Former St Cross Fellow Dr Lorenzo Santorelli Wins Lynne Millward Award for Second Consecutive Year

Dr Lorenzo Santorelli, a former St Cross Fellow, has won the Lynne Millward Award for academic staff at the University of Surrey for the second consecutive year.  

The award recognises staff members who show excellence at engaging, motivating and inspiring students; are willing go the extra mile to support students and to give up time to answer questions and to see students; have a positive attitude to teaching and learning; and can enthuse students about a subject area. 

Dr Santorelli is programme director for the University of Surrey's Biological Sciences programme, and his research focuses on the evolution of cooperative behaviour in macro and microorganisms using an interdisciplinary approach, involving entomology, molecular biology, genetics, animal behaviour and microbiology. 

"I am absolutely honoured, and a little surprised, to receive the award for the second consecutive year," Dr Santorelli says.  

"The fact that this comes from students means that my team and I are doing something right, which students appreciate and recognise. This should be a further incentive to keep working together even harder — students and staff — to ensure that we provide the support and the standard of teaching that empowers students to feel ready once they leave the University."

Dr Santorelli, who was a Junior Research Fellow at St Cross between 2010 and 2015, has fond memories of his time at the College and credits his experience here for helping him develop his teaching expertise.  

Those were my formative teaching years, and spending time at St Cross helped me to understand what students felt and thought, which allowed me to empathise with students in the following years.

"I am still in touch with some of my St Cross tutees, and I was even invited to be best man at the wedding of a former student," Dr Santorelli says. 

"I also became Sport Fellow to be able to organise more activities for the students, and that experience improved my organisational skills. 

"The time at St Cross helped me realise that students and academics can and should work together, and this has been a big part of my teaching ethos since."