SDU Associate Professor receives the 2026 Teaching Award
Associate Professor Bjarne Schmidt from the University of Southern Denmark has been awarded the 2026 Teaching Award for his dedicated and practical teaching in physics and mathematics.
Associate Professor Bjarne Schmidt from the Department of Mechanics and Electronics at the University of Southern Denmark is one of this year’s winners of the 2026 Teaching Award.
The awards will be presented by Her Majesty The Queen and Christina Egelund, Minister for Research, Education and Digitalisation, on 22 September 2026.
In his teaching, Bjarne Schmidt works purposefully to create a safe and active learning environment in which the students themselves help to find the solutions. Among other things, he uses peer instruction, digital tests and ongoing feedback. At the same time, he draws on real-world engineering problems, research data and mathematical models to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
The nomination highlights that Bjarne Schmidt, “with energy, passion, enthusiasm and humour, creates an inclusive space where students feel confident enough to challenge themselves. He combines a supportive framework, academic relevance and active participation, and succeeds in fostering motivation, a can-do attitude and belief in one’s own abilities. ”
The Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science has produced a profile of Bjarne Schmidt to mark the award, in which he talks about his approach to teaching and his efforts to make physics and mathematics relevant to students.