De Montfort University Leicester's innovative academics named National Teaching Fellows

The National Teaching Fellowship awards are officially given in an October ceremony. Two of DMU-based academics have been awarded this fellowship for their outstanding contribution to teaching and inspiring their colleagues.

Study in UK: Two academics at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) have been awarded National Teaching Fellowships for exceptionally contributing to their fields and also inspiring their colleagues. The two fellowship winners include Dr Irina Gokh of the Faculty of Business and Law and Associate Professors Di Turgoose of the Faculty of Health and Life Science. Officially they will receive the fellowships in October.

During the October ceremony, a total of 17 teams and 55 HE professionals are due to be recognised for their exceptional contributions in this field.

While responding to the awards, Associate Professor Di Turgoose said, “As an aspiring NTF, I have always found the NTF community to be collegiate, inspiring, nurturing, empowering, and reassuring, and I am immensely honoured to receive this prestigious award. Special thanks go to my longstanding colleague and mentor, Angela O’Sullivan - Emeritus Professor of inclusion, who has, and continues to be a source of inspiration – I could not have done it without her.”

“It was honestly a total shock to hear I would be awarded a national teaching fellowship. This is one of my proudest moments and I would like to thank my mentor, Alasdair Blair and all the many colleagues who were willing to share their advice," said Irina.

Alison Johns, Advance HE Chief Executive said, “We know that higher education has the power to transform lives but this doesn’t happen by default. Outstanding teaching is the result of knowledge, commitment, passion, energy and creativity. All of these 2024 winners demonstrate these attributes and put them into practice with excellent results. It is vital for student success that we invest in higher education teaching and promote the value of excellence.”

Fellowship Winners Details

Di Turgoose comes from a background of career in criminal justice and her innovative teaching and wealth of professional experience have helped inspire many students to undertake programs related to policing, probation, social work, criminal investigation, psychology, and criminology. In 2019, Di Turgoose became DMU Teacher Fellow and in 2021, became Associate Professor Teaching.

Dr Gokh joined DMU in 2018 and currently, she is Associate Head (Education) of the School of Leadership, Management and Marketing and now aids students with her experience. She is a former international student who helped in developing block teaching at DMU.

On these academics' achievements, Professor Susan Orr, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Education and Equalities said, “Both Di and Irina exemplify the ethos of DMU’s Empowering University strategy. They are passionate about passing on their expertise by co-creating and developing innovative approaches to learning and teaching which transform the lives of our students. At DMU we are extremely proud to have such a successful track record of NTF awards, which is reflective of the important work that all our staff undertake in creating a welcoming and inspiring learning environment for our students to thrive in.”

Read more:

• Harvard research gives new model to create Parkinson’s disease in a petri dish using stem cells
• US Education Department Announces New Process to Launch 2025-26 FAFSA Form