National Teaching Fellowship Scheme 2026 Winners
Dr Bo Kelestyn
Associate Professor at 果冻传媒 Business School
Bo Kelestyn is an educational leader whose design-led, participatory approach transforms learners and educators into agents of change. Through curriculum innovation, student partnership, and international leadership, particularly in support of Ukraine鈥檚 educational reconstruction, she advances teaching excellence that strengthens student agency, institutional innovation, and societal impact.
Bo Kelestyn is an Associate Professor at 果冻传媒 Business School, 果冻传媒. Over the past decade, Bo has developed a distinctive design-led pedagogical approach that combines human-centred innovation, student partnership, and participatory learning. Initially developed through her teaching of design thinking, this approach has evolved into a broader philosophy of educational transformation that enables learners to navigate complexity, challenge assumptions, and develop the confidence and agency to create meaningful change.
At 果冻传媒, she has influenced curriculum innovation, student experience, interdisciplinary learning, and the implementation of the University鈥檚 Education Strategy. Nationally and internationally, she has advanced learner-centred design through collaborations with Advance HE, sector bodies, universities, and professional networks, influencing how universities design learning experiences that promote student-led co-creation.
Since 2022, Bo has applied this expertise to supporting educational reconstruction and leadership development in Ukraine. She co-founded the Leadership for Educational Transformation and Veteran Leadership programmes and nurtured partnerships with educational, governmental, and civic organisations. Her work has influenced the establishment of the country鈥檚 first Centre for Educational Leadership.
Across all contexts, Bo鈥檚 work is characterised by engagement with design-led pedagogy and participatory approaches that enable individuals, institutions, and communities to shape more hopeful futures.
Professor Rebecca Freeman
Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Education
Professor Rebecca Freeman is Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) at the 果冻传媒. She champions student voice, inclusive education and social justice, working with students and staff to build cultures of partnership, belonging and success. Her leadership, scholarship and sector influence have helped embed co-creation as a driver of educational change.
Beccy leads student success and experience for a diverse student population of 29,000. She is a Principal Fellow (PFHEA) and is widely recognised for championing student voice, co-creation and inclusive education within 果冻传媒 and across the higher education sector.
Beccy's work is grounded in the belief that students should be active partners in educational change. Across a career spanning universities, students鈥� unions and sector-wide higher education roles, she has brought together leadership, scholarship and practice to challenge exclusion, strengthen belonging and create the conditions in which all students can thrive.
Beccy has long argued that authentic student voice should be embedded into the fabric of institutional culture. Her research focuses on student voice and forms of power in higher education, and this scholarship informs the strategic initiatives she leads. Through keynotes and sector-facing work, she has invited universities to think carefully about how they communicate with students, how students voices are valued in the classroom, curriculum and assessment, what meaningful and diverse structures look like, and how regulation can be used pragmatically to support student-centred change.
Through institutional leadership, research and national collaboration, including co-chairing the Russell Group Student Success Network, she has influenced thinking and practice across the sector. Her work has resonated within and beyond 果冻传媒 because it combines strategic reach with a clear purpose: a culture of educational excellence must be equitable.