Education Awards

At Northumbria, we celebrate outstanding contributions to teaching and learning through a range of prestigious recognition schemes. From the Advance HE National Teaching Fellowship (NTF) and Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE), which honour individual and team impact on student success, to our own Distinguished Teaching Fellowships, we showcase innovation, collaboration, and excellence across the University. These awards highlight the transformative work of colleagues who shape exceptional student experiences and advance the teaching profession

Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence

Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE)

The purpose of the Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) is to recognise and celebrate collaborative work that has had a demonstrable impact on teaching and learning. The Scheme highlights the key role of teamwork in higher education. Although CATE is organised and run by Advance HE, we run an internal process to support interested colleagues to develop their submissions. Each institution can put forward one CATE submission per year.

Further CATE information can be found on the Advance HE website - here.

CATE benefits to individuals and to institutions - here

Northumbria University run an annual internal process to support colleagues towards a CATE submission. Colleagues can find more information on CATE here.

CATE Attainment:

CATE awards provide teams with national recognition and profile of their collaborative work in learning and teaching within higher education. CATE awardees join a national community of like-minded professionals who are passionate about collaborative approaches to teaching excellence.

The following Northumbria colleagues have successfully attained a CATE Award; in some instances this may have been whilst working at another institution.

CATE Team Awards

Awardee (CATE Team Lead/Member)

Faculty

Dr Liz Hoult

Health and Life Sciences

Kirstin Mulholland

Health and Life Sciences

Prof Nic Whitton (cross-institutional collaboration)

Engineering and Environment

National Teaching Fellowship Scheme

National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS)

The purpose of the National Teaching Fellowship (NTF) Scheme is to recognise, reward and celebrate individuals who have made an outstanding impact on student outcomes and the teaching profession. The NTF is organised and run by Advance HE. Each Institution can put forward up to three NTF submissions per Institution.

Further NTFS information can be found on the Advance HE website - here.

NTF Attainment:

A number of current Northumbria University Staff have successfully attained an NTF Award; in some instances this may have been whilst working at another institution. They include:

NTF Award Winners

Name

Faculty

Prof. John Unsworth

Health and Life Sciences

Prof. Elizabeth Hoult

Health and Life Sciences

Dr Elaine Gregersen (nee Campbell)

Business and Law

Prof. Monika Foster

Business and Law

Dr Mel Gibson

Health and Life Sciences

Prof. Paul Jones

Engineering and Environment

Dr Nic Whitton

Engineering and Environment

Dr Elisabeth Griffiths

Society and Culture

Northumbria run an internal process annually to support colleagues towards NTF submissions. Colleagues can find out more here.

Northumbria Distinguished Teaching Fellows

Northumbria Distinguished Teaching Fellowship

Northumbria Distinguished Teaching Fellowship awards celebrate the quality of colleagues' teaching and/or practice that supports learning. They are open to individual colleagues (individual awards), or to teams of colleagues (collaborative awards), who have made outstanding contributions to specific modules or programmes, who have developed particularly impactful teaching approaches, or whose practice/s have demonstrated a wider impact on the educational experience of our students.

Colleagues can find further information here.

Names of colleagues who have been awarded with Northumbria Distinguished Teaching Fellowships since 2022 are shown below:

Awarded 2025-26

Distinguished Teaching Fellows 2025-26

Awardee Image	Summary of Excellence	Planned Awardee Activity
Dr Carly Guest (link to staff profile-Sitecore) (link to staff profile-external)	Carly adopts a critical, creative pedagogy combining mini-lectures with student-led activities and creating high-quality resources including the "Thinkers and Talking Points" board game. As Programme Leader, she piloted a Level 4 mentor scheme, organized dedicated NSS sessions that increased participation and exceeded targets, and organized the 2025 REVEAL Social Sciences exhibition showcasing nearly 80 students' work.	Carly plans to work with colleagues across faculties to adapt the Thinkers and Talking Points board game for different disciplines and create an online version for download. Will also contribute to CITE learning circles through workshops and group discussions.
Dr Paul McKeown (link to staff profile)	Paul combines scholarship, professional solicitor experience, and influential roles to drive change in clinical legal education, increasing clinical capacity and introducing different typologies ensuring every undergraduate law student has experiential learning opportunities. Under his leadership, NSS teaching quality and Graduate Outcomes have increased, and as founding Board member and President of ENCLE he has organized 11 international conferences and secured £2.7 million in Innovate UK grants.	Paul plans to explore the use of generative AI within an experiential learning context, building on current research into AI supporting clinical legal education projects and mobile app/chatbot development for clinical projects.
Dr Cat Glover (link to staff profile)	Catherine has explicitly embedded access, participation, and experiential learning into her MA module by examining all student accessibility plans (SAP), organising specialised field trips (focused on EDI, equity, and accessibility) and establishing work placements with industry partners with common strategic values. Her purpose-focused, action-led approach has inspired colleagues to embed similar inclusive approaches and has been shared at multiple institutional showcases.	Will develop an inclusive template for assessment and feedback through primary studies with stakeholders, workshops to finalise documentation (supported by VC Diversity and Inclusion Funding in 2026), and achieve adoption and positive impact across the Three Rivers consortium of universities.
Chris Warnock (link to staff profile)	Chris leads the PGCAP module, mentoring new academic colleagues to achieve FHEA accreditation while developing their pedagogical practice through action-research and practitioner enquiry projects. Module outcomes average over 70% across 8 cohorts, and he has received SLTA and SHINE Award nominations, with external examiners noting the significant potential impact of his approach.	Chris plans to showcase colleagues' innovative teaching enquiry projects through the NU Celebration of Education and establish ongoing narrative research datasets from PGCAP experiences. Will commence a sabbatical (September 2025) to build upon emerging research profile.
Dr Lesley McIntyre (link to staff profile)	Lesley has built an inclusive doctoral community in Architecture and the Built Environment, increasing applications and completions while supporting diverse pathways including professional doctorates. Her supervision has produced outstanding research outcomes, she inspires critical thinking at undergraduate and M.Arch levels with alumni progressing to prestigious practices, and she maintains an active printmaking practice informing her REF-rated research.	Lesley will establish a printmaking studio within Architecture. This studio facility will enable students and staff to explore alternative forms of architectural expression, support entries to external exhibitions, and raise the profile of Northumbria's teaching excellence.
Dr Paul Cook (link to staff profile)	Paul has led the live project Sport Event Management module for 16 years. This AGCAS Authentic Assessment for Employability shortlisted module provides students with a co-produced opportunity to plan, fund, and implement a real-world sport event. Due to the authentic, and supportive, experiential learning environment students are enabled to showcase their can-do competencies, resulting in many SEM alumni finding employment at professional levels in local and global event companies and sport organisations.	Funds will support dissemination of the SEM approach and learning from other practitioners in experiential and inquiry-based learning contexts.
Dr Liam Pearson-Noseworthy (link to staff profile)	Liam has led the digital transformation of practical teaching in sport science, developing custom scripts that automate data collection and enable real-time feedback, reducing manual processing from hours to minutes and freeing up time for more meaningful student engagement. He has also digitized departmental technical processes and actively mentors staff and students while contributing to CITE and chairing conferences.	Liam will work with our A.I. computer science students to co-develop advanced coding solutions for sport science practical sessions as well as the linking (and automating) bookings between timetabling and equipment/student resources etc., fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. This aims to create authentic opportunities for students to gain real-world experience and produce scholarly outputs while advancing digital transformation.
Dr Lee Shepherd (link to staff profile)	Lee has developed interactive first-year Psychology workshops using cutting-edge technology (motion capture, EEG, eye-tracking, VR) to support sense of community for students. These workshops provide experiential learning opportunities, serve as a unique selling point for the programme, and use demonstrators as role models.	Lee will work with demonstrators to create written guidance manuals about the technologies used in workshops and pilot additional sign-up sessions for students to gain advanced skills.
Dr Colin Richardson (link to staff profile)	Colin has designed and led large-scale Hackathons in collaboration with international business, expanding globally to include partner universities from USA, Mexico, and Germany, directly leading to student recruitment by partner organizations. He has also delivered technology workshops (e.g., SQL training) filling curriculum gaps, influenced colleagues across faculties, and shared his experience through publication.	Colin will use the funding to deliver industry-relevant workshops, co-create learning materials with students to document best practices, and improve inclusivity by supporting student needs during events. These enhancements aim to ensure all students regardless of background can benefit fully from extracurricular opportunities.

Awarded 2024-25

Dr Tadhg Blommerde, Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Strategy
Dr David Hart, Marketing, Operations and Systems

Awarded 2023-24

Dr Elisabeth Griffiths, Law
Dr Michael Jeffries, Geography & Environmental Sciences
Dr Michael Elsdon, Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering
Dr Matthew Blacklock, Mechanical & Construction Engineering
Dr Kellie Forbes-Simpson, Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Strategy
Dr Martyn Hudson, Arts
Dr Biddy Casselden, Computer & Information Sciences

Awarded 2022-23

Dr Stephany Veuger, Applied Sciences
Dr Victoria Roper, Law
Dr Helen King, Geography and Environmental Sciences
Dr Kirstin Mulholland, Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing
Dr Daniel Laqua, Humanities
Andrea Couture, Architecture and Built Environment
Dr Rick Hayman, Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation
Dr Rachael Chapman, Social Sciences
Dr Emma Thirkell, Leadership and HRM
Dr Helen Hooper, Applied Sciences
Mark Kirk, Architecture and Built Environment
Dr Kirstin Mulholland (lead), Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing
Julie Trueman, Design

Education Enhancement Projects

Northumbria’s competitive Education Enhancement Projects focus on developing an educational base to implement Northumbria’s Education Strategy and University Strategic Ambitions, with a focus on ‘Powering an inclusive economy’ through ‘transformative experiential learning, building students’ skills and social capital’, and ‘Driving Social Mobility’ by ‘eliminating gaps in post-study success through education tailored to students’ needs’ (University Strategy 2030).

Projects focus on exploring the practice of Northumbria’s distinctive pedagogy of experiential and authentic enquiry based learning, and the promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion. This includes authentic enquiry-based learning through clinics and live projects, simulated learning, placements and internships, service learning and volunteering, vertically integrated learning, interdisciplinary learning, and other forms of experiential learning that engage students actively with their learning, promoting Northumbria graduate attributes and a sense of community, based on equality, diversity and inclusion.

A competitive process operates each year to award colleagues with funding to progress their projects.

Northumbria staff can find out more about the scheme by following this link.