Top award for Northumbria law lecturer

Northumbria law lecturer Elaine Campbell has achieved a highly prestigious National Teaching Fellowship in the Higher Education Academy’s teaching awards.

The scheme celebrates excellent practice and outstanding achievement in learning and teaching in higher education. Elaine’s success underscores Northumbria’s commitment to providing students with an outstanding learning experience. She was awarded the fellowship in recognition of her contribution to the Student Law Office, which provides community-based pro-bono legal services, and for her role in developing Northumbria Law School’s Business and Commercial Law Clinic.

Elaine is also a driving force behind initiatives to boost students’ employability, such as attending external networking events and running student-led advice workshops; participation in Global Entrepreneurship week; a commercial collaboration with a London-based law clinic and the launch of a student-led blog ‘we take care of business’. The awards also noted her extensive peer reviewed publications and conference papers in several fields, including clinical legal education and her award-winning social media work.

Professor Peter Francis, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Northumbria, said: “Whether you are a student, an academic or a member of our professional support services, there are many reasons to be proud of Northumbria and this is certainly one. Elaine’s award demonstrates teaching and learning excellence across everything that she does within the institution, nationally and internationally. Above all, it shows that her work has real impact.

“Northumbria is on a transformational journey towards becoming a new kind of excellent University, that’s research-rich, business-focused and highly professional. Elaine’s work typifies how we’re bringing together all of these critical elements to give our students a unique and valuable learning experience. She consistently creates opportunities for her students to build their professional expertise in a supported environment, while at the same time achieving high levels of academic excellence. And Elaine does this by collaborating, innovating, and modelling entrepreneurial behaviours, as well as making use of techniques such as experiential learning.

Commenting on her success Elaine said: "I am delighted to receive this prestigious award. I particularly want to pay tribute to the many colleagues, past and present, who have encouraged and supported me throughout my career. I am proud to be part of our excellent Northumbria Law School team, committed to innovative, student-centred learning and teaching activities, and rich, impactful research."

Jonny Hall, Faculty Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching), added: “I congratulate Elaine on this excellent achievement. It’s a clear example of how she, along with her colleagues, contributes to the continuing success of our Student Law Office, providing thousands of hours of free legal advice and representation to the wider community every year. Both the law and business schools are focused on providing real world experience to our students and Elaine is a leader in this field.”