Three Brasenose College tutors have won Oxford University awards. Professor Owen Lewis won an Oxford Teaching Award, for designing and delivering a new tropical biology field course. The course is an intensive ten days in Borneo (as pictured above - showing Owen teaching) and involves local researchers as well as Oxford staff. It was an innovative step and a difficult course to establish but gives an important opportunity for students who wish to specialise in ecology or tropical biology.
Two other Brasenose tutors won awards at the Medical Sciences Division Teaching Excellence ceremony. Firstly Dr Richard Boyd won a lifetime achievement award for high quality and sustained commitment to education throughout his career. Secondly Dr Paul Dennis had a commendation for being a highly committed educator who, as the Graduate-Entry Medicine Course Director, plays a critical role in this programme as well as for leading many of the very well received seminars in Pharmacology, and being instrumental in the reorganisation of the Applied Physiology and Pharmacology course, including setting up of new teaching in age-related medicine and critical care.
Commenting on his achievement, Owen said: “The award recognises my work setting up and running a new Tropical Forest Ecology field course for final year Biology undergraduates, which takes place in Sabah (Malaysian Borneo) every September. I’ve been fortunate to be supported by brilliant colleagues from Zoology and Plant Sciences who also teach on the course. For most of our students the course is their first encounter with the extraordinary biological diversity of rain forests. It has been a pleasure to help students get the most out of the experience, and to help them learn about the processes that maintain and threaten tropical forest biodiversity."
Read more about Biological Sciences and Medicine at Brasenose College.