Professor Peter Dearden (left hand side of photo) has earned a place as a finalist in the University's annual Supervisor of the Year Awards.
The Awards are held as part of the University's Graduate Research Festival to celebrate and recognise excellence in supervision at the University of Otago, and were presented at a function at the staff club earlier this month.
Graduate students in Prof Dearden's lab are full of praise for his compassionate and supportive style as a graduate supervisor, and his contagious love of science.
“Peter has the ability to help his students see the broader implications of their research.”
“He has a marvellous sense of humour and infectious enthusiasm regarding all aspects of our projects.”
“He always encourages us to step outside our comfort zone and learn new skills. This provides opportunities for us to grow as scientists, encouraging us to attend courses and network with other groups, helping to set us up for our next phase after his lab.”
Graduate Research School Dean Professor Rachel Spronken-Smith says providing supportive and high quality supervision is so important to the research journey of our students, “so it is important that students get an opportunity to nominate supervisors who they feel are doing a top job”.
This year 136 supervisors were nominated by their students, which Professor Spronken-Smith says is a testament to the high quality supervision that is provided at Otago.
The overall winner of this year's OUSA Supervisor of the Year Award is Dr Sarah Stein, who is the University's Director of Distance Learning, and is also affiliated with HEDC. Best New Supervisor went to Associate Professor Azam Ali of the Department of Food Science and Centre for Materials Science and Technology (CMAST), while a new award, the Graduate Research School Dean's Medal for 'Contribution to Supervision' went to Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman of Public Health at the Wellington campus.