Dr Felipe Krause recognised for his outstanding contribution to teaching and learning with Social Sciences Division Teaching Excellence Award

Congratulations to Dr Felipe Krause, Departmental Lecturer in Latin American Studies, Course Director of the MSc and MPhil in Latin American Studies and Coordinator of the Brazilian Studies Programme at OSGA and the Latin American Centre, winner of a Social Sciences Division Teaching Excellence Award 2026.

These annual awards celebrate exceptional contributions to education and teaching practices by colleagues across the Social Sciences Division at all career stages. The awards were presented at a celebration event at the Oxford Martin School on Thursday, 2 July 2026.

Dr Krause has been recognised for his strong and distinctive contribution to teaching at an early stage of his academic career. As a Departmental Lecturer, he has taken on substantial responsibility as a course director and coordinator of the Brazilian Studies Programme, demonstrating a level of teaching leadership notable at this career stage. The panel noted a clear and reflective teaching philosophy, with strong alignment between pedagogical intent and student experience.

Dr Krause’s teaching is characterised by engaging delivery, thoughtful course design, and the effective integration of his professional and diplomatic experience into the classroom. Drawing on his background in the Brazilian Foreign Service, where he served under four presidential administrations, he brings policy practice directly into his teaching, connecting academic debates to real-world political and institutional dynamics. Student feedback and alumni testimonials highlight how this distinctive approach makes complex material more accessible, encourages critical engagement, and helps students connect theory to practice. He was recognised as an early-career educator with a well-developed and evolving pedagogical approach. Dr Krause said: 

This is an incredibly meaningful award, for which I am so very grateful. I try to bring the complexity of real political and institutional life into the classroom, drawing on my experience in diplomacy and public policy to make abstract concepts more tangible and relevant to students. At the same time, we are living through a moment when the social sciences and humanities are often measured against narrowly instrumental criteria. I therefore think it is especially important to remind students that studying politics and area studies also has intrinsic value: it helps us think critically, understand power and institutions, and engage more thoughtfully with the world around us.