UCL Education Awards 2023 MAPS Faculty winners

The Education Awards comprise of:

• UCL Education Awards (staff nominated by staff)
• Student Choice Awards (run by the UCL Students’ Union, staff nominated by students) 
• Academic Rep of the Year Awards (Reps nominated by students and staff)

For Student Choice Awards, 936 nominations were received from students, recognising 478 members of staff for their contributions. Professor Chris Howard (UCL Physics & Astronomy) won the award for Sustainable Education. 

Upon receiving the award, Professor Howard said: “The Net Zero challenge requires an unprecedented pivot across industry and how we live our lives. Inspiring and empowering the next generation of leaders, innovators and scientists to attack this challenge is perhaps the most impactful contribution we can make as academics. I’m therefore really happy that I was nominated for this award by the students.”

UCL has nearly 2,000 Academic Reps, who represent students’ academic interests every day. Any student or staff member can nominate an Academic Rep (including Course Reps, Research Student Reps, Lead Department Reps and Faculty Reps) for this award.

Each faculty has an award for Academic Rep of the Year, and this year’s winner for our faculty is the brilliant Andrea Lekare (UCL Science & Technology Studies).

Andrea reflected on her role: “I remember my first day of uni. I started my degree during the height of the pandemic, and so this day was memorable in several ways. A few weeks later, we received an encouraging email prompting us to become course reps. However, nothing or no one could have prepared me for the exciting new journey as a course representative at university. 

“As second year started, we began to see increased initiatives and efforts to bring students back to campus and back to the amazing community STS endorses. We started slowly pushing face-to-face events to warm students and staff up for what would become a year full of incredibly interesting and exciting events, conferences, and social gatherings.

“All I can say is that my experience as a student would not have been the same without all the amazing people I got to meet and the skills I developed as a student rep. I wish to continue this work wherever I go, and take a little piece of UCL with me everywhere.”

The Faculty also facilitates an internal version of the Education Awards, called MAPS Faculty Education Awards. This year, the panel received a strong field of nominations both for individual and team categories. They were very impressed with the range of teaching and assessment innovations, and the positive impact different staff have had on the student experience.

Our congratulations to the winners below, and thanks to them for the work they have put in to deliver an exceptional learning experience for our students. 

• Nikki Baxter (UCL Careers) - Individual Excellence
• Mhari Gordon (UCL Institute for Risk & Disaster Reduction) - Individual Excellence
• Dr Mohammad Shamsudduha (UCL Institute for Risk & Disaster Reduction) - Individual Excellence
• Antonio d’Alfonso del Sordo (UCL Mathematics) - Individual Excellence
• Dr Beatriz Navarro Lameda (UCL Mathematics) - Individual Excellence
• Dr Daniel Verscharen (UCL Space & Climate Physics) - Individual Excellence
• Dr Russell Evans (UCL Statistical Science) - Individual Excellence
• Karen Leport (UCL Statistical Science) - Individual Excellence
• Zahra Khan (UCL Chemistry) - Highly Commended
• Vytenis Rimkevicius (UCL Chemistry) - Highly Commended
• Dr Lisa Danquah (UCL Institute for Risk & Disaster Reduction) - Highly Commended
• Dr Yulia Ioffe (UCL Institute for Risk & Disaster Reduction) - Highly Commended
• Eimear Hurley (UCL Mathematics) - Highly Commended
• Professor Jason McKewen (UCL Space & Climate Physics) - Highly Commended
• Angharad Weeks (UCL Space & Climate Physics) - Highly Commended
• Dr Menelaos Pavlou (UCL Statistical Science) - Highly Commended
• Giuseppe La Rosa (UCL Science & Technology Studies) - Highly Commended
• Dr Simon Lock (UCL Science & Technology Studies) - Highly Commended
• Assessment UCL Team (UCL Institute for Risk & Disaster Reduction) - Team Excellence
• Inclusion Team (UCL Science & Technology Studies) - Team Excellence

Links

• UCL Education Awards 2023 winner announcement  
• More about the UCL Education Awards  
• Professor Chris Howard's academic profile  
• UCL Physics & Astronomy  
• UCL Science & Technology Studies  

Image

Professor Chris Howard (left) and Andrea Lekare (right).

Media Contact

Ingrida Bertasiute
i.bertasiute [at] ucl.ac.uk