Media coverage
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Media coverage
Title Advance HE National Teaching Fellows 2025 Degree of recognition International Media name/outlet Advance HE Media type Web Country/Territory United Kingdom Date 7/08/25 Description Denise’s passion for social work education has been shaped by her experiences as a voluntary sector social worker in Northern Ireland. Since joining Ulster University in 2013 Denise has pioneered an approach to social work education, championing inclusivity and active learning pedagogies in communities impacted by generational trauma. Working in partnership with students and experts by experience to transform meaningful service user involvement permeates her learning and teaching philosophy. Her approaches illuminate the transformative power of higher education underpinned by innovation and creativity through critical reflection, co-design and co-production of socially just pedagogies.
Following institutional awards (Excellence in Educational Leadership, Civic Ambassador, Senior Distinguished Education Excellence Fellowship), Denise recently won Educator of the Year at Ulster University, her students described her as “reaching far beyond the classroom, shaping the future of social work and empowering the next generation of changemakers”. Throughout Denise’s practice she champions innovation, inclusivity and passion. Her approach to learning and teaching enhances students' critical reflection, collaboration and the development of professional identity.
Denise builds sustainable collaborations for learning which support students to understand contested histories, redress power imbalances and embrace participatory approaches which emphasise social justice and human rights. Denise’s passion for teaching social work is underpinned by the reality of practicing social work within communities that have sustained decades of conflict and the need for students to not simply navigate but understand the impact of sustained political violence and transgenerational trauma on the health and social wellbeing of families and communities.
Denise’s work has been widely recognised and commended. Her pedagogic research demonstrates how storytelling plays a vital role in helping students learn about the lived experience of others, and her use of digital stories enables students to augment knowledge and understanding in relation to diversity and intersectionality.
Denise is active across social work education locally, nationally and internationally she is Deputy Chair of the QAA Subject Benchmarks Statements for Social Work (2025-2026), Guest Editor of Social Sciences special issue journal on Social Work Education in the Context of Globalization: Perceptions, Challenges and Innovations and Director of Include Youth, a rights-based charity in Northern Ireland.Producer/Author Advance HE URL https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/ntfs/dr-denise-macdermott Persons Denise MacDermott
Keywords
- National Teaching Fellow
- Outstanding Educational Impact
- Leadership in Learning and Teaching