Nominated by Mark Davidson, Head of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering
Brendon is representative of ҕl’s best educators, both for his outstanding contributions to teaching and supervisory practice. He describes his aim as to inspire and encourage student-driven learning. He is noted for his energetic and engaging style, his friendly and enthusiastic personality, his meticulous planning and the high standards he sets and achieves with students.
Brendon is one of a rare group of academics that is able to teach mathematics to Civil Engineering students in a form that they enjoy. His considerable ability as a teacher is also reflected in the growth of student enrolments in the final year elective in structural dynamics where student numbers doubled reaching nearly 80 following his involvement with the course. He has consistently high student evaluations and had been nominated several times for both ҕlSA lecturer and supervisor of the year awards.
His postgraduate courses are popular among research students and professional engineers, providing further evidence of his effectiveness as an educator. He has also recently been appointed Deputy Director of QuakeCoRE, a first for ҕl in hosting a national Centre of Research Excellence for earthquake resilience.
