Fellow awarded Pilkington Prize for teaching excellence

A Fellow of St Catharine’s College has been recognised for their substantial contribution to teaching at the University of Cambridge. Professor Richard Dance (1997), Fellow and Praelector at St Catharine’s, is one of 13 academic staff to receive the University’s Pilkington Prize in 2023.

Professor Dance, who is Professor of Early English at the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic (ASNC), said:

“Working with our amazing students and sharing their love for their subjects is one of the best things about being in Cambridge, and it’s an enormous privilege to receive an award dedicated to teaching.  I’m more grateful than I can say to my wonderful colleagues at St Catharine’s, in the ASNC Department and in the wider collegiate University — and especially of course to all the students I’ve learned with and from over the years. Thank you for being so willing to time-travel with me into the weird and brilliant world of medieval languages and literature, and for putting up so enthusiastically with all the grammar and sound changes (and words for camels and hedgehogs) that I’ve thrown at you!”

Professor Dance’s teaching was also recently highly commended by the judges of the ‘Innovative Teaching’ category in the 2022 Student-Led Teaching Awards, organised by the Cambridge Student Union to reward outstanding teaching and student support across the University and its Colleges.

The Pilkington Prizes are awarded annually to members of academic staff across the University based on nominations received by Heads of School for their constituent Faculties or Departments. The awards were initiated by Sir Alastair Pilkington, who believed that the quality of teaching was a crucial part of the University's ability to continue to attract undergraduates of the highest calibre and took it upon himself to see that this was recognised. The first Pilkington Prizes were awarded in 1994, largely as a result of the efforts of Sir Alastair and supported by a personal donation of £50,000

Past winners among the Fellows of St Catharine's are listed below in ascending order of the year they won a Pilkington Prize (with their years of accession to the College’s Fellowship):

• 1999: Dr Geoffrey Kantaris (1990)
• 2000: Mr Michael Kitson (1992) and Dr Dean Sutcliffe (1990)
• 2002: Dr Peter Wothers (1997) and Dr John Grandage (1995)
• 2006: Professor David Pyle (1988)
• 2009: Dr Simon Taylor (2009)
• 2010: Professor Mark Elliott (1998) and Professor Richard Harrison (2007)
• 2013: Professor Abigail Brundin (2000)
• 2014: Dr Sriya Iyer (2000)
• 2018: Dr Matt Mason (2001)
• 2019: Dr Jess Gwynne (2015)
• 2020: Dr David Bainbridge (2003)

Find out more about studying Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic at St Catharine's.