Daniel Mansfield and Amandine Schaeffer promoted to Senior Lecturer

Congratulations to Daniel Mansfield and Amandine Schaeffer, who have both been promoted to Senior Lecturer in the 2021 round. 

These promotions recognise their "outstanding contributions in research, teaching and leadership" over many years, said Head of School Professor Adelle Coster.

Dr Mansfield and Dr Schaeffer have each been members of the School of Mathematics and Statistics for over a decade.  

Dr Mansfield completed his PhD in the School in 2013, and commenced as an Associate Lecturer a couple of years later. 

He's been a very popular lecturer, earning a slew of awards including a 2015 Vice Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence, the inaugural KPMG Inspiring Teacher Award in a First Year Undergraduate Program in 2017, and the 2018 Australian Mathematical Society Award for Teaching Excellence. He was part of a team of six School colleagues who won a 2020 Dean of Science Staff Award for Education Excellence.

Dr Mansfield has been actively involved in School outreach for many years, including facilitating our Science Work Experience Program and developing engaging activities for Girls Do the Maths. He's also been one of the School's leaders in the online education space.

In March he appeared at the Frontiers of Science Forum, alongside a group of experts including Chief Scientist of Australia Dr Cathy Foley, where presenters were invited to speak on notable developments in their fields of knowledge. 

Dr Mansfield and Prof Norman Wildberger's research discoveries about 3700-year-old Babylonian clay tablet Plimpton 322 made huge waves in 2017, amassing media interest from all corners of the globe.

"What does promotion mean to me?", reflected Dr Mansfield. "The level of access you have to a museum's collection is determined, in part, by how senior you are as an academic. Hopefully, this promotion gives me access to more mathematical tablets from ancient Babylon", he said. 

Dr Schaeffer joined UNSW Mathematics and Statistics in 2011 as a Postdoc after graduating from an engineering degree in marine science and a PhD in physical oceanography at the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography in Toulon, France. 

Her research focus is on regional oceanography along the south-east coast of Australia, using ocean observations and numerical modelling to study the variability of the East Australian Current, cold core eddies, shelf processes, and the dynamics and statistics of marine heatwaves.

Dr Schaeffer has participated in several research trips at sea, most recently in May when she joined Dr Michael Hemming and other UNSW colleagues on CSIRO's Research Vessel for a month. 

Dr Schaeffer has been involved in several outreach initiatives in the School over the past few years. She recently participated in our annual Girls Do the Maths workshop, presenting a talk about her career and assisting school students with maths activities throughout the day. She has also been involved in other outreach initiatives focused on girls in maths and stats. 

She is the Honours Coordinator for the Applied Mathematics and Physical Oceanography programs, and is currently supervising two postgraduate research students. 

"It’s great to get this support and recognition from the university", Dr Schaeffer said of her promotion.  

We warmly congratulate Drs Mansfield and Schaeffer for their promotions to Senior Lecturer!