Winners of University Awards and Prizes 2011
Leadership in Learning and Teaching Award awarded jointly to:
Dr Momna Hejmadi
Department of Biology & Biochemistry
This Award is for excellence in leadership of learning and teaching at the University.
The Committee praised Dr Hejmadi's role within her Department, acknowledged by colleagues as being a skilful, dedicated and highly influential leader. Dr. Hejmadi's capacity to lead by example was evidenced in her ability to lead the way in finding resources to develop and enhance teaching, introduction of online learning strategies, blended learning workshops and her success in implementing peer assessment in a wide variety of teaching activities. Introducing an impressive range of new and innovative approaches including a new course on biotechnological entrepreneurship and leading the engagement of the open release of teaching resources, the HEA/JISC Open Education Resource programme further reinforced the Committee's view that Dr Hejmadi was very deserving of this year's Award.
Dr Jos Darling
Department of Mechanical Engineering
The Committee was impressed with Dr Darling's record of achievement in maintaining and enhancing teaching and quality standards across his Department. Praised for his passion and enthusiasm, Dr Darling's successful promotion of innovation in teaching was recognised by colleagues and through other Awards including the 'Best Application of Gaming and Simulation to Learning Prize' at the IMS Global Learning Awards competition, a Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre's Teaching Award and a National Teaching Fellowship Award. Described as an 'excellent ambassador' in promoting teaching in the wider community, Dr Darling's contribution in promoting engineering as a rewarding and creative career to schools and colleges was widely acknowledged. This evidence combined with the lead roles fulfilled by Dr Darling, including Director of Learning & Teaching, previously Director of Studies for ten years and an impressive record of engagement with industry on knowledge transfer partnerships contributed to the Committee's decision to select him as one of this year's winners.
Past winners of the Leadership in Learning and Teaching Award
John Willis Award awarded to:
Dr Marcelle McManus
Department of Mechanical Engineering
This Award is made to an academic who has demonstrated dedication to the academic and personal lives of students combined with accomplishment in research.
The Committee was in no doubt about this year's Award being presented to Dr Marcelle McManus. Dr McManus' research coupled with her extremely supportive and motivational approach to working with students sets her apart from others. Her work in supervising PhD students has been acknowledged by Departmental colleagues as being both caring and selfless as she elected to take on additional supervision work. Feedback from Dr McManus' students reinforced her high levels of both personal and professional support for their studies and welfare. As a highly reputed researcher in the field of Environmental Management, Dr McManus has fast built an impressive track record securing research grants and publications including 11 journals, 14 conferences and a book chapter to-date. Dr McManus has also won a number of national academic prizes for her papers and research, including the IMechE George Stephenson Prize and, additionally, one of her papers was singled out in the Journal of Applied Energy's 35 year anniversary editorial review as one of the 'fine examples of knowledge contribution' published by the journal. Described as a 'rising star' by her Head of Department, the Committee were hugely impressed with Dr McManus' career achievements to-date.
Innovation in Learning and Teaching Award
awarded to:
Mr Alex Wright
Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering
This Award is made in recognition of a significant contribution to innovation in curriculum design, content or delivery.
The Committee praised Mr Wright's achievement in raising successfully the external profile of the University's Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering through his wholesale restructuring of the BSc in General Architectural Studies. Furthermore, Mr Wright obtained outstanding student feedback following his transformation of the Master of Architecture degree programme. It is already widely acknowledged by Departmental colleagues that the approval of Mr Wright's new style MArch programme will represent a national breakthrough for architectural education.
Mary Tasker Award awarded to:
Dr Alistair Brandon-Jones
This Award is for excellence in teaching at the University. 
Dr Brandon-Jones was selected by the Committee for this Award for his obvious passion and commitment to learning and teaching. Evidenced by the consistently excellent teaching scores achieved by Dr Brandon-Jones, his creativity in adopting innovative approaches to engage his students extremely effectively was acknowledged by both staff and students. Colleagues in the School of Management praised Dr Brandon-Jones' highly effective teaching methods. Recognised as a leading and co-author on a range of market leading textbooks in his area of Operations Management, Dr Brandon-Jones has also led the development and introduction of a range of e-learning tools. This has been combined with making a signifcant contribution to the development of a virtual learning environment, produced by Pearson Education, for reinforcing and extending in-class learning. Additional supporting statements evidenced the high esteem in which Dr Brandon-Jones is held by staff and students, with a specific reference to the investment of time and effort made to provide individual support to students.