Faculty of Engineering Recognised at the Education Awards 2024

The Education Awards 2024, hosted by Elevate, celebrated the outstanding contributions of staff and students to learning and teaching across the University of Sheffield. This annual event, held on 8th May 2024, recognised the dedication, innovation, and leadership of educators who have made a significant impact on student experience and education quality.

The Faculty of Engineering was represented among the award winners, with achievements in key areas of teaching practice and mentoring. Here are the highlights:

Teaching Practice Award

Winner: Dr Pete Mylon, Multidisciplinary Engineering Education (MEE)
Dr Mylon was awarded for his work in teaching, reflecting his commitment to innovative pedagogy and dedication to fostering an engaging and inclusive learning environment. His work with MEE has supported a positive learning environment for students across the faculty.

Peer Teaching and Mentoring Award

Winner: Lucy Farquhar, Engineering
Lucy Farquhar’s work in peer teaching and mentoring was recognised with this award. Her efforts in mentoring fellow students have contributed significantly to building a collaborative and supportive community within the Faculty of Engineering.

Let's here from Lucy

During my time at Sheffield I completed my PhD in developing new alloys for metal additive manufacturing in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering (now in the school of CMBE). Alongside my PhD I was also involved in a lot of teaching mainly in MEE (Multidisciplinary Engineering Education), in the Structures Lab and the engineering project weeks for 1^st and 2^nd year engineers. Teaching allowed me to develop my communication skills as well as massively improving my confidence in my own subject. Through support from academics in MEE, I started getting involved in training other teachers, empowering them to enjoy teaching, become more effective communicators and therefore improve the student experience. Being given the award for Peer Teaching & Mentoring at the Education Awards, although wholly unexpected, was a real validation that my efforts to foster an enjoyable atmosphere, where teachers feel supported and also challenged to develop have been noticed. It was great to feel appreciated after putting in so much work over the span of 4 years and it has convinced me that teaching others is something I want to continue to do in my career. I recently started a post-doc at the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich, where I will be continuing to research metal additive manufacturing, as well as teaching students, with the added challenge of teaching some of it in German this time!

Lucy Farquhar

Congratulations to all the winners and nominees for their exceptional contributions!