Our award-winning teachers

Dr Jared Miles

School of Pharmacy

Indigenous Educator Award for Teaching Excellence

Dr Jared Miles is a Yuwi man and Senior Lecturer with the School of Pharmacy. Since beginning this role in 2021, Jared has become a key designer of the new undergraduate Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours) program and is leading improvements in culturally safe and representative education across the HaBS Faculty.

Jared’s approach to teaching emphasises interactive and authentic learning and assessment. In developing the first course of the new program, PHRM1101 Pharmacy Practice and Medicines Management 1A, Jared spearheaded the new inquiry-driven blended learning model which underpins the entire new program, utilising UQ Extend and interactive Seminars and Team-based Learning in place of didactic Lectures. Jared has now successfully taught PHRM1101 five times for cohorts of up to 250 students, including as a summer intensive. He continues to implement feedback to improve the course and learning model, and supports academics developing later courses in the new program.

Jared is passionate about supporting Indigenous students and improving culturally safe education through his roles as the Pharmacy Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Liaison, with the HaBS Indigenising Curriculum Working Party, and Australian Pharmacy Council.

Jared has received three HaBS teaching awards and is currently leading a successful UQ Teaching Innovation Grant.

Dr Gurion Ang

School of the Environment

Natural and Physical Sciences, Agriculture, Environmental and related studies

Gurion is an ecologist who turns his classroom into an interconnected learning ecosystem. He specialises in teaching ecology, zoology, and science communication. Gurion is an exemplary practitioner of teaching and has transformed ecological education at UQ.

Gurion led an uplift of BIOL2010 Ecology to support today’s diverse learners by developing asynchronous digital learning to accompany in-person workshops, horizontal integration with the companion biostatistics course for students to apply daunting statistical concepts, and use of innovative collaborative exams to simulate real-world problem-solving and reduce anxiety. He extended UQ’s ecological educational footprint into high school biology by co-designing activities, resources, and assessment with secondary teachers, resulting in increased enrolment and transition from high school to university biology, and the establishment of Queensland’s largest community of practice in secondary science education.

More recently, Gurion provides educational leadership as the inaugural convenor of UQ’s Bachelor of Science (BSc) by disseminating and advocating teaching excellence through collaboration across the 39 BSc discipline convenors and teaching teams during regular town halls, expos and forums. This supports almost 3000 BSc students. Gurion is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Professor Fiona Barlow

School of Psychology

Health

Fiona Barlow is a Professor in the School of Psychology in the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences. She has sustained a record of teaching excellence over the last decade and a half. In the classroom Professor Barlow employs creative and flexible techniques to engage learners, resulting in ardent testimonials from students long after graduation.

Through her work on psychology’s global partnerships, she has championed international students in the School of Psychology. At the faculty level Professor Barlow has brought UQ’s teaching expertise to secondary schools such as the Queensland Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Technology. At the university level Professor Barlow is working with partners on the Queensland Commitment, designing a data-driven approach to understanding student wellbeing and retention. Finally, at a national and international level Professor Barlow is known for her Cambridge Handbook of the Psychology of Prejudice.

Currently, she is finalising the Australasian edition of Pearson’s Social Psychology textbook. In sum, Professor Barlow is a teacher who is active in the classroom, her school, her faculty, the university, and internationally. By means of knowledge and hard work Professor Barlow embodies the passion for teaching and learning that is integral to the fabric of the university.

Professor Tracey Bunda and Associate Professor Katelyn Barney

ATSIS Unit

Education

Ngugi/Wakka Wakka woman Tracey Bunda and non-Indigenous woman Katelyn Barney model how Indigenous and non-Indigenous people can excel at co-teaching. Non-Indigenous students and staff often express concern and uncertainty about how to build relationships with Indigenous people. In fact, the Reconciliation Australia barometer (2022) found that that only 17% of non-Indigenous people have relationships with Indigenous people. Maddison (2019) has characterised the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people as profoundly “broken”.

Over the last 6 years, Bunda and Barney’s innovative co-teaching practice has demonstrated how relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people can be built and sustained. Their co-teaching practice has two contexts:

1. inspiring undergraduate students in Indigenous studies to reflect on their own identities and cultures through the power of storying
2. inspiring their colleagues locally, nationally and internationally to embed Indigenous perspectives in their own curriculum and work respectfully together

Their collaborative co-teaching philosophy is captured in the metaphor of basket weaving – they weave together their different threads of knowledges and experiences together to connect and support students and staff to build relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Their co-teaching approach is a true partnership and demonstrates the power of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people working together.

Associate Professor Rebecca Olson

School of Social Science

Society and Culture

Rebecca is an innovator. She innovates teaching activities, concepts and processes that leverage emotions. These innovations are highly influential, shaping teaching and learning practices across UQ, Australia and the globe. Their effects are wide-ranging: from transforming curriculum and course review, to improving learners’ skills in group work, research and interprofessional practice, and reimagining the role of emotions in feedback.

Since 2015, Rebecca has taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses ranging from 10 to 300 students in research methods (SOCY7329 & 3329), health sociology (SOCY1030, SOCY3020), and allied health (OCTY2106). Her leadership roles include BSocSc Program Director (2018–2022) and School Director of Teaching and Learning (2023 – present).

As an educator and leader, Rebecca co-constructs environments that safely accommodate discomfort. This helps students reflect on their emotions to answer the questions: who and how to be. It helps educator-colleagues to build confidence and enhance their students’ learning. As a globally recognised expert on emotions in education, she has produced 20+ publications, informed policy (US National Academy of Science) and influenced the influencers of higher education. Rebecca is a world leader on emotions in education, and recognised innovator (2019 UQCOCSL; SFHEA) in leveraging emotions in teaching and leadership of teaching and learning.

Dr Adriana Penman

School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

Health

Dr Adriana Penman has demonstrated sustained excellence in teaching undergraduate and postgraduate speech pathology students to learn in the fields of stuttering, practice education and simulation-based learning.

As a recognised leader in health professional education, she has pioneered authentic simulation-based learning experiences to create a positive and engaging student-centred classroom for students to hone their skills in a safe environment before working with “real” clients. Adriana’s natural affinity with students and enjoyment for teaching stems from her Bachelor of Education (Primary) degree. Her teaching approach shapes and nurtures students’ learning whilst valuing their novice position to ease their transition to real-world professional practice.

Adriana’s innovative and high-quality teaching initiatives have been recognised through her HEA Fellowship (2019) and numerous teaching awards (SHRS 2016; 2017 and HaBS 2018; 2023). With a commitment to the wider educator community, her prominent teaching practices have resulted in translation of her work across disciplines and internationally.

As an invited presenter she shares her successes and setbacks in simulation pedagogy. Adriana has contributed to the professional education literature with over 30 publications aligning her teaching and research investigating stuttering across the lifespan, teaching and student learning practices, simulation, and exploring students’ engagement in interprofessional, collaborative practice.

Newish Communications

Dr Nicolas Pontes, Sharon Twomey and Jaanvi Singh

UQ Business School, Faculty of Business, Economics and Law

Work Integrated Learning (WIL) programs that value and enhance student employability

Traditionally, work-integrated learning opportunities take the form of class projects, internships, and regional or national competitions. However, students rarely have access to campus opportunities that replicate a professional environment where students are responsible for real clients’ business outcomes. Building on personal experience and on the success of similar approaches in the United States, in November 2019, Dr Nicolas Pontes created Newish Communications, a first-of-its-kind extra-curricular program in Australian Higher Education.

Newish is a full communications agency 100% run by students. As decision-makers, they manage the agency’s planning, finances, client acquisition, client negotiation, and development and execution of projects. Students are mentored by academic mentors and a panel of industry professionals who, when needed, coach students with additional training, skills, and practical knowledge. This helps students bridge the gap between their theoretical (course-based) learnings and real applications. The outcomes for students and industry stakeholders are outstanding and mutually rewarding.

Newish has successfully completed 38 projects, including the provision of over 7,700 hours (over $250K equivalent) of pro-bono work and the delivery of multiple successful projects for paying clients. In building employability confidence via industry projects, new opportunities for students to develop leadership skills, entrepreneurial mindsets, and digital literacy are also harnessed.

WRIT1999: Effective Thinking and Writing

Dr Peter Ellerton, Professor Deborah Brown, Dr Yael Leibovitch, Dr Nathan Pickels, Dr Luke Zaphir, Laura Pham, Jacob Tangleroyal

School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry

Student Experience that supports diversity and inclusion

WRIT1999 Effective Thinking and Writing is an outreach course developed in response to the need for, and challenge of, increasing student representation at university for low SES, rural and remote, and Indigenous students (Institute for Social Science Research, 2023). The focus of WRIT1999 is building student capacity in thinking and writing, a capacity that underpins academic success across all contexts. It is available to high school students only through the UQ Enhanced Studies Program (ESP), which allows students to complete one university subject during their senior years.

Each year, the WRIT1999 cohort represents over 50% of total ESP students enrolled at UQ. In 2024, WRIT1999 was expanded to incorporate the Young Achievers Program (YAP)—students with academic potential from underrepresented groups. Developed and taught by experts in critical thinking, writing and pedagogy, WRIT1999 has made a significant impact on students and their success at university, including increases in GPA, retention rates and completion rates compared to like students over the past 10 years.

Throughout the course students work collaboratively and are supported to develop the 21st century skills of reasoning and communication, readying them for a robust educational future regardless of their individual circumstances and backgrounds.