Lincoln Lecturer Paving the Way for Student Success Awarded Prestigious National Honour
4 August 2022
Written by: hgamble
An Associate Professor and Foundation Studies Centre Director of Teaching and Learning has been recognised with a national award for transformative teaching excellence.
An Associate Professor and Foundation Studies Centre Director of Teaching and Learning has been recognised with a national award for transformative teaching excellence.
Dr Ellie Davison at the University of Lincoln, UK, has been awarded a National Teaching Fellowship (NTF) by Advance HE. The award highlights select academics across the sector who have positively impacted student outcomes and the teaching profession.
Ellie has spearheaded the provision of a transformative year zero education at Lincoln, leading teaching on the Science Foundation Year (SFY). Described as an inclusive pathway to success, Ellie has helped students who have faced barriers to learning, been away from education or have non-traditional qualifications, by providing a year ‘zero’ for over 40 degree programmes across the Schools of Pharmacy, Life Sciences, Engineering, Chemistry and Maths & Physics.
With an early career as a molecular genetics Research Fellow, and her pedagogic expertise cultivated during her time as an ‘outstanding’ secondary school science teacher, Ellie joined the University of Lincoln, UK, in September 2017.
In addition to the NTF award, Ellie also authored a winning application for an Advance HE CATE (Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence) Award for the Science Foundation Year team in 2019 – a group award version of the individual NTF award making her one of only a handful of people nationally to have ‘done the double’, achieving both accolades.
Dr Ellie Davison said: “I’m delighted to become a National Teaching Fellow and have the opportunity to honour our magnificent foundation students who begin their higher education journey with us.
“I strive to provide an educational experience for our students that empowers them to achieve, regardless of their starting points, personal challenges, or circumstances. I am inspired every day by our students’ resilience and determination to succeed and I hope that I will continue to have the privilege of championing diverse talent within my community.”
Ellie leads the teaching of over 250 students a year, with a respect for diverse talent and ways of learning, multi-format learning activities, and an assessment strategy that enables all students to showcase their strengths.
Her holistic approach to embedding transferable academic, and non-academic development into the curriculum, including maintaining positive mental health, has ensured students thrive in future years of their degree, and beyond.
Ellie continues to diversify provision with the new ‘lifelong learning’ route into the foundation year for mature students who can demonstrate their aptitude through work-based experiences, and the upcoming International Foundation Year.
Dr Kate Strudwick, Dean of the Lincoln Academy of Learning and Teaching at the University of Lincoln, said: “We are immensely proud of Ellie Davison for her success as a National Teaching Fellow 2022.
“Ellie’s achievements in Foundation Science provides sustained access to science-based programmes for students from non-traditional routes. Ellie has had significant impact both within the institution and beyond, through sharing good practice in teaching, learning and student engagement. Her success with NTF places her as part of a highly regarded national group of colleagues in HE.”