Celebrating Teaching Excellence: Highlights from the 2025 Awards
07 Nov 2025
Colleagues from across the University came together in Whitworth Hall to celebrate the winners of this year’s Teaching Excellence Awards, recognising outstanding contributions to learning, teaching, and student experience at Manchester.
The event, hosted by Professor Jenn Hallam, Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students, and Professor Duncan Ivison, President and Vice-Chancellor, brought together individual and team award winners, Highly Commended and Commended nominees, and those recognised nationally through the Advance HE Teaching Excellence Awards.
“Our Teaching Excellence Awards reflect the breadth and collegiality of our learning community,” said Professor Hallam. “It’s wonderful to see colleagues from academic, technical, and professional roles recognised for the creativity and care they bring to supporting our students.”
Recognising Excellence
This year’s individual winners were Dr Maria Canal (School of Biological Sciences) and Dr Alison Harvey (School of Natural Sciences). Maria was recognised for her leadership in inclusive learning and assessment, while Alison’s award celebrated her innovative teaching in Responsible Research and Innovation across science and engineering disciplines.
Team Awards went to:
- The FSE Mentoring Excellence Team (School of Natural Sciences) – for their cross-faculty work supporting Graduate Teaching Assistants.
- The Optometry Year 1 Team (School of Health Sciences) – for innovative teaching models and a strong sense of student belonging.
- The Enhancing Assessments Review (EAR) Team (Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health) – for improving assessment design and reducing over-assessment across programmes.
The panel also recognised seven Highly Commended and two Commended nominees for their exceptional practice in areas ranging from inclusive education to assessment innovation.
“It’s always a real pleasure to see how many colleagues take the time to nominate others for these awards,” Professor Hallam added. “That spirit of appreciation and mutual support is what makes Manchester such a special place to work and learn.”
Highly commended
- Sabia Dayala (School of Medical Sciences) for Educational leadership
- Emma Ormerod (School of Health Sciences) for Educational leadership
- Clare Louise Stephenson (School of Health Sciences) for Educational leadership
- Louise Thompson (School of Social Sciences) For Educational leadership and Inclusive Education
- The CHEM10111 Teaching Team (Team Leader: Nick Weise) (School of Natural Sciences) for Inclusive education and Flexible learning and digital delivery
- The Postgraduate Academic Enlightenment (PAE) Programme team (Rui He and Stephen Rayner) (School of Environment, Education and Development) for Flexible learning and digital delivery
- The FSE PAL Inclusive Teaching Practice Team (Team Leader: Alison Harvey) (School of Natural Sciences) for Inclusive education and Student voice
Commended
- Clara Dawson (School of Arts, Languages & Cultures) for Inclusive education
- Gareth Henshall (School of Engineering) for Inclusive education and Flexible learning and digital delivery
Celebrating National Recognition
The celebration also honoured Manchester’s 2025 Advance HE National Teaching Fellowship and Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) winners. Professor Ivison congratulated Professor Ang Davies, Dr Jenni Rose, and the Medical and Health Education Programme Team (led by Dianne Burns and Bip Choudhry), alongside national nominee Dr Nick Weise.
“These colleagues represent the very best of our teaching community,” said Professor Duncan Ivison. “Their passion, creativity, and commitment to our students inspire us all.”
Congratulations to all nominees and winners for their exceptional contributions to teaching and learning at the University of Manchester.
- Further details about this year’s award winners and their work are available on the Institute for Teaching and Learning website.