SA Science Excellence + Innovation Awards

The University of Adelaide values teaching excellence and celebrates the success of our educators who have been presented with awards from organisations and institutions external to the University.

The SA Science Excellence and Innovation Awards showcases the critical importance of science, research and innovation to the development of industry and society as a whole. There are a number of award categories, some of which focus on research and some on teaching. 

Here we recognise staff who have been acknowledged in the learning and teaching category - STEMM Educator of the Year - University or Registered Training Organisation.

Congratulations to the winner of the 2023 STEMM Educator of the Year (University or Registered Training Organisation) - Ms Jill Bauer.

Jill v2

With a diverse 25-year career in the wine industry, Ms Jill Bauer brings a passion for wine science and building community and culture to her teaching. Her innovative approaches combine contemporary teaching and technologies, including equipment and software new to the Australian wine landscape. Ms Bauer thrives on catalysing connections between students and industry, and initiated the Vintage Conversations series, which invites professionals to share their stories on career pathways, mentors, and exposing gender biases.
Ms Bauer creates a positive learning environment where students of all backgrounds are challenged to succeed. She created a series of videos, transcribed into Mandarin, to level the playing field for students without experience in a semi-industrial setting, which have resulted in improved student confidence, and were invaluable when remote teaching was introduced.

Congratulations also to 2023 finalists Dr Viythia Katharesan and Associate Professor Adam Montagu!

Staff who have been awarded or shortlisted

  • 2022 - Dr Richard Lilly. STEMM Educator of the Year.
    Dr Richard Lilly

    Dr. Richard Lilly currently, supervises and coordinates a range of minerals industry related research projects for companies including Mount Isa Mines and OZ Minerals, through his work as a lecturer at the University of Adelaide.

    In 2016, Richard co-founded the successful National Exploration Undercover School (NExUS), which provides advanced training to the most promising geoscientists in Australia. The NExUS program has an alumni of 161 geoscientists from across Australia who are engaged in a wide range of geoscience roles to benefit the discovery and use of natural resources essential for our daily lives.

    The NExUS program has also expanded to offer professional development workshops, 'work ready' activities for undergraduates and a geoscience/STEMM outreach program. NExUS has a strong national and international reputation for its program of activities and unique style of teaching.

    Dr Lilly was also a 2021 finalist for this award.

  • 2020 - Professor Kerry Wilkinson. STEMM Educator of the Year.

    AAUT Awards - Kerry Wilkinson

    An innovative wine educator who led the development of Wine101x, an award-winning Massive Open Online Course.

  • 2017 - Dr Claudia Szabo. STEMM Educator of the Year.
    Claudia pic 2

    Claudia's main research interests lie in the area of complex systems and their practical applications to domains such as biology, social networks, and Defence. She lead's the Complex Systems program within the Centre for Distributed and Intelligent Technologies.

    Her education research interests lie in the areas of curriculum design, cognitive load theories, and software engineering best practices.

  • 2016 & 2017 - Professor Mario Ricci. STEMM Educator of the Year finalist.

    Finalist in 2016 and in 2017 for STEMM Educator of the Year – Tertiary Teaching award.

  • 2016 - Dr Lyndsey Collins-Praino. SA Early Career STEMM Educator of the Year.

    Lyndsey Collins-Praino

    Dr Lyndsey Collins-Praino obtained a PhD in behavioural neuroscience from the University of Connecticut. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship in cognitive neuroscience at Columbia University, she joined the University of Adelaide School of Medicine in 2014, where her research focuses on understanding the brain basis of cognitive decline in neurodegenerative diseases.

    In addition to research, Lyndsey also has a strong commitment to teaching. She coordinates multiple neuroscience courses, is Year 1 co-convenor for the MBBS program and Neuroscience Co-Convenor for the Bachelor of Health Sciences. In 2015, she was recognised with the Executive Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.