A Lancaster University alumna is to receive a top higher education award for her ‘outstanding contribution’ to the teaching and learning landscape.

Dr Michelle Flood, an alumna of the e-Research and Technology Enhanced Learning Doctoral Programme, has been awarded one of five inaugural national fellowships from Ireland’s National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

Her fellowship will focus on understanding and enhancing interdisciplinary teaching and learning in Irish higher education.

Michelle is a senior lecturer at the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Her research focuses on radical interdisciplinarity and workplace-based learning, from both theoretical and practice perspectives.

Michelle said: "I am delighted to be one of the inaugural National Teaching and Learning Research Fellows. I am looking forward to contributing to the National Forums’ goal to develop an evidence base to inform future teaching and learning enhancement across the Irish higher education sector.

“My fellowship will focus on interdisciplinarity, and my interest in this area can be traced back to my fantastic experiences as a member of Cohort 6 in the TEL PhD programme, where I learned with and from people with a diverse range of professional backgrounds."

Director of Studies of the e-Research and Technology Enhanced Learning Doctoral Programme Professor Don Passey commented: “It is wonderful to hear of the continued success and achievements of a doctoral student who was awarded a PhD through one of our programmes.

“Michelle produced outstanding work throughout her time on our doctoral programme, and entirely deserves the recognition and opportunities she is gaining as a result of clear contributions she has made - and I have no doubt will continue to make - to positively enhance teaching and learning environments and practices in higher education.

“We are proud to see the work of our alumna acknowledged and supported in this way.”

The Teaching and Learning Research Fellowships are Ireland’s most prestigious national individual teaching and learning awards in higher education.