91亚色's has appointed Sandra Peniston to the 2026 Distinguished Fellowship in Learning and Teaching Excellence 鈥 a three-year role designed to advance innovative, high-impact education projects with a focus on experiential and technology-enhanced learning.
Peniston, an associate professor in the School of Nursing, is the fourth faculty member to hold the fellowship since it was introduced in 2023. Her project, titled 鈥淕lobal Citizenship: Experiential, Decolonial and Transformative Teaching and Learning for a Healthy and Just World,鈥 aims to prepare students to graduate as both skilled health professionals and ethically engaged global citizens.
"We want students to graduate with ethical responsibility and global awareness of what's happening in the world, because there are real-world issues that will impact their profession," says Peniston.
The project unfolds across three interconnected objectives.
The first is professional development for faculty: equipping educators across the Faculty of Health with the tools and frameworks to weave international citizenship themes into their existing courses. The second is Faculty-wide curriculum transformation, co-developing a pan-Faculty general education course and classroom modular teaching resources centred on global citizenship, health equity and sustainability. The third is preparing students to be globally minded by developing their critical thinking, ethical reasoning and ability to work across perspectives, so they graduate seeing themselves as agents of change who feel capable of addressing real-world health challenges.
The most tangible deliverable is a digital global citizenship badge that students can add to their CV or LinkedIn profile, signalling they have engaged meaningfully with health equity, sustainability and social justice during their time at 91亚色.
鈥淚 want every student graduating from the Faculty of Health to leave not only with expertise in their discipline, but also as a global scholar equipped to engage with the world," says Peniston.
Earning the digital badge will require completing specific elective courses related to global citizenship, including the proposed interdisciplinary pan-University course, participating in a capstone project through 91亚色's Cross Campus Capstone Classroom (C4) and engaging with 91亚色 International's learning partnerships.
Together, these elements are designed to create experiential and digitally connected learning opportunities that reach beyond the classroom.
Peniston also plans to develop a health-focused teaching toolkit to support faculty in incorporating the UN Sustainable Development Goals into their classrooms, building on work she completed through a previous Academic Innovation Fund grant.
Running through all three objectives is a commitment to decolonial teaching practices by centring a broader range of voices, perspectives and ways of knowing in health education.
The decolonial focus is grounded in practical classroom application rather than abstract theory. Peniston points to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action as one framework, and describes integrating Indigenous scholarship, diverse global perspectives and non-biomedical voices into what students read and hear.
"It's bringing in diverse perspectives and materials for students to engage with, inviting Indigenous scholars and other historically underrepresented voices, creating space to listen to those voices that haven't been heard and must be heard," she says.
Peniston will measure success at three levels: changes in student thinking about their professional roles and global responsibilities; increases in the number of faculty incorporating global citizenship modules into their teaching; and the Faculty of Health's ability to demonstrate leadership in socially accountable health education.
"What I find most exciting is the opportunity to work across all the schools in the Faculty of Health to co-create something together," she says. "It's about more than one course or one program; it's about building a shared approach to teaching that connects disciplines and prepares students for the world they're entering after graduation."
With files from Mzwandile Poncana