out more about the winners here and those who were shortlisted here, or you can see below for more information.

Inspiring and Innovative Teaching Award – Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Alix Dietzel a Lecturer in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies

Robin Shields a Professor in the School of Education

The Social Work Teaching Team in the School of Policy Studies

Winner: Robin Shields

Inspiring and Innovative Teaching Award – Faculty of Arts

Itziar Martinez a Lecturer in the School of Modern Languages

Leighan Renaud a Lecturer in the School of Humanities

Lyndsay Coo a Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities

Winner: Leighan Renaud

Inspiring and Innovative Teaching Award – Faculty of Engineering

Becky Selwyn a Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering

The School of Civil, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Year 1 Teaching Team

Francesco Fornetti a Senior Lecturer in Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Winner: Becky Selwyn

Inspiring and Innovative Teaching Award – Faculty of Health Sciences

The Oral Surgery Teaching Team in the Bristol Dental School

Judith Fox a Lecturer in the Bristol Medical School

The Msc in Public Health and Msc in Epidemiology – Directors, Unit Leads and Professional Services Team

Winner: Judith Fox

Inspiring and Innovative Teaching Award – Faculty of Life Sciences

Andy Wakefield a Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences

Peter Allen a Lecturer in the School of Psychological Science

Teaching delivery team for the Postgraduate Neuropsychology Programmes in the School of Psychological Sciences

Winner: Andy Wakefield

Inspiring and Innovative Teaching Award – Faculty of Science

John Morgan a Lecturer in the School of Geographical Sciences

Oleksiy Klurman a Lecturer in the School of Mathematics

Rachel Tunnicliffe a Lecturer in the School of Chemistry

Winner: Oleksiy Klurman

Inspiring and Innovative Teaching Award for Postgraduate Research Students who Teach

Louise Hatherall an International Foundation Programme Subject Lead in the Centre for Academic Language and Development

Clare Stevens an Assistant Teacher in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies

Laurence Kedward a Teaching Associate in the School of Civil, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Winner: Clare Stevens

Outstanding Personal Tutoring Award

Joe Williams a Lecturer in the School of Geographical Sciences

Peter Scott a Lecturer in the School of Music

Tracey Helliwell, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education

Winner: Peter Scott

Outstanding Research Supervision Award

Laura Johnson an Associate Professor in the School of Policy Studies

Nina Snaith a Reader in the School of Mathematics

Stephen Montgomery a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences

Winner: Nina Snaith

Outstanding Support Award

Chris Cooper – Assessment, Feedback and Student Systems Manager in the Bristol Medical School

Chris Mills – Technology Enhanced Learning Developer in Health Sciences

Faculty of Engineering – Teaching and Development Team

Winner: Chris Mills

Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Education

Winner: Chris Mills


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