THE TOM BURNS MEMORIAL AWARD
In recognition of the contribution Tom Burns made to Learning Development – and to the championing of students and their voices: the Tom Burns Memorial Award recognises work that focuses on students’ interpretations of aspects of their learning experiences. This award has been established to celebrate those who also make space for student voice.
The award encourages the practices of eliciting, representing, promoting and/or publishing work focusing on students’ interpretations of aspects of their learning experiences, in service of learning development practice or research, with students and/or staff in higher education.
Tom Burns was an Associate Teaching Professor in the Centre for Teaching Enhancement at London Metropolitan University, developing innovations with a special focus on praxes that ignite student curiosity, and develop power and voice. Tom was one of the co-founders of the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE) and a leading participant in its LearnHigher CETL. After Tom’s death, ALDinHE initiated the Tom Burns Memorial Award (TBMA) as a permanent memorial to his life and achievements. The award is presented on an annual basis at the annual conference dinner.
The Tom Burns Memorial Award
The Tom Burns Memorial Award was launched in 2025 to celebrate work focusing on students’ interpretations of aspects of their learning experiences.
Nominations are invited from colleagues by sending a brief (300 words) account of a practitioner’s, group’s or team’s contribution to encouraging the practices of eliciting, representing, promoting and/or publishing work focusing on students’ interpretations of aspects of their learning experiences, in service of learning development practice or research, with students and/or staff in higher education.
Eligibility for the award could be demonstrated through research, learning materials, papers or presentations, creative or artistic outputs.
The call for applications is now open.
The deadline for nominations is 5pm Friday 25 April 2025.
Nomination guidelines:
- You can nominate a colleague, group of colleagues or team. at your own institution or a different one. You can nominate yourself!
- The nominations will be reviewed by a small group of past and present members of ALDinHE Steering Group.
- The committee will be looking for a link to the five ALDinHE values and the contribution made to learning development linking to themes of voice, belonging, community, criticality, opposing injustice and inequality.
- We will publicly recognise all nominees and celebrate the shortlisted nominees.
- Neither you nor the person you are nominating are required to attend the conference.
- Members of the ALDinHE Steering Group are permitted to be nominated as part of a group or team, but not eligible for individual nomination.
An example from the past work of Tom Burns and Sandra Sinfield
Tom Burns and Sandra Sinfield co-facilitated a project back in 2010 called “Tell us the secret of your success”, to elicit students’ representations of their higher education experiences. Tom and Sandra made the decision to invite really successful students, not to be exclusive, but to demonstrate that in widening participation spaces, even so-called successful students ended up being hurt by their experiences. Here are two student outputs from this project:
Maze of confusion – of lost feet and desperate hands across real assignments and feedback
Z-A of University life produced by a London Met graduate
Z-A is a short documentary and educational resource about the experiences of university, from the perspective of a student who graduated with a first class honours degree.
Stylistically designed to resemble a children’s television programme, Z-A incorporates key academic words, themes, topics and moments from this journey. Z-A aimed to inform and encourage other students.
Tom Burns (1959 – 2024)
Tom was an extraordinary man who lived an extraordinary life. His life was made extraordinary by circumstances and by dint of his own personality and spirit – Tom was a very likeable person with a wonderful sense of humour and had a spirit of adventure. He was an inspirational figure and pioneer in the evolution of Learning Development. He had a tremendous ability to draw on personal experience to tell stories that engaged and inspired his colleagues, peers and students in all walks of life.
Tom delighted in all aspects of teaching and learning and leaves an enduring legacy. For his work with London Metropolitan University and for his work in the wider Learning Development Community. Tom was an Associate Teaching Professor in the Centre for Teaching Enhancement at London Metropolitan University, developing innovations with a special focus on praxes that ignite student curiosity, and develop power and voice. Always interested in theatre and the arts and their role in teaching and learning, Tom set up adventure playgrounds, community events and festivals for his local community, and fed arts-based practice into his learning, teaching and assessment practices.
Tom has “always been interested in theatre and the arts and their role in building identity and community – and the power they can have in teaching and learning. When at school and first working in the building trade, he formed and led the Hainault Action Group setting up adventure playgrounds and devising community events and festivals for his local east London community” (LMU, 2024).
Tom was co-producer of the innovative #Take5 blog that shares great practice nationally and internationally as part of the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE). He is co-author of Teaching, Learning and Study Skills: A Guide for Tutors and Essential Study Skills: The Complete Guide to Success at University (5th Edition) and co-editor of the book Collaboration in Higher Education: A New Ecology of Practice, published by Bloomsbury. Tom was a Certified Leading Practitioner in Learning Development and University Teaching Fellow and was part of the #creativeHE collective that won the Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) by AdvanceHE 2022. Tom was also interested in writing as a learning process, collaborative writing as a method of enquiry and creativity as liberatory practice.
Tom was a remarkable man. He became an advocate and spokesperson for so many, always supporting inclusivity and diversity. He welcomed everyone and used his personal experience to influence policies and practice, and made a difference to so many people’s lives. Forthright and outspoken as he often was, he was also kind, warm-hearted, generous, fun and joyful. Many of us have so much to thank Tom for, in supporting our careers and spurring us on to do good and make a difference. Tom had an amazing capacity to give so much of himself to others, and to touch many lives.