Professor Sally Jordan from The Open University (OU) has been awarded the prestigious 2023 Institute of Physics Lawrence Bragg Medal and Prize for her contribution to physics education, often as ‘a genuine unsung hero who works selflessly for others’.
The Institute of Physics (IOP) is the professional body and learned society for physics, and the leading body for practising physicists, in the UK and Ireland.
Its annual awards proudly reflect the wide variety of people, places, organisations and achievements that make physics such an exciting discipline.
The IOP awards celebrate physicists at every stage of their career; from those just starting out through to physicists at the peak of their careers, and those with a distinguished career behind them.
They also recognise and celebrate companies which are successful in the application of physics and innovation, as well as employers who demonstrate their commitment and contribution to scientific and engineering apprenticeship schemes.
Sally Jordan is Professor of Physics Education, after a wide-ranging career of more than 30 years at the OU, with roles including associate lecturer, staff tutor, Academic Lead for Academic Promotions and the School of Physical Sciences’ postgraduate research tutor for student support as well as seven years as a Head of Department and Head of School. She is currently module team chair for our gateway physics module S217: From Classical to Quantum.
Sally has contributed widely to the development of modules, including “Maths for Science”, which led to successful co-published book of the same name. She was the first person at the OU to use interactive online computer-marked assessment in her teaching and more recently introduced the use of automatically marked short-response questions. Her research interests include demographic outcome gaps in physics, the use of concept inventories, and the impact of assessment on students.
Professor Jordan said:
“I am thrilled to receive the Lawrence Bragg Medal and Prize, as well as being humbled to have been picked from many other brilliant physics educators, at the Open University and beyond.
“It is particularly pleasing to receive the award this year, because Professor Russell Stannard OBE, the first of the three previous winners from the OU, died just over a year ago. Russell and others from the early days of the University were inspirational in the teaching approaches that they developed and the way everything they did was evaluated. What amazing role models!
“I’m very conscious that in all the work I do, be that leading the development and delivery of modules or researching ways to improve the quality of our teaching and assessment, I am building on the shoulders of others.”
Congratulating this year’s Award winners, Institute of Physics President, Professor Sir Keith Burnett, said:
“On behalf of the Institute of Physics, I want to congratulate all of this year’s award winners. Each one has made a significant and positive impact in their profession, whether as a researcher, teacher, industrialist, technician or apprentice and I hope they are incredibly proud of their achievements.
“There is so much focus today on the opportunities generated by a career in physics and the potential our science has to transform our society and economy and I hope the stories of our winners will help to inspire future generations of scientists.”
