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University of Leeds Teaching Awards

The University of Leeds Teaching Awards celebrate excellent practice in student education and recognise the importance of teaching and learning as a scholarly activity.

The 2026 winners have now been announced. You can read more about the winners via the Staff Intranet, explore their stories on our 2026 Winners' Profiles page, or view the list of winners below.

Applications for the 2027 awards will open in January 2027. Application information for the 2027 awards will be made available on this page. In the meantime, we have provided application information below from 2026, whilst much of this will stay the same there will be updated guidance for the 2027 awards.

The University of Leeds Teaching Awards is a wonderful opportunity to recognise and celebrate the importance and value of our talented educators across our institution. It is an opportunity for our community to come together and reaffirm our shared commitment to giving students the best possible learning experience, where they are supported in their studies and empowered to make meaningful change. Our shared vision is to work collaboratively with our students to create a learning environment that is challenging, inspiring and supportive. It is thanks to our wonderful colleagues that we can fulfil this ambition and ensure that the University of Leeds continues to excel in student education.

Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Shearer West

Award Winners (2021-2026)

Explore the winners of the University of Leeds Teaching Awards over the past six years and read profiles of our winners to find out more about their inspiring work.

2026 Award Winners

The following colleagues won a University of Leeds Teaching Award. To find out more about them you can read profiles of all our 2026 winners.

Early Career Excellence winners

  • Dr Costas Loizou – SWJTU-Leeds Joint School, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
  • Dr Ashani Ranathunga – School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
  • Dr Carly O’Neill-Barrett – School of Sociology and Social Policy, Faculty of Social Sciences

Early-Stage Collaboration winners

Team LEGO Serious Play

Team consists of Sarah Briggs (Digital Education), Dr Carly O’Neill-Barrett (School of Sociology and Social Policy), Dr Dan Trowsdale (School of Mechanical Engineering), Sean Gledhill (Digital Education), Dr Katie Carpenter (School of History).

SOUL Modules – Learning Beyond the Classroom

Team consists of Dr Vivienne Griggs (Lifelong Learning Centre), Dr Simon Glaze (Lifelong Learning Centre), Victoria Turner (Transformation Office), Harry Short (Transformation Office), Dr Rosalyn Cousins (Digital Education), Eve Donlon (Student Education and Experience), Tracey Gallagher (Student Education and Experience), and Abby Abbott (Communications).

Sustained Collaborative Excellence winners

Year 5 MBCHB TEAM – Achieving excellence through collaboration

Team consists of Dr Christopher Mannion, Dr Dariush Saeedi, Dr Joanne Wright, Dr Louise Gazeley, Zoë Shepherd-Scott – School of Medicine and the Leeds Institute of Medical Education (LIME)

Sustained Excellence winners

  • Dr Pierre-Philippe Dechant – School of Mathematics, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
  • Dr Richard Harris – School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Health
  • Dr Salma Al Arefi – School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

2025 Award Winners

The following colleagues won a University of Leeds Teaching Award. To find out more about them you can read profiles of all our 2025 winners.

Early Career Excellence Winners

  • Dr Katie Carpenter – School of History (Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures)
  • Dr Clare Tweedy – School of Biomedical Sciences (Faculty of Biological Sciences)
  • Dr Cuie Xu – School of Languages, Cultures and Societies (Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures)

Early-Stage Collaborative Excellence Winners

Design and impact of an interdisciplinary module in Food Science and Nutrition (FSN) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP)

  • Dr Jo Brown – School of Food Science and Nutrition (Faculty of Environment)
  • Jenna Bodin-Galvez – School of Languages, Cultures and Societies (Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures)

Building Artificial Intelligence-Based Education Languages (BAIBEL)

  • Dr Manoj Ravi – School of Chemical and Process Engineering (Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences)
  • Kashmir Kaur – School of Languages, Cultures and Societies (Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures)
  • Professor Clare Wright – School of Languages, Cultures and Societies (Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures)
  • Dr Luisa Cutillo – School of Mathematics (Faculty of Engineering and Physical Science)
  • Dr Matt Bawn – Newcastle University (formerly University of Leeds)

Assessment Matters Team 

  • Professor Pam Birtill – School of Psychology (Faculty of Medicine and Health)
  • Dr Katie Carpenter – School of History (Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures)
  • Dr Benjamin Chong – School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering (Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences)
  • Dr Sarah Copeland – School of Healthcare (Faculty of Medicine and Health)
  • Robin Graham – School of Healthcare (Faculty of Medicine and Health)
  • Dr Rachel Haworth – Student Education Development Team, Organisational Development and Professional Learning (OD&PL)
  • Dr Carly O’Neill-Barrett – School of Sociology and Social Policy (Faculty of Social Sciences)
  • Dr Bethany Robertson – School of Sociology and Social Policy (Faculty of Social Sciences)

Sustained Excellence Winners

  • Jools Symons – Leeds Institute of Medical Education (LIME), (Faculty of Medicine and Health)
  • Catherine Wilkinson – Leeds University Business School | Digital Education Service
  • Lucy Parkin – Lifelong Learning Centre

2024 Award Winners

The following colleagues won a University of Leeds Teaching Award. To find out more about them you can read profiles of all our 2024 winners.

Early Career Excellence Winners

  • Dr Jo Brown – School of Food Science and Nutrition, Faculty of Environment
  • Dr Arjun Khara – School of Design, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures
  • Dr Manoj Ravi – School of Chemical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Early-Stage Collaborative Excellence Winners

  • Dr Joanna Brown, Buena Galleposo, Professor Charlotte Haigh, Maedeh Hassani, Eleanor Jones-Ford, Iria Lopez, Thu Thu Naing and Stuart Porteous – Digital Education Service/School of Biomedical Sciences, Professional Services/Faculty of Biological Sciences
  • Johanna Loock, Ayse Rumeysa Kotan, Dr Hizer Mir and Professor Salman Sayyid – School of Sociology and Social Policy, Faculty of Social Sciences

Sustained Excellence Winners

  • Dr Catherine Bates – Lifelong Learning Centre, Professional Services
  • Sofia Martinho – School of Languages, Cultures and Societies, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures
  • Rachael O’Connor – School of Law, Faculty of Social Sciences
  • Dr Martin Ward – School of Languages, Cultures and Societies, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures

Sustained Collaborative Excellence Winners

  • Dr Aline Gaus, Alison Murfin, Dr Helen Morley and Dr Rachel Haworth – Organisational Development and Professional Learning (OD&PL), Professional Services
  • Tony Morgan, Dr Lena Jaspersen and Dr Sanaz Sigaroudi – Management and Organisations Department, Leeds University Business School
  • Dr Chris Randall, Dr Dimitra Mitsa, Professor Aysha Divan, Dr Sian Estdale, Dr Michelle Scott and Andy Gibbs – School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences

2023 Award Winners

The following colleagues won a University of Leeds Teaching Award. To find out more about them you can read profiles of all our 2023 winners.

Early Career Excellence

  • Dr Katie Gathercole – School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences
  • Dr Madeleine Le Bourdon – School of Politics and International Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences

Sustained Excellence

  • Dr Pam Birtill – School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Health
  • Dr Steve Montagu-Cairns – School of Law, Faculty of Social Sciences
  • Hayley Whitefoot – Digital Education Service / Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Early-Stage Collaborative Excellence

  • Baines Family Tree Project – Dr Gabriel Jones, Lisa Forbes-Grant, Kate Phillips, Daniel Ward, Faith Kennedy, Dr Claire Cooper, David Woodcock, School of Healthcare, Faculty of Medicine and Health / Digital Education Service
  • Dr Louise Pears, Dr Madeleine Le Bourdon, Dr Marine Guéguin and Dr Harrison Swinhoe – School of Politics and International Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences

Sustained Collaborative Excellence

  • Lucy Hamilton and Hayley Whitefoot, on behalf of Teaching and Learning Enhancement NeTwork (TALENT) – Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences / Digital Education Enhancement
  • Dr Vas Ponnambalam, Professor Aysha Divan and Dr Mike Harrison – School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences

2022 Award Winners

The following colleagues won a University of Leeds Teaching Award. To find out more about them you can read profiles of all our 2022 winners.

Sustained Excellence

  • Dr Judith Hanks (School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences)
  • Dr Nimesh Mistry (School of Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences)
  • Dr Suzanne Young (School of Law, Faculty of Social Sciences)

Early Career Excellence

  • Dr Leah Henrickson (School of Media and Communication, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures)
  • Dr Madeleine Pownall (School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Health)
  • Dr Martin Ward (School of Languages, Cultures, and Societies, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures)

2021 Award Winners

Sustained Excellence

Julie Peacock (School of Geography, Faculty of Environment)
Alice Shepherd (Accounting and Finance Division, Leeds University Business School)
Dan Trowsdale (School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences)

Early Career Excellence

Salma Al Arefi (School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences)
Richard Harris (School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Health)
Rachael O’Connor (School of Law, Faculty of Social Sciences)

Collaborative Excellence

Capstone Projects in Biomedical Sciences (Faculty of Biological Sciences)
Collaboration and innovation to make a step change in provision (Cross University, Careers Service)
Teaching and Learning Enhancement NeTwork (TALENT) (Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences)

Our Teaching Awards prize

If you are successful in winning one of our University of Leeds Teaching Awards, you will receive:

  • A monetary award which you can use to support your professional development and scholarship, e.g. to cover the cost of attending relevant conferences or events
  • A certificate
  • An invitation to a celebratory event hosted by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Education)

In addition, as a winner in the Sustained Excellence and Sustained Collaborative Categories, you will be invited to meet with external experts who can provide guidance on your next stage of development and this includes providing support for for the National Teaching Fellow (NTF) and Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) schemes.

Award categories

There are four categories of award:

  1. Early Career Excellence University of Leeds Teaching Award: for staff with up to five years' experience of teaching or supporting learning in higher education. A maximum of three awards will be made in this category, with each winner receiving £2000.
  2. Sustained Excellence University of Leeds Teaching Award: for colleagues with more than five years’ experience. A maximum of three awards will be made in this category, with each winner receiving £2000.
  3. Early-Stage Collaborative Excellence University of Leeds Teaching Award: for teams of staff in newly established collaborations (up to 3 years). A maximum of two awards will be made in this category, with each team receiving £500 per contributor (up to a maximum of £4000).
  4. Sustained Collaborative Excellence University of Leeds Teaching Award: for teams of staff in more established collaborations (more than 3 years). A maximum of two awards will be made in this category, with each team receiving £500 per contributor (up to a maximum of £4000).

Eligibility

Applications are open to all colleagues who satisfy the following criteria:

  • You are an employee of the University of Leeds (academic, professional services and technical services colleagues can apply for the awards)
  • Your role involves teaching or supporting the student learning experience
  • You must be able to demonstrate exceptional impact in student education
  • You apply before the specified deadline

Our further guidance document and FAQs document provide more information about eligibility and are available in the following section.

Applying for the 2026 awards

Applications are now closed for the 2026 awards and the winners have now been announced.

Application information for our 2027 awards will be made available on this page. In the meantime, we have provided application information below from 2026, whilst much of this will stay the same there will be updated guidance for the 2027 awards.

Applications can be either via a written or recorded presentation route. Further guidance on applications and both routes can be found below. The following also applies, depending upon the category of award you are applying for:

  • Early Career and Sustained Excellence: your claim needs to address how you have enhanced and/or transformed student learning or the teaching profession; supported colleagues and/or influenced support for student learning or the teaching profession; and your commitment to maintaining the currency of your practice.
  • Early-Stage and Sustained Collaborative Excellence your claim needs to provide evidence of excellence in your team’s collaborative approach and excellence in the impact of your collaborative working in student education.

Application forms, guidance on the recorded presentation route and details of how to submit your written or recorded application can be found in the following document:

For further information please see the following documents which includes FAQs, the award criteria and marking information (this includes details of the weighting for each section of an application), and details on applying for a mentor.

Additional support for your application

  • Briefing session: Watch a recording of our recent briefing event*, which provides everything you need to know about the process, criteria and key dates.
  • Get support with your application from a mentor: A mentor could provide support and advice and help you to develop and showcase teaching excellence and to present your experiences in an effective application. If you are interested in being paired with a mentor please complete the request form above. This support is subject to the availability of our mentors.

* Please note: these were documents for the 2026 awards, new updated guidance will be provided for the 2027 awards once applications are open.

Selection of the Award Winners

Applications are reviewed by the University Panel. The panel includes Pro-deans for Student Education or their nominee, Student Union Education Officer, Professional Service representatives, chaired by the Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor: Educational Enhancement & Student Experience. If you are successful in one year, you can be nominated again, however, your application must be for a different category and based on distinctly different teaching and support activities.

Find out more

If you have any questions about our University of Leeds Teaching Awards, please email [email protected].