Students' Association Teaching Awards
Every year the Edinburgh University Students’ Association honours staff at the University with its Teaching Awards.
The awards recognise the teachers, support staff and peer support leaders who make an enormously positive impact on students’ learning experiences.
In a student-organised ceremony on Wednesday 20 April in Teviot Row House the winners were announced. Here we celebrate these staff achievements and share comments made by nominating students.
Best Feedback Award
Mal Burkinshaw, School of Design, Edinburgh College of Art
Mal’s written and verbal feedback is always informative and helpful and shows that he is really interested in our work. He helps us to feel confident in our work and guides us to better solutions and research ideas.
Best Student Who Tutors Award
Paul Archibald, Reid School of Music, Edinburgh College of Art
Paul is always keen to help and provides detailed, high-quality answers, taking no shortcuts and always working hard to ensure we understand the material. He creates a positive atmosphere in all his tutorials. I truly feel Paul has been a source of inspiration.
Best Personal Tutor Award
Dr Jamie Cole, School of Physics & Astronomy
He is genuinely interested in his students and is much more than a personal tutor, he’s like a friend. More recently, Jamie helped me through a difficult time and without his help and support I don’t think I would still be at this University.
Best Research or Dissertation Supervisor Award
Professor Siân Bayne, Moray House School of Education
As a supervisor she has consistently provided the right mix of challenging encouragement. Meetings feel like discussions with a (much) more knowledgeable colleague, rather than the more traditional student/teacher relationship.
Best Support Staff Award
Lee Gaedtke, School of Health in Social Science
Lee will always have a smile on her face, or will always lift your mood with her happy emails. She is a very caring person and she will go out of her way to solve any problems or concerns you may have.
Best Course Award
Dr Meryl Kenny and Professor Fiona Mackay, School of Social & Political Science (for: Social & Political Science in Practice)
The course has involved a lot of group work, and my group have become some of my best friends. I think courses like this, that encourage students to have a bigger role in the University life, are an amazing idea.
The Kendell Award for Teaching in Medicine
Professor Jamie Davies, Edinburgh Medical School: Biomedical Sciences
Jamie offered to mark mock essays and also provided us with podcasts, which lasted the length of time walking from Pollock Halls to the Old Medical School. He provided all this material in many different formats allowing ease of use for everyone.
The Award for Teaching in Veterinary Sciences
Julie Dickson, The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Medicine
Julie took the time to make 3D models of a dog to help the students visualise the bones, joints and muscles. She put every minute of her day into our course, not only making it interesting but making sure we all had enough resources to succeed.
The Van Heyningen Award for Teaching in Science and Engineering
Dr Ahmad Mejbas Al-Remal, School of Engineering
Not only does he put in a lot of effort to prepare engaging lectures that students can follow easily… he is always willing to put in hours outside of allocated course time to explain concepts students have difficulty with.
The Ian Campbell Award for Teaching in the Humanities and Social Science
Marwa Mouazen, School of Literatures, Languages & Cultures
She uses lots of different materials to help us learn – reading texts, audio files, PowerPoint, even songs! She has encouraged us to seek extra-curricular opportunities and takes an interest in how our learning is progressing outside the classroom.
The Best Innovative Assessment Award
Dr Isla Myers-Smith and Dr Aidan Keane (for: Conservation Science)
For the majority of the assessments we had the chance to choose our own topic – having this freedom was an outstanding opportunity as we could work on an issue we feel passionate about.