Lory Barile

I am an Associate Professor (T-Focussed) in Economics, Fellow of the HEA and Associate of The Economics Network (EN). I am Director of Graduate Studies (Taught Degrees), and among other responsibilities, within the Economics Department, I am also WP Co-ordinator and Co-chair of the Students’ Progression Working Group.

Over the summer 2020, I played a key role within the Economics Department to help transition to a blended learning approach, creating written resources and recommendations for colleagues and students to assist them moving to online T&L delivery. During the pandemic, I also developed a ‘virtual’ Departmental study buddy scheme to offer students with more chances to work with their peers and interact and socialise with others from their Programmes. Linked to the work conducted over the summer 2020, I am currently leading on an IATL funded pedagogic research project aimed at understanding students’ engagement with online resources pre/post COVID-19.

David Bather Woods

I am a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of Philosophy. I am currently the Director of Student Experience and Progression for Philosophy. In recent years, I have taught the modules Philosophy of Religion, Nietzsche in Context, Plato & Descartes, and Applied Ethics. I have a new module starting next year called Philosophy of Evil. I enjoy interactive lectures and lively seminar discussions with my students, from whom I have learned more than I can say.

This year I created the Philosophy Teaching Exchange as a hub for staff and graduate teaching assistants to exchange best practice and facilitate peer dialogue in the Philosophy Department. It provided our department with an opportunity to coordinate and collaborate on our efforts to create the best teaching and learning experience we could in an extraordinary year. I also worked with my colleagues to develop and refine the models our department used for delivering blended teaching and learning. I selected a workshop-based model for my own modules this year (Nietzsche in Context and Philosophy of Religion). I used these workshops to engage students as actively and socially as possible by setting them collective creative tasks to work on with one another, some of which were directly linked to assessment tasks. I worked on strategies and activities to keep a community feeling in the department, including relaunching social media accounts, starting a weekly newsletter, and closely working with our Philosophy Society to provide successful community events and additional academic support activities.

Stefan Bon

I have been at Warwick since 1998 and I am a professor in the department of Chemistry. My scientific expertise is to combine polymer and colloid chemistry with soft matter physics and to add a twist of chemical engineering.

I would like to thank all the students for their enthusiasm and dedication to their studies, and forming together the Warwick community, especially in these unusual and difficult COVID times. I am proud of what they have achieved. It was a delight to work with the students from Warwick Chemistry this academic year and I am honoured they have nominated me for a WATE award. I truly feel touched by this, more than a pleasant, surprise! A big thank you from the bottom of my heart, it means a lot.

Sue Davies

I have been a GP for over 25 years and joined Warwick over 10 years ago. I live with my husband in Northamptonshire and have 4 grown-up children. In my spare time I act as Chair for a charity providing counselling for under 25s and enjoy walking, hiking and travelling.

I am GP lead at Warwick Medical School and organise GP related teaching and placements across the curriculum. Last year I developed and implemented multiple innovations to ensure high quality, accessible on line resources and safe, effective clinical experience in placements. This includes introducing a virtual patient across all phases of the curriculum, providing a safe space to develop problem solving and management skills. In addition, clinical placements have been re-designed to incorporate upskilling of communication skills in remote consulting. Finally, I remain committed to continue evolving the changes that have had a positive impact for students and staff.

Naomi de la Tour

I am a Senior Teaching Fellow and academic lead for Project Support in the Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning. I chair the Learning from Crisis WIHEA Learning Circle and co-chair the WIE Future of Public Engagement in HE Learning Circle.

The changes brought to the imaginations and experiences of students and colleagues by the COVID pandemic were profound and necessitated a totally revised pedagogic approach to my teaching. The emphasis on community remained, but rather than taking an emergent approach, I sought to co-create communities of care, emphasising the importance of compassion to self and others in educating and learning. This pushed further my work on accessibility, inclusion, decolonising, and integration which I believe necessarily underpins effective, transformative interdisciplinary teaching and learning in which the expertise of all community members is honoured and their roles as educator and learner emphasised.

Roxanne Douglas - Butterworth Award Winner

I am a Teaching Fellow with the English and Comparative Literary Studies Department, this year I also teach ‘Feminism, Politics, and Social Change in Modern Britain’ with the Department of History. I completed my PhD on Arab feminist writing in 2019 in the ECLS Department at the University of Warwick, and have been teaching between a number of departments at Warwick (ECLS, History, IATL and Liberal Arts) since 2016. I have led a number of pedagogic interventions, events, and CPD workshops (‘Risky Classrooms’, ‘What Do You Mean??: Supporting Undergraduate Essay Writing’, ‘Supercharged Speaking’, and ‘Emotions and Connections in the Socially Distanced Classroom’). I am currently working on my monograph, tentatively titled 'Levantine Feminist Literature from the 1980s to the Present: Uncovering, Recuperating and Restoring Arab Women’s Narratives'.

In this statement I consolidate and reflect on the challenges of the last academic year by devising my 'Inside/Outside' ethos. This ethos captures the positives of the collapse of distinctions, and asks what else might be possible for the future of HE? This year I learned that the word ‘academy’ comes from the ancient Greek word for ‘garden’: Plato used to teach his students in open green spaces just outside the walls of Athens. I think we need to go back to our roots. To do so, I propose that we think critically think about insides and outsides, literally and figuratively.

‘Inside/Outside’ characterises my pedagogic approach on three main levels: student experience, pedagogic approach, and the university community. This includes student mental health (inside), and the use of outside spaces in curricular and non-curricular activities (outsides). I have developed my blended and online pedagogic approaches this year through CPD and community building (inside), as well as developing extra-curricular groups and activities to help students think beyond curricular expectations ad grades (outside). Lastly, I have developed the university community by co-devising workshops that invited participants (staff and students) to challenge gendered harassment online (inside), and by participating in outreach programmes (outsides).

I am to take this challenging of distinctions forward in my teaching and outreach activities, and I aim to blend some of these approaches.

Cathy Hampton

I am the Director of Teaching and Learning in the SMLC, and I'm based in the French section there. My recent research has focused on: HE pedagogy and the Year Abroad, bridging the gap between school and university-level language teaching, interdisciplinary and cross-curricular learning, the student experience and student-centred pedagogy.

I have used 'imaginative anticipation' as a heading under which to summarize my approach to the year. I explore some practical responses: how basic online tools and spaces have allowed me to reframe live language workshops and add a dimension of widening participation engagement to a module on language teaching. More philosophically, I also explore how a crisis situation has freed us to dare to anticipate other peoples' needs (learners / colleagues / new stakeholders) and to engage with them more proactively through online tools because we feel linked by a common experience of uncertainty.

Andi Hoxhaj - Butterworth Award Winner

I am an early career academic teaching in the European Union Law module at Warwick Law School. My areas of research focus on corruption, governance, the rule of law, European integration and the Western Balkans. I was awarded my doctoral title in 2017 at the University of Warwick. In April 2018, I was awarded the prestigious British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award funding my project 'The UK—Western Balkans post-Brexit'. I am an author of ‘The EU Anti-Corruption Policy: A Reflexive Governance Approach’ published by Routledge in 2020.

I am honoured to be awarded the Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence and humbled by the nomination from our fantastic students. It is essential that we work more closely with our students and create a safe environment where students are able to share their challenges with us as educators – know that we are listening, and fully committed in supporting them. Student voices being heard and validated is the key to open channels of communication and academic engagement, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, but not only. Furthermore, curiosity and lack of fear in exploring methods of teaching tailored to our student’s needs are also critical. Their success is our success.

Jim Judges

Matthew Leeke

I am a Reader in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Warwick. I received MEng and PhD degrees in Computer Science from the University of Warwick, before joining faculty in the Department of Computer Science as the inaugural recipient of the John Buxton Lectureship.

In a year of unprecedented challenge I redeveloped many aspects of my teaching according to the principle that community and teamwork are more important than ever when we can’t deliver taught sessions in-person or rely on more traditional teaching methods. In collaboration with module tutors and students, that redevelopment facilitated the incorporation of student-led lectures and long-form discussion as pillars of academic and social community building, each of which will be at the core of my teaching as we develop sustainable models of blended learning.

Heather Meyer

I am an IATL Teaching Fellow. In this role, I develop strategies which aim to diversify assessment and integrate ‘authentic’ interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary learning experiences within assessment cycles. I advocate holistic learning and pedagogic innovation, and my research interests involve exploring how the ‘global’ is featured within educational contexts.

I am very honoured to be a WATE finalist this year! 2020/21 has produced a range of unprecedented challenges, and for that very reason has created an exciting opportunity to reimagine my teaching practices. My modules this year included asynchronous multidisciplinary peer learning, which helped create a sense of community amongst my students from different disciplinary backgrounds; a special focus on student-led learning and student-devised content; co-created assessment documentation (including assignment briefs and marking criteria) with a special focus on transdisciplinarity and decolonisation; and interactive online learning opportunities geared to minimise accessibility and engagement barriers. Overall, an exciting year full of innovation!

Meleisa Ono-George - Butterworth Award Winner

I am a social-cultural historian of race and gender in Britian and the Anglo-Caribbean, as well as a public historian. I am chair of the WIHEA Anti-Racist Pedagogy Learning Circle and co-chair of the University's Race Equality Taskforce.

Working with staff to develop anti-racist pedagogical practice and challenge racial inequalities, and through this work, create cultural change and a positive student experience.

Stefania Paredes Fuentes

I am an Economics Educator working on increasing diversity in Economics and creating more inclusive learning environments that embrace this diversity. At Warwick, I co-organise the Warwick Anti-Racist Pedagogy Forum. In the UK, I am Diversity Champion of the Royal Economic Society and sits in the Economics Network’s Executive Board.

COVID19 challenged every aspect of our work. My goal this year was to rethink academic spaces in a way that students could engage and feel part of the academic community despite the challenge we all (students and staff) may encounter. In order to support students and in the hope that all students had a fair chance to do well in my courses, I created teaching resources that embedded three principles: engagement, flexibility and collaboration. Using Teams, I developed learning communities that fostered students’ sense of belonging. I learnt that teaching with empathy adds value to my work as a teacher.

Martyn Parker

I am the Mathematics and Statistics course director. I have worked on national projects around the transition from school to university mathematics, learner analytics and problem-solving in mathematics. I also work with national organisations to encourage and facilitate participation in higher education.

I explore how this crisis has empowered us to examine, reflect and challenge our approach to education. The rapid reinvention of higher education has opened our eyes to new learning environments that, in many cases, have enhanced our delivery. Nevertheless, reflection is required to understand the pedagogical knowledge underpinning this paradigm shift and its profound implications for the future of education.

Dani Pearson - Butterworth Award Winner


Hello! I am Dr Dani Pearson, a Teaching Fellow in the Chemistry Department and most of my teaching focuses around the undergraduate laboratory modules. I have been working at Warwick for four years and continue to love what I do! Teaching in the lab is so different to giving lectures as you can really get to know each student personally and understand their learning style. For me, getting to speak to and know our fantastic students better and teach them how to make some pretty cool coloured compounds in the lab is the true highlight of my job!

This year has been a huge learning curve for all of us, particularly all those who are most involved in practical teaching! A highlight for me is an experiment I transformed into a research, business-themed, online experiment, where students acted as research scientists, worked through a personal Moodle lesson, before meeting back together to collaborate their results and plan a discussion for the “staff meeting”! Other highlights include the 1st year non-chemistry online presentations, where despite not being face to face, were still able to instil a wholesome sense of community amongst students. Also, a collection of bespoke, Warwick specific resources have been developed to support practical learning online which will be used beyond the pandemic. In addition, I am sure that many of these resources and the lessons learnt while developing them have shaped the way we will teach practical Chemistry in future, and could be very relevant for other practical based subjects, in a collective effort to improve our student experience of all practical sciences.

Kerry Pinny

I am a Senior Academic Technologist in the central Academic Technology team and member of LDCU. I lead the team that provides guidance, training and technical support for Moodle, Mahara, H5P, Vevox, Padlet, eStream and Echo360.

I have been involved in a lot of collaborative work this year. Putting together Moodle courses for staff (TfLO) and students (WOLC), online guidance on our tools, training and workshops. None of my ‘achievements’ would have been possible without the support and input of colleagues from across the University. I hope, in my own small way, I have made a difference to colleagues and students.

Mark Storey

I work in the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies, where I am an Associate Professor and, currently, the Director of Teaching and Learning. My research specialism lies in American literature, and I teach and convene two honours-level modules, 'Twentieth-Century US Literature' and 'American Horror Story: US Gothic Cultures ,1790-Present'.

Five key lessons I take from this year: 1) Digital tools can reinvent the way students experience the time and place of learning; 2) Online and digital teaching is not just a bolt-on or a substitute for the ‘real thing’ 3) The digital classroom needs to keep in mind the socio-economic barriers that many students encounter; 4) The spaces we create on campus need to be democratising, but our ‘classroom’ also needs to imagine itself as existing beyond institutional space; and 5) This is a collective transformation and we need to learn from each other.

Celine Tan

I am Reader in Law and teacher and scholar of international economic law. I am a woman of colour from the global south who is committed to developing inclusive, accessible and representative scholarship, practice and communities of teaching and learning that reflect the lived experiences and realities of the majority world.

I am honoured to be awarded the WATE. It has been an extraordinary year for both students and staff. I hope that I have, in my capacity as Director of Postgraduate Studies at the Law School, as a teacher of international economic law, a personal tutor and a colleague, to steer us through the challenges, including facilitating a rapid transition to online and hybrid education, building an inclusive community of learning, teaching and decision-making that also engages with respectful but robust criticism upon which we need to develop our practice.

Nicholas Tawn - Butterworth Award Winner

I am in the second year as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics, having previously been a PhD student and Postdoc at Warwick during which time I was twice nominated (and once commended) for a WATE award.

Following the pandemic led seismic shift in teaching regimes, it is critical that we really take on-board student feedback as we adapt our practices. I discovered most students were really missing lectures! To help bring normality and structure back for the students I delivered my module as full lectures. Simulating a real live lecture environment with humour and informality, aided by props, helped create an atmosphere of approachability and community. Alongside this, supported by experienced colleagues, I integrated a number of technology tools that dramatically enhanced the delivery of the module and proved highly successful for a small overhead.

Claude Tregoat

I took an MSc in International Studies, I worked in the tourism industry and as a translator but was always more interested in teaching languages. After completing my PGCE, I joined the Language Centre and my pedagogical interests are in virtual exchanges.

Leticia Villamediana Gonzalez

I joined Warwick in 2014 as a Teaching Fellow in Hispanic Studies, SMLC. I am currently a Senior Teaching Fellow and I am also Language Coordinator and SSLC Academic Convenor in Hispanic Studies. I was also honoured to become a WIHEA Fellow a couple of years ago, which has been an excellent learning opportunity and experience.

As a teacher, it has been the most challenging but rewarding year of my career. And I know this also depicts what my colleagues and students have experienced. The enormous teamwork started over a year ago when we all began planning and creating responsive learning and teaching opportunities for challenging times. But it has also encouraged me to be more creative, flexible and adaptable, three main features that I will definitely take with me in my journey as I move forward. I have successfully convened the two largest modules of my department, involving 90 final-year students and 70 first years who were about to experience university life for the first time in one of the most difficult years. I have also led several pedagogical projects. But above all, I have tried my best to be there always with a smile to support all my students and to make their hybrid and online learning experience worthwhile.

Naomi Waltham-Smith

I'm an Associate Professor in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies and Chair of the Faculty of Social Sciences Education Committee. My research revolves around the politics of listening and I'm passionate about the role of listening in promoting more inclusive and democratic forms of education

This past year reminded me that, as a teacher, I enter the classroom as a learner. In the context of the pandemic, my priorities were to help foster personal connections and promote inclusive approaches to interdisciplinarity. I learned from working in dialogue with my students about the importance of sharing concrete personal experiences promoting empowerment and participation, and also for enabling students to contextualize difficult theoretical concepts. Supporting students at a time of attenuated social connections and exacerbated inequalities required honing the skill of listening to understand how the varied challenges they were facing were (re)shaping their experiences of study.

Michael Ward

I moved to Warwick in 2017 as Head of Department of Chemistry. Four grown-up children, including no chemists!
Before that: University of Sheffield (2003–17) and University of Bristol (1990–2003).
I'm an inorganic chemist with >400 publications who enjoys teaching as much as research.

I was nominated based on consistent enthusiastic feedback from students, simply for providing what they say are engaging and interesting lectures and tutorials, with content very clearly explained with some humour thrown in. Just the basics, done well, with a strong focus on clarity - based particularly on anticipating the problems in grasping tricky concepts so that they are overcome before they become roadblocks. Going forwards, lessons and opportunities from on-line teaching during the pandemic will form the basis of a departmental syllabus and teaching review that I hope will transform our degree offerings by substantially increasing flexibility and optionality.