A lecturer who studied at the University of Bradford has been nominated by his own students for a national teaching award.

Dr David Elliot, who specialises in clinical optometry at the university, is in line for a £50,000 prize if he wins the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme.

Dr Elliot, 39, originally from Hull, studied for his degree and doctorate at the University of Bradford before spending five years in Canada at the University of Waterloo.

He has been lecturing at Bradford for six years and trains opticians - now called optometrists.

A university spokesman said: "He was nominated for the award because he was rated highly by students and had an exemplary record as an innovative teacher."

Dr Elliot said he was very pleased to be nominated.

"I was nominated by the students and had to put together a teaching CV and go before a panel. It was nice to be nominated by my students."

If Dr Elliot wins the £50,000 he wants to bring an American model of teaching to Bradford and the UK so optometrists and pharmacists can learn to treat simple eye diseases.

He said: "If I win I would use the money to bring in ideas from America. The US is leading the world in optometry, which is what we used to do about 20 years ago. Opticians there treat things like glaucoma and conjunctivitis which GPs treat here."

This is only the second year of the National Fellowship Teach-ing Scheme - launched to reward excellence in teaching.

It is administered by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) which plans to award 20 fellowships of £50,000.

Dr Elliot is one of 86 entries this year. The winners will be announced on June 6 and the awards will be presented at a gala event in London in July.

If Dr Elliot wins he will present the results of his project to the Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (ILT) as well as writing a journal, book or other material for the ILT website based on the project.