Dr Sherif Welsen, an associate professor in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, has received the best presentation award at the 12^th International Conference on Distance Learning and Education ICDLE, held in Wuhan on the 22^nd - 25^th of October 2021. This year ICDLE was combined with the 13^th International Conference on Education Technology and Computers ICECT.

Outstanding presentation awards are given to about 10% of papers at ICDLE and ICECT combined. In the view of the program committee, these are presentations that make a decisive contribution to the field and should be read by a broad audience due to their relevance, originality, significance, and clarity. His presentation entitled “Engineering Student Preference of Flexible Learning During and After Educational Disruption” has been selected as the best presentation from all other excellent oral presentations. The study proposed and investigated the effectiveness of the online teaching delivery to both domestic and overseas engineering students during and after the pandemic.

ICDLE has been previously held in Spain, Japan, Singapore, and other countries. It was held at Nanyang Technological University, Barcelona University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and other world-renowned universities. This year around 100 papers have been presented through 11 sessions. More than 200 researchers participated in the conference, from top institutions in 14 different countries. Those include Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Beijing Normal University and Peking University, China; the University of Twente, Netherlands… etc. ICDLE and ICECT are considered among the important conferences that address various electronic learning and education issues, such as open and e-learning technology, distance educations and ethics, open and e-learning curriculum, e-learning organization and management, evaluation, standards, and domain application.

Dr Sherif Welsen is the founder and head of the Science and Engineering Education Research Group, a new FoSE initiative. In response to the university strategy and the implementation of the FoSE 5-year teaching and learning plan, this group promotes a wide range of research that addresses the teaching and learning process demands, provides evidence-based advice to policymakers in higher education that will contribute to the future of science and engineering education.