Dr Nicole Mockler has dedicated her adult life to educating children and now after being awarded a $15,000 fellowship, the University of Newcastle lecturer will research the best methods to teach the teacher.

The University's Educational Research Institute Newcastle (ERIN) fellowship will allow Dr Mockler, who is the coordinator of the School of Education on the Central Coast campus, to dedicate herself to her important research.

"The fellowship will allow me to focus on my research for the next six months," Dr Mockler said.

Dr Mockler's research will focus on teacher professional learning, innovative methods of teaching and school structures and will include consulting with teachers across the Kindergarten to Year 12 spectrum.

"Creating and evaluating new methods of learning, as well as ways to teach the teachers of tomorrow is the focus of my research," Dr Mockler said.

"My research is about understanding and improving the professional learning of teachers in order to improve the quality of student learning in schools."

ERIN Director, Professor James Albright, said Dr Mockler was a deserving winner of the inaugural Early Career Researcher fellowship.

"One of ERIN's aims is to influence and enact positive change in the education sector and this is reflected in Dr Mockler's work," he said.

"Her research will not only help shape the way the teachers of tomorrow are taught, it will also influence the way today's teachers think about educating their students."

Dr Mockler is a member of the Australian Association for Research in Education, the Australian College of Educators, Australian Teacher Educators' Association and the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development among other professional societies and bodies. She won the Apple Distinguished Educator Award in 2009.