National recognition for the highest standards of teaching at the University continues with the Higher Education Academy’s (HEA) announcement on 31 August that Dr Henrik Schoenefeldt, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Architecture, has been awarded a National Teaching Fellowship (NTF).
His NTF – one of only 55 in England, Northern Ireland and Wales for 2017 – recognises, rewards and celebrates his outstanding impact on student learning and the teaching profession. This includes his development and implementation of new curricula and teaching models, amongst them four new modules designed to embed research, sustainability and teaching within the professional education of architects.
As a National Teaching Fellow, Dr Schoenefeldt will support the enhancement of learning and teaching in both Kent and the sector.
He is the seventh member of Kent staff to have been recognised as a National Teaching Fellow.
Professor April McMahon, Kent’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education, said: ‘I would like to congratulate Henrik on his well-deserved Fellowship. A uniquely creative and innovative teacher, he has consistently raised the profile of excellence and developed excellence within his School, the University and higher education. He has also transformed students’ learning experiences through his strong pedagogic values, imagination and application of the very latest thinking in teaching and practice.’
HEA Chief Executive, Professor Stephanie Marshall, said: ‘A National Teaching Fellowship is the most prestigious individual award for excellence in teaching in higher education. The new NTFs represent some of the very best teaching in higher education and I am sure they will inspire others as we share their innovative practice and ideas across the sector. The UK is justifiably proud of its higher education sector and its reputation is enhanced by the examples of excellent teaching highlighted by these awards.’
Dr Schoenefeldt is Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Architecture in the Kent School of Architecture and an Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Leadership Fellow. Since June 2016, he has been seconded to the Houses of Parliament to lead the AHRC-funded research project ‘Between Heritage and Sustainability – Restoring the Palace of Westminster’s nineteenth-century ventilation system’. He trained as an architect and during his MPhil and PhD at the University of Cambridge he specialised in the history of environmental design.
Recognising his contribution to architectural education, he has been invited to give talks at various universities, conferences and professional organisations, and his work has featured in articles published in the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) Journal, RIBA Journal and Architects Journal.
Over the next two years he will be conducting research underpinning the development of a joint module for the MSc in Architecture and Sustainable Environment and MSc in Architectural Conservation.
He was awarded a University of Kent Faculty of Humanities Teaching Prize in 2016 for his commitment to teaching innovation.