In this post, Callum Paterson introduces the first slate of winners of the Edinburgh University Students’ Association’s Teaching Awards 2025. This is the first in a series of blog posts celebrating the 2025 Teaching Award winners. Callum is the Academic Engagement & Policy Coordinator within the Student Voice team at the Students’ Association.
Introduction
First, I think it’s worth explaining what our annual Teaching Awards actually are. Now in their 16th year, the Students’ Association’s Teaching Awards exist to give students an opportunity to thank and celebrate the members of staff who make their experience at Edinburgh extraordinary. Our Awards are student-led from submitting nominations right up to a panel of Elected Representatives who choose our winners.
This year alone, we received an astonishing 1,774 nominations from every single School and Deanery, and four of the University’s central services! This just goes to show the impact staff right across our community have on students, and it’s only right to shine a spotlight on the very best.
Outstanding Course
In this first blog post, I want to showcase the winners of our Outstanding Course awards. For the first time, this year we have split this category into three and have awarded one per College. Students nominated courses which introduced them to a new ideas and perspectives, were delivered in ways which were engaging and innovative ways, and helped them develop personally and professionally.
College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS)
The winner of CAHSS Outstanding Course was Sociolinguistics, organised by Christian Ilbury in the School of Social and Political Science. The students who nominated this course described it as the most engaging, relevant, and fun course they have ever taken. What stood out to us was that students on the course told us they found themselves reflecting on the content in their daily lives, or ended up speaking to friends and flatmates about what they had learned, which shows just how captivating both the course content and the teachers were as they created a course with such a wide impact.
The runners up for this Award were: Beginners Darkroom (organised by Alicia Bruce) and Domestic Violence: Concepts, Research and Policy (organised by Valeria Skafida).
College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine (CMVM)
CMVM’s Outstanding Course was Intermediate R Programming for Data Science, organised by Brittany Blankinship from the Deanery of Molecular, Genetic and Population Health Sciences. This online course ran for the first time this year, and students told us how much they valued the explainer videos that accompanied the course content and the weekly activities that allowed them to put their learning into practice. They also really appreciated that their tutorials were scheduled during different time slots to better accommodate time zones around the world! The effort and enthusiasm from Brittany and the team on this course really shone through to their students.
The runners up for this Award were: An Introduction to Conservation Medicine (organised by Glen Cousquer) and Ecosystem Health and Sustainability (organised by Ellie Devenish-Nelson).
College of Science and Engineering (CSE)
Last, but certainly not least, CSE’s Outstanding Course was Public Participation in Policy, organised by Hannah Grist from the School of Geosciences. We loved this course not just for the variety of learning methods used but for how it put this into practice. Each class included a pre-class session, a lecture (often with an expert guest lecturer), a skills session, and time to work on their group project. The project itself is also incredibly innovative, being preparation of a report for the Scottish Wildlife Trust which students presented to the Scottish Parliament. Hannah and the team fostered a genuine sense of community on the course, and one that created spaces for students to feel heard and become actively involved in policymaking.
The runners up for this Award were: Physical Geography Fieldwork: Iceland (organised by Robert Bingham) and Evolutionary and Ecological Genetics 3 (organised by Darren Obbard).
A huge congratulations once again to these three worthy winners, and of course to each course nominated. The variety, innovation, and level of organisation that goes into ensuring students have a positive learning experience is incredible, and we hope you are all proud of what you have achieved.
Join me in my next blog post, where we’ll be shining the spotlight on the staff delivering exceptional support to our students.
Callum Paterson
Callum Paterson is the Academic Engagement & Policy Coordinator within the Student Voice team at the Students’ Association. Alongside coordinating the Teaching Awards, he works with Programme and School Representatives as well as the Vice President Education, supporting and empowering them to make their voices heard on the issues that matter most to them.
