The Chancellor’s Awards 2009

The Chancellor’s Awards were first awarded in 2003 and are one of the most important ways in which the University recognises outstanding contributions to teaching or research by individual members of staff.  

Criteria for the Chancellor’s Awards 

The University wishes to recognise three current members of the University community who have, in the last five years, made an outstanding contribution to teaching and research and achieved national and international recognition for their work. 

The University wish to honour, in particular, early-career colleagues or colleagues who have yet to be awarded key accolades and are seen as an ‘un-sung hero’ by their colleagues and peers.

For the Chancellor’s Award for Teaching, the University seeks to honour a colleague who has enhanced the teaching reputation of the University, through a significant contribution to improving or invigorating of student learning at any level.

For the Chancellor’s Award for Research, the University seeks to honour a colleague who has enhanced the research reputation of the University through a particularly significant contribution to the progress of research within their discipline.

For the Rising Star Award, the University seeks to honour a colleague who has been appointed to the University in the last five years and has not previously worked for more than five years in a similar broad discipline, and who has in this time made a particularly significant contribution in either teaching or research as described above.

It is also expected that all awardees will have ability and a willingness to promote their work to both an academic and non-academic audience. 

Who Can Nominate?

Any current member of the University community may nominate for any of the awards. Self-nominations are allowed and previous nominations may be resubmitted.

How to Nominate:

The relevant Head of School must approve all nominations in the first instance before being passed to the Head of College for approval.  Colleges should group nominations according to the Award sought and should rank nominations in order of preference - please indicate clearly the top two choices for each Award. Once grouped and ranked, nominations should be submitted to Ms Deepthi de Silva Williams in Communications and Marketing.  

The information required will depend on the Award sought:

Award for Teaching:
•	Please submit a brief statement that sets out the major contribution as set out in the criteria above. 
•	Please attach a copy of the nominee’s current curriculum vitae limited to 2 pages.

Please note: Nominees should currently be teaching at Edinburgh and have been teaching here for a minimum of 2 years.

Rising Star Award if in Teaching: 
•	All of the above but please also indicate the year of appointment to the University.

Award for Research:
•	Please submit a brief statement that sets out the major contribution as set out in the criteria above. Please note that in principle just one piece of research work could be sufficient for a nomination.
•	Please attach a copy of the nominee’s current curriculum vitae limited to 2 pages.

Please note: Only research that has been carried out whilst under the employment of the University will be considered.

Rising Star Award if in Research:
•	All of the above but please also indicate the year of appointment to the University.

Deadline for Nominations:
Nominations must be received by Friday 3 April 2009

Selection Process
Nominations will be considered by the Selection Panel (see below) who will make recommendations to the Principal. It is intended that one Teaching Award, one Research Award and one Rising Star Award will be made although this is subject to variation depending on the nominations received.

As in previous years, the recipients and their partners will be invited to receive their Awards from the Chancellor, HRH Prince Philip at a dinner which will take place at Holyrood Palace on Monday, 10 August 2009. There will be internal and external communication of the Awards, which may involve Award winners in public speaking engagements, lectures, seminars and other similar events.

SELECTION PANEL 2009
Chair: 
Professor Mary Bownes, Vice Principal for Research Training and Community Relations

Panel Members:
1. Professor April McMahon, Vice Principal & Head of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences
2. Professor John Savill, Vice Principal & Head of the College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine
3. Professor Nigel Brown, Vice Principal & Head of the College of Science & Engineering
4. Professor Simon van Heyningen, Vice Principal for Learning & Teaching
5. Dr Simon Bates, Professor of Physics Education and Director of Teaching
6. Mr Melvyn Cornish, University Secretary
8. Mr Young P Dawkins, Vice-Principal for Development & Alumni
7. President of EUSA

Applications to be sent via email to Deepthi.dsw@ed.ac.uk. Please put Chancellors Awards 2009 in the subject header. 

If you have any questions please contact Deepthi de Silva-Williams on 0131 650 2247 or email: Deepthi.dSW@ed.ac.uk

Previous Chancellor’s Award Winners

2003 Winners
Professor Ian Deary – Research Award
Professor Peter Ghazal – Research Award

2004 Winners
Professor David Porteous  - Research Award
Professor Allan Cumming  - Teaching Award

2005 Winners
Professor Jean Beggs – Research Award
Dr Jane Dawson – Teaching Award

2006 Winners
Professor Donald Mackenzie – Research Award
Dr Simon Bates – Teaching Award
Professor Stuart West – Rising Star Award

2007 Winners
Professor David Leigh – Research Award
Professor Susan Rhind – Teaching Award
Professor Donald Bloxham – Rising Star Award

2008 Winners
Professor Joanna Wardlaw – Research Award
Dr Sian Bayne – Teaching Award
Dr Polly Arnold – Rising Star Award