Associate Professor Michael Prosser is without doubt one of Australasia's most influential researchers in higher education. He ' is internationally recognised for his research in the area of teaching and learning which has explored how university students and teachers approach their teaching and learning, how these approaches are related to the ways in which they perceive the teaching and learning context and conceive of the tasks in which they are engaged. His work has been widely published and he has an enviable track record in attracting ARC Discovery Grants in this field. His ideas and insights have contributed much to the student focussed learning perspective which dominates the field today. As an early proponent of phenomenoghraphy he has shaped a decade of recent research and is to a large extent responsible for the wide uptake and use of this method as a key tool in teaching and learning research in higher education in Australia. He has an excellent reputation in supervision of doctoral research in the field. Mike's research has been instrumental in achieving the current high regard in which Australian teaching and learning research is held. This is exemplified in his recent appointment as Director of Research and Evaluation in the Higher Education Academy in the UK.

Mike also has a long time involvement with HERDSA in particular through his involvement with the journal HERD. He was Advisory Editor from 1996-1998 and Co-editor from 1991-1994 and again from 1998-2000. He also co-edited a special Edition of the Journal in 2004 . In the course of his work for HERDSA on the journal he has done much to promote the reputation of HERD as a forum for scholarly publications.

For eleven years Mike was a member of staff of the Centre for Teaching and Leaming at the University of Sydney before taking up the position of foundation Director and Professor of the Academic Development Unit at La Trobe University for six years. He returned to Sydney to become Director of the ITL in June 2000. Mike has had a distinguished career in academic development, where he has worked tirelessly to improve teaching, learning and evaluation in higher education . In addition Mike has had a considerable influence on the careers and thinking of many in the field of academic development providing mentorship and advice to new academic developers.

Mike has clearly made a distinguished contribution in teaching in higher education, in the study of learning, teaching and policy in higher education and he has served HERDSA well over a significant period . He is well deserving of Life Membership.