Imperial recognises education research at prize giving celebration

Emma Passmore

Imperial celebrated its own staff's educational achievement last week at the annual Educational Development Unit prize giving event.

The annual event celebrates the achievement of the latest cohort of teaching staff at the College who have undertaken one of the Educational Development Unit’s (EDU) PG Cert, PG Dip or MEd university learning and teaching (ULT) programmes.

The programmes form the three stages of the EDU’s course designed to give staff the opportunity to study teaching and learning in a university setting and enhance their understanding of their own educational practice.

Prizes were handed out during the event to celebrate specific achievement on each of the programmes as well as a number of presentations from staff who had undertaken the courses on their research and findings.

Presenting the awards, Professor Simone Buitendijk, Vice-Provost (Education), said: “One of the things that I’ve enjoyed since I started here back in August was meeting the many wonderful and dedicated staff at Imperial focussed on education.

“Not only are so many of our staff dedicated to doing good teaching but also actually research their teaching practice, including on our EDU programmes that we’re celebrating here tonight.”

Each year the most outstanding candidate on each programme is selected to receive an award in recognition of their performance on the programme.

This year’s prize winners are:

• Pete Fitch (PG Cert, Earth Science and Engineering)

• Emma Passmore (PG Dip, Earth Science and Engineering)

• Elizabeth Hauke (MEd, Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication)

Emma said: “Receiving the award felt great. It was a real validation that I'd produced something meaningful, and engaged with the course. It was also fantastic to achieve this recognition after taking a break from the Diploma for Maternity Leave.

“I’m currently undertaking the MEd as it feels like a natural progression after completing the Diploma, and I was keen to build on the knowledge I'd gained from that course. I was intrigued by the concept of qualitative research, which is very different from anything I've done before. I am also nosy, and just really wanted to interview ESE students to find out what they really think about fieldwork.

“Education development is so important as it underpins everything we're trying to achieve as teachers. It provides a richer, more well-rounded learning environment for our students.”

If you are interested in any of the Education Development Unit’s programmes you can find out more on their website. Applications are now open for the ULT entry level PG Cert .