Professor Stephen Watterson awarded Pilkington Prize for Excellence in Teaching

We are delighted to announce that Professor Stephen Watterson has been awarded a University of Cambridge Pilkington Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Professor Watterson is Professor of Private Law in the Faculty of Law; he teaches a range of Private Law subjects, including the Law of Restitution, Property Law and Banking Law, and publishes widely in those fields. Recently, he served as Director of the Law Tripos, our undergraduate degree programme, and led a collaboration between the Faculty of Law and Cambridge University Press to design and develop Exploring Law: Studying Law at University - a major new outreach initiative.

Professor Watterson’s citation for the Pilkington Prize captures the range and quality of his contributions to education in the Faculty of Law:

"Professor Stephen Watterson is an outstanding teacher who is held in the very highest esteem by students and colleagues alike. He teaches difficult and complex legal subjects with enviable clarity and contagious enthusiasm, securing plaudits from students year after year. However, Stephen is not merely a gifted teacher. He has been a transformative Director of the Law Tripos, implementing significant organisational changes, overseeing a major review that will shape aspects of undergraduate education in the Faculty of Law for years to come, and providing extraordinary leadership of our large, 700-student undergraduate programme during a period of unparalleled challenge and change.

Alongside all of this, Stephen led the Faculty’s pathbreaking Exploring Law project - a highly innovative online course that aims to democratise access to the study of Law as an academic subject. As well as forming a central plank of the Faculty’s Access and Widening Participation Programme, the initiative is a nationally significant one that is intended to demystify the subject for the benefit of prospective students, irrespective of social or educational background, considering a Law degree at any UK university. Stephen’s remarkable contributions to teaching, to pedagogical leadership, development and innovation, and to outreach mark him out as an utterly exceptional colleague."

Professor Mark Elliott, Chair of the Faculty of Law, commented: "The Faculty of Law at Cambridge prides itself on combining world-leading research with the delivery of outstanding undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes. Colleagues across the Faculty share this commitment to excellent research-led teaching, and I am delighted that Stephen’s remarkable abilities and commitment have been recognised through the award of a Pilkington Prize."

Stephen’s remarkable contributions to teaching, to pedagogical leadership, development and innovation, and to outreach mark him out as an utterly exceptional colleague Pilkington citation

Responding to the news of his award, Professor Watterson commented: "I am so grateful that my work has been recognised by this award. I feel enormously fortunate to be part of an institution that attaches such importance to the education of its students, and to be able to work with so many talented and committed colleagues whose efforts in delivering our programmes, courses and outreach activities deserve equal recognition."