The Politics and International Studies (PAIS) department's Dr Akinyemi Oyawale has been awarded the International Studies Association's (ISA) Deborah Gerner Innovative Teaching in International Studies Award for 2025, which he will officially receive at the ISA Convention 2025 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. As ISA's preeminent teaching award, this prize honors the legacy of Misty Gerner as not only a fine scholar, but also as a passionate and dedicated teacher and mentor. Sponsored to carry her memory and mission forward by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers and the editorial board of the New Millennium Books in International Studies, the award is granted annually to an instructor who has developed effective new approaches to teaching in the discipline. This adds to Dr Oyawale's previous British International Studies' Early Career Excellence in Teaching International Studies Prize (2024) and the Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence and Butterworth Memorial Award (2023) recognitions.

According to the judges: "We had many strong applications and this was a tough decision, so we want to congratulate you on the award and the excellent work that you are doing [...] The committee was very impressed with your work, and not only as a teacher, but also as a rising scholar taking on timely security questions through a rigorous, critical lens."