The Royal Society of Biology has announced this year’s winner of the Higher Education Bioscience Teacher of the Year Award: Dr Sobia Kauser, Associate Professor at the University of Bradford.

The Award, sponsored by Oxford University Press and Heads of University Biosciences (HUBS), recognises leading educators at UK universities, highlighting the invaluable role they play in teaching and inspiring the next generation of bioscientists.

Dr Kauser was selected as this year’s winner from an accomplished shortlist of candidates. Dr Kauser is Associate Professor of Biomedical Science at the University of Bradford where she also holds Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy as well as being recipient of the University’s Teaching Excellence Award. Her research background is in the regulation of pigmentation biology where she has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals. Shaped by her own lived experience, Dr Kauser is passionate about providing inclusive teaching and learning where all students are given equal opportunities to succeed and progress. She is committed to championing student centred approaches and at Bradford has led innovative change to improve student experiences, outcomes, and sense of belonging, particularly for those who have specific learning differences. 

This approach is embodied by her pioneering work to address the lack of a national, comprehensive strategy for accommodating reasonable adjustments in laboratories. The Managing Risk Assessment for Disabled/Impaired Laboratory Users (MaRILU^®) system which Dr Kauser designed, developed, and implemented at Bradford takes a student-centred approach to reasonable adjustments. It places their lived experience, knowledge, and expertise of their impairment(s), whether permanent or temporary, at the heart of the student offer process.

The winner was announced at the HUBS Annual Meeting at Coventry University on 12 May and received the Ed Wood Memorial Prize of £1,000 to spend as they choose, £250 worth of Oxford University Press books, one year’s free membership to the Society, and their fee for their first year of Chartered Science Teacher (CSciTeach) waived.

On winning the Award, Dr Kauser said: “To receive this prestigious award is a great honour and incredibly humbling. I am so glad I plucked up the courage to apply and winning the award is one of my proudest moments.”

The Higher Education Bioscience Teacher of the Year award is sponsored by Oxford University Press and Heads of University Biosciences (HUBS), a Special Interest Group of the RSB.