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