The Department of Criminology recognises two Teaching Assistants as TAs of the Year. Jessica Williamson has received the ’TA of the Year Award’ and Oliver Hulmes the ’First-Year TA Award’.
Each year, the Department of Criminology of The University of Manchester recognises two Teaching Assistants as TA of the Year Awards. The Department rewards the ’TA of the Year Award’ to a TA with an excellent performance during the last academic year, while the ’First-Year TA Award’ is given to first-year TAs with an exceptional performance. The judging panel has received numerous nominations for many of our TAs, but finally decided to recognise Jessica Williamson as TA of the Year Award, and Oliver Hulmes as First-Year TA Award.Jessica Williamson is a third-year PhD candidate at the Department of Criminology whose research uses auto-ethnography to study harm reduction and private policing at UK music festivals. Jessica has demonstrated a consistent high performance in her teaching over three years, having taught in units such as Drugs and Society, Explaining Crime and Deviance, and Criminological Research Methods. In her nomination, a permanent member of the staff described Jessica’s teaching as ’exceptional’. "She’s confident, extremely knowledgeable, relaxed, friendly and creates a welcoming and non-judgemental teaching environment. Her ability to think on her feet, linking what the students said to what had been covered on the course, especially theories, was outstanding and at the level of an experienced lecturer".
The winner of the First-Year TA Award is Oliver Hulmes. Oliver, who is a PhD candidate at Manchester Metropolitan University, joined our TA pool in September 2022, and since then has delivered consistently high-quality teaching in our BA Criminology modules Crime and Society, Criminological Research Methods, and The Criminal Psychopath. In his nomination, a permanent member of the staff described Oliver’s teaching as ’professional’, ’attuned to class dynamics’ and ’engaging’.
These Awards celebrate the commitment and passion of our TAs. We also recognise all our other TAs for their invaluable contribution to the teaching excellence in the Department of Criminology: Borja Alvarez Martinez, Diana Bociga Gelvez, Bianca Caienar, Tom Cunningham, Pete Duncan, Joshua Findlay, Sophie Henderson, Olivia Horsefield, Maria Fernanda Ibarra Gutierrez, Patsy Irizar, Mina Malvandy, Peggy Lockwood-Lord, Ana Maria Nicoriciu, Paul O’Neill, Ryan Peacey and Antonio Ross.
The TA of the Year Awards are elected by the Department of Criminology through an Award Committee comprised by Prof Judith Aldridge (Head of Criminology), Dr Lisa Williams (Deputy Head of Criminology), Dr William Floodgate (BA Criminology Programme Director) and Dr David Buil-Gil (TA Coordinator for Criminology). Candidates can be nominated by Course Unit Directors, Lecturers, students and other Teaching Assistants, or they can self-nominate. The Awards consist of a certificate of accomplishment and a voucher.