The annual Teaching Awards recognise excellence and innovation in education across the Division, welcoming nominations from all those involved in teaching activities, from graduate students and postdoctoral researchers to faculty and learning support staff.
The winners were chosen by a cross-departmental panel chaired by Professor Martin Castell, Associate Head of Division (Taught Degrees).
‘The Teaching Awards are a great opportunity to highlight some of the excellence in education delivery and support across MPLS,’ said Professor Martin Castell. ‘We had an outstanding group of nominees again this year, and selecting just five winners was no easy task. The committee was pleased to be able to select from a broad range of roles and activities ranging from excellence in running the foundation year to innovation in practical courses. I would like to congratulate the winners and thank them for their exceptional contributions to education in the Division.’
Professor Jim Naismith, Head of the MPLS Division, said: ‘Teaching is central to the purpose of the University, we transform the futures of our students. It’s nice to take a moment to lift up and celebrate the exceptional in teaching. I want to congratulate all those nominated and those who have won awards.’
2025 winners
Dr Rachel Quarrell – Department of Chemistry
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Rachel is the CEMS Course and Chemistry Lead for Oxford’s Astrophoria programme. She was nominated by a member of staff with the nomination endorsed by her department. The supporting statement for Rachel’s nomination highlighted her dedication to setting up and running the CEMS Foundation Year course, leading and innovating on course development. The nomination drew attention to her work finding and mentoring tutors, liaising carefully with departments, and ensuring that the teaching and assessment was high-quality, fair, appropriate for the course, and academically rigorous. Rachel’s colleagues were struck by her insight into the transition between school and university learning, her great ability to analyse how individual students were learning and how to help them develop themselves further, and her commitment to getting things right. The nomination highlighted her key role in the Chemistry admissions process and described her as the department’s expert on international qualifications, where her work was greatly valued and respected by colleagues. The nomination also noted Rachel as an excellent college tutor at several colleges for many years. Specifically, the nomination highlighted how she had successfully applied innovative approaches from the Astrophoria Foundation Year (such as feedback from student to tutor) to her college teaching with great success. |
Professor Jesus Lizana – Department of Engineering Science
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Jesus is Associate Professor in Engineering Science and member of the leadership team at the ZERO Institute. Jesus was nominated by a member of staff and the nomination was endorsed by the department. The nomination highlights Jesus’s work on the ZERO Teaching and Internship Programme, launched in 2024, which won the CIBSE Award 2025 for Learning and Development and the ASHRAE Award 2025 for Zero Carbon Education. The judges noted the programme’s potential for significant impact on Oxford and observed that the model could be scaled up to operate across more cities and communities. The programme received overwhelmingly positive feedback from students highlighting its effectiveness and relevance. Jesus has also introduced innovative courses in Building Services Engineering as part of the Master of Engineering (MEng) degree as well as different lectures for MSc programmes at Oxford. He also created the Oxford Student Branch for the ASHRAE University Competition on net-zero design. These courses and initiatives equip future Oxford engineers with the expertise to drive innovation and implement zero-carbon energy solutions for buildings. |
Dr James Munro – Mathematical Institute
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James is the Admissions and Outreach Coordinator for the Mathematical Institute. He was nominated by several students with their nominations endorsed by the department. James’s nomination particularly highlights his outreach activities, specifically his work on both the MAT Livestream and the Oxford Online Maths Club. The impact of James’s outreach work is evident in student testimonials, with one nomination noting that the Institute’s MAT Livestream ‘convinced [them] to apply for Oxford’. Another nomination states that both initiatives highlight how maths at Oxford has stayed at the forefront of innovative teaching and research. Students consistently recognise James’s enthusiasm, with one noting that his ‘passion for impressing the joy of [his] subject is palpable’. |
Dr Moon-Sun Nam – Department of Physics
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Moon-Sun is a departmental lecturer and was nominated by a member of staff with the nomination endorsed by her department. The nomination highlights Moon-Sun’s exceptional work as Head of the Condensed Matter and Thermal Physics practical course laboratory. Her role involves the challenging task of maintaining and supporting a wide range of experiments, which she coordinates with remarkable expertise, enthusiasm, and effectiveness. The nomination emphasises Moon-Sun’s ‘continuous programme of improvements and extensions’ to the programme which consistently ‘expose our students to cutting-edge techniques’, including her commissioning of a custom-built pulsed magnetic resonance setup. Student feedback provides compelling evidence of the course’s success under Moon-Sun’s leadership. The vast majority of feedback rates the course as 'very good', 'excellent' or 'outstanding'. Students are effusive in their praise, with comments including: 'fantastic lab, one of the best ones we have ever done'; 'really great practical, everything works without too much of a fuss and it’s quite impressive how accurate measurements you can get'; and 'I really liked how much the practical linked to the actual condensed matter course.' |
Professor Matthias Winkel – Department of Statistics
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Matthias is an Associate Professor of Probability and was nominated by a member of staff with the nomination endorsed by his department. The nomination focuses on Matthias’s exceptional lecturing, specifically highlighting his Prelims course on Probability. Despite being a very large course that bridges many different Mathematics degrees as well as Computer Science, Matthias consistently receives positive feedback from students across all these disciplines. Student comments highlighted in the nomination demonstrated the impact of his teaching approach, including: ‘Definitely the most interesting and best delivered course of Michaelmas’ and ‘The lecturer really captured my attention in every lecture and made sure to cover all the necessary information in a direct manner with intuitive examples. I would say the probability lectures have been the most helpful lectures I’ve attended so far.’ The nomination also recognised that these lectures have gained popularity with online audiences, with Matthias’s work helping to make Oxford Mathematics lecturing available to wider audiences in an accessible and effective way. |
This year’s recipients will be celebrated at a reception in the autumn, where guests from across the MPLS Division will join colleagues in recognising these achievements in teaching excellence.