Central’s Dr Nicola Abraham wins at the Guardian University Awards
Congratulations to Central’s Dr Nicola Abraham, who has been awarded the Teaching Excellence Award at this year’s Guardian University Awards!
Dr Abraham, a lecturer in Applied Theatre Practices at Central, was shortlisted for her work integrating and embedding Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies into her teaching practice and course delivery. Through sharing her knowledge with her undergraduate and postgraduate students, she has inspired them to use and develop these new creative tools within their own practices and facilitated their use in a range of educational, community and clinical settings.
Projects have included work with patients on a dementia care ward, which involved students recreating experiences such as a patient’s favourite walk through 360-degree film and supplemented with touch and smell, to using virtual reality and augmented reality to engage school pupils across the London Borough of Bexley, within an area often riven by rivalry, as they explored their local community through their study of Shakespeare’s play The Tempest.
The Guardian University Awards showcase best practice, achievement and innovation across a range of categories. Honouring excellence in everything from teaching practice to inspiring facilities, the awards act as a sector benchmark and offer universities a seal of approval for their most outstanding work.
The Teaching Excellence award recognises an outstanding teaching initiative that inspires student learning and attainment through innovative pedagogy and places teaching at the forefront of the university’s mission.
Of her win, Dr Abraham said:
“I’d like to say a huge thank you to the Guardian University Awards, to the journalists who have taken the time to hear about the stories and write them up, and to all the students, teachers, the dementia care team, and to everyone who has put in time to submit testimonies about the work that we’ve done. I’d like to dedicate this award to the students and to thank everyone who has believed in these projects and who has taken a risk and tried.
This is very much a shared victory with the students, alumni and our project collaborators, particularly Jo James and Victoria Ruddock from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust who I would especially like to thank for their continued care, support and collaboration.
It just shows that hard work pays off, and that you can teach yourself things and create something that is exciting, innovative and special for people. I’m so proud of the work we’ve done, and it has lead directly to the work we’re doing now with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in the dementia care team, where we are able to innovate for patients, share those innovations with family and friends, and create moments of real joy for people. Thank you again to everyone who has believed in me and who has allowed me to experiment and to create this work.”
The shortlist for the 2020 Guardian University Awards was announced in March 2020 with the awards ceremony, originally due to take place in April, postponed due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
Award winners of the 2020 Guardian University Awards were, instead, announced by the Guardian on 25 November, 2020 with winners profiled in the Guardian newspaper on 26 November 2020.
To see the full list of this year’s award recipients, please visit the Guardian’s website where you will also find a profile of Dr Abraham’s award-winning work.