Professor Nathan Crilly is an outstanding teacher of engineering design, creativity and problem-solving. He uses his research expertise to develop courses both for undergraduate students and for those undertaking professional training. These courses teach the key skills required for identifying and solving problems, and also communicating those solutions to others.

Prize citation

Nathan is an outstanding teacher of engineering design, creativity and problem-solving. He uses his research expertise to develop courses both for undergraduate students and for those undertaking professional training. These courses teach the key skills required for identifying and solving problems, and also communicating those solutions to others.

He has a track record of delivering courses of the highest quality, with consistently positive student feedback. He should also be commended for his general contribution to teaching within the Department of Engineering, the broader University and beyond.

Nathan has completely transformed the first-year Drawing course, developing a series of innovative teaching tools, digital resources and physical workbooks. The course manages to capture the interest of students irrespective of their technical specialisation.

Illustrating Nathan’s versatility as an educator, he has also been the academic lead in the development and delivery of an online creativity course aimed at a professional audience. This course 'Creativity, Problem Solving and Design Thinking' has been a great success and its approach supporting learning with high-quality online resources will surely filter down to our undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. In summary, Nathan has worked tirelessly to educate students and learners in the core principles of design and is the consummate professional in all he does.

This year's award ceremony was hosted by Professor Bhaskar Vira, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Education, who thanked and congratulated the thirteen winners who were recognised for their ''dedicated’, ‘‘creative’’, ‘’inspiring’’ and ‘’inclusive’’ approach to teaching. 

Professor Bhaskar Vira said: "The prize winners we are celebrating, are people who have gone above and beyond to deliver excellent teaching, whether by instigating new projects, trialling new technologies, or developing new courses". 

The Pilkington Prizes are awarded annually to members of academic staff in recognition of their contributions to teaching excellence in support of Cambridge undergraduate and postgraduate education. They were initiated by Sir Alastair Pilkington, who believed that the quality of teaching was crucial to the University's success. 

The full list of this year’s prize winners and their achievements is available on the CCTL Pilkington Prize website.