The University of Manchester Teaching Excellence Awards are made in recognition of significant and sustained excellence in teaching and learning. Professor Duncan Ivison, President and Vice-Chancellor, and Professor April McMahon, Vice President for Teaching, Learning and Students, congratulated the winners in a ceremony on Monday, 14 October. Aya and Adam were two of only four individual winners this year, further details of the nominations for Aya and Adam can be found on the ITL webpages. 

Janette Martin, Research and Learning Manager, and Jennie Blake, Head of Teaching and Learning Development, have shared their delight in Aya and Adam’s wins, Janette said: “I am delighted that Aya’s hard work and expertise has been recognised with a Teaching Excellence Award.  Aya was appointed in March 2022 as our first Special Collections Teaching and Learning Co-ordinator, an important role that has allowed Special Collections to significantly expand its object-based teaching, MA student placements and volunteer programme. Aya has revolutionised our teaching paperwork and administration, established a dedicated Sharepoint space and created volunteer guidance and paperwork from scratch.  She has also taken a keen interest in pedagogy, particularly in alternative assessments and working with neurodiverse students.” 

Jennie highlights: “Adam's contribution to teaching and learning stretches University-wide. This award rightfully recognises not only his commitment to excellence in all he does but also his dedication to ensuring that he works with our students to create learning opportunities to change the student experience for the better. His work has seen the Library’s schools and communities programme shift from a primarily outreach framework to one that acts both to bring the voices of the communities around the University into this space and to ensure that the expertise and resources of our preeminent academic Library are open to all.” 

The Library Student Team was also honoured at the event in recognition of their award earlier this year of an AdvanceHE CATE.  One of the few teams in the UK to be awarded a Collaborative Teaching Excellence award from AdvanceHE this year, the Library Student Team was recognised for its work and its unique place within an academic library of our size and significance. Professor Adam Danquah, Associate Dean for Inclusive Education and Engagement in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health at The University of Manchester said: “The Library Student Team are a team of empowered, mutually supportive students and the most powerful demonstration of student voice I have witnessed.”  

The continued impact of the Library Student Team stands as a testament to the incredible achievements students can accomplish when they are supported, heard and empowered to lead, and to the potential of student-staff partnership to effect positive and lasting change. The Library is proud of all they have accomplished and excited to see what they will do next.