In what has been an exceptional year, all the applicants demonstrated remarkable commitment to delivering excellence under difficult circumstances and are to be commended.

Congratulations to all of this year's winners as follows:

 

Student-nominated Category

Neil Reid, Biological Sciences

This Teaching Award is presented to Dr Neil Reid, a senior lecturer in Conservation Biology. Dr Reid provides a highly engaging, interactive student experience. He provides opportunities for students to engage with industry to support their understanding of practical conservation. Innovative resources recorded at field sites enabled his field trips to be delivered virtually through an immersive, interactive platform during the pandemic. In their nominating statement his students commented, "The amount of preparation, thought and effort that Dr Reid has expended has been truly astronomical, and has gone a long way to enhance our collective student experience".

Dr Gary Mitchell, Nursing and Midwifery

This Teaching Award is presented to Dr Gary Mitchell, a Senior Lecturer (Education) in the School of Nursing and Midwifery. Dr Mitchell employs a wide range of evidence-informed approaches in his teaching to provide a supportive and inclusive learning environment that promotes participation amongst learners. He actively seeks out user feedback to co-design and evaluate a diverse range of learning activities. In their nominating statement his students commented, "Gary is all about helping students to achieve their potential. He employs great variety in his teaching. Some students have been able to publish research with Gary and get a Degree Plus Award".

Dr Declan McLaughlin, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences

This Teaching Award is presented to Dr Declan McLaughlin, a committed and responsive teacher who helps his students become active agents in their own learning. His interactive and supportive approach to remotely teaching the important but highly visual subject of Anatomy ensured that his students continued to receive an excellent learning experience during the pandemic, equipping them with the skills they will need in their future careers. In their nominating statement his students commented, "We have struggled immensely to adapt to online learning and learn concepts and particularly anatomy in the absence of physical classes. Dr McLaughlin recognises this challenge and has done great work to ensure we still have the best possible university experience".

 

Sustained Excellence Category

Dr Danielle McConville, Queen’s Management School

This Teaching Award is presented to Dr Danielle McConville, a Senior Lecturer (Education) in Accounting. Her authentic approach supports accounting students to excel in the profession and equips non-specialists to engage with this challenging field. She uses a range of methods to develop critical learning skills and encourage student engagement. Her innovative approach to using the MyLab Accounting digital learning platform, provides her students with high quality, immediate feedback and useful integrated resources that effectively supports student learning and builds learner confidence.

 

Rising Stars Category

Dr Sharon Eddie Parkinson, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences

This Teaching Award is presented to Dr Sharon Eddie Parkinson, a committed teacher and supportive colleague in the Centre for Biomedical Sciences Education. Dr Parkinson has developed a highly effective communication approach to support students to work independently and a range of approaches to skills development, assessment and feedback to provide an equitable and effective experience on the Research Project module. Her development and dissemination of a range of resources to support supervisors and mentors, build their confidence and reduce their training burden, enhances their students’ learning experience.

Dr Eva Sweeney, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences

This Teaching Award is presented to Dr Eva Sweeney, an engaging teacher and supportive colleague in the Centre for Biomedical Sciences Education. Her innovative range of teaching approaches provides her students with a dynamic and engaging learning experience and she effectively uses software to monitor student understanding of the material and enable her to identify and address issues. Dr Sweeney has used her interest and expertise in learning technologies to support colleagues with their professional development within her own School and across the institution. She is committed to her own professional development which provides her with the knowledge and skills to develop innovative and effective approaches that support student learning and assessment.

Don Duncan, AEL

This Teaching Award is presented to Don Duncan, a lecturer in Broadcast in the School of Arts, English and Languages. Mr Duncan effectively incorporates his previous extensive experience as a journalist to create an engaging and authentic learning experience which is linked to the industry. His approach to connecting his teaching to other disciplines and the wider world provides his students with a collaborative and socially-engaged experience, and enables them to produce high quality and meaningful outputs. Mr Duncan’s work supports his students to achieve awards from industry for their work.

Dr Dermot Green, Maths and Physics

This Teaching Award is presented to Dr Dermot Green, an engaging and supportive teacher in the School of Maths and Physics. Dr Green’s innovative development and effective use of a lightboard provides his students with a dynamic and connected online experience. This enabled him to maintain a highly effective connection with his students in a remote learning environment. His approach provided his students with a collaborative and engaging learning experience during the pandemic, which he will continue to use within a blended learning approach.

Dr Gemma Catney, Natural and Built Environment

This Teaching Award is presented to Dr Gemma Catney, a highly supportive and enthusiastic teacher of Geography who creates a learning environment that develops the confidence of her students to become engaged and independent learners and researchers. Dr Catney provides a diverse range of assessments that engage her students and facilitates them to take ownership of their work. Her restructuring of a research skills module has built student confidence in developing research proposals and led to improvements in student performance.

 

Excellence in Learning Support by a Team

Tracy Galvin and Jen McParland, Centre for Educational Development (CED)

This Teaching Award is presented to Tracy Galvin, an educational developer, and Jen McParland, a digital learning consultant, in the Centre for Educational Development. Their shared values and vision provides an effective basis to collaborate on the development and delivery of a range of resources to support academic colleagues embed inclusive pedagogical practice in the curriculum. Their re-design of several of CED’s professional development courses to incorporate accessibility principles, builds awareness and knowledge around accessibility for those new to teaching. Their work, including the development of the THRIVES resource which simplifies key digital accessibility concepts, has gained recognition in higher education beyond Queen’s.

 

The annual Teaching Awards are organised by the Centre for Educational Development.