Inaugural award winners honoured
Winners of our inaugural Research Culture and Engaged for Impact Awards have been announced during a special ceremony held on campus.
Award winners are congratulated by Chancellor, Professor Dame Jane Francis, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation, Professor Nick Plant
The impressive number of applications highlighted the broad spectrum of world-changing research at Leeds, together with the amazing work being undertaken by a wide range of colleagues to support this vibrant community.
Winners and runners-up were presented with their awards during a campus showcase yesterday (Tuesday 19 July), hosted by our Chancellor, Professor Dame Jane Francis, and Professor Nick Plant, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation.
Professor Plant said: “These awards are all about celebrating our research culture and engagement for impact, and their role at the heart of our inclusive, collaborative and supportive community.
“We received an impressive number of applications from across the institution, showcasing a wide range of projects, and demonstrating the breadth, expertise and collaborative nature of colleagues.
“As well as expressing my appreciation for all entrants, I’d like to offer my warmest congratulations to everyone who was shortlisted. We truly value your contributions to research at Leeds, and I’d like to thank you all for inspiring other teams by sharing your innovative approaches to improving research culture, and your commitment to authentic engagement as a crucial step on your road to impact.”
Vitally important research
At the heart of the University’s 10-year strategy is the commitment to recognise the value of everyone involved in delivering research, focusing not only on individual academic achievement but also on teamwork.
All members of our research community have a role to play in developing and promoting a positive and inclusive research culture, as well as contributing to the impact our research makes locally, nationally and internationally. Participants; our collaborators and partners; academic, research and technical staff; colleagues in professional services; students and those in many other diverse roles within the University all make essential contributions. Together, we arrange, enable, conduct and participate in vitally important research.
Speaking during the ceremony, Dame Jane said: “I’m delighted to present the prizes for both of these brand new award schemes.
“Improving our research culture is a complex and often challenging process that requires the collaboration of all colleagues at the University, so I’m really pleased to be able to celebrate the range of projects and people involved in this initiative.
“At Leeds, we also value research impact in all its forms, and the Engaged for Impact Awards are one way of recognising colleagues for their efforts to make a real and lasting difference to society.”
Wonderful community
As part of our Fairer future for all initiative, we promised to do more to recognise and celebrate the achievements of our wonderful community of colleagues.
During the next six months, our new campaign – Further Together – will showcase the achievements of many of those involved in delivering our transformational, fundamental and challenge-led research.
We hope Further Together will inspire our entire community to get involved in helping transform lives and make a real difference across the globe, and these awards signify the start of that campaign.
Further information
In-depth profiles of each of the award winners will appear on the For Staff website during the coming weeks. These will also be promoted via the weekly All Staff enewsletters and the Staff Twitter account. And watch out for the latest updates about Further Together, which will be promoted across these channels.
Winners
Research Culture
The Research Culture Awards recognise that improving our research culture is a complex, challenging process, built on collaboration and experimentation.
Engagement with research culture activities can take many forms and involve many different stakeholders. We want to celebrate all those involved in contributing to research success, on any size or scale. By focussing on the shared challenges, solutions and innovative approaches, we aim to inspire sustained commitments to achieving genuine, lasting organisational change.
Collegiate and supportive environment
This award recognises contributions made to create a collegiate research environment, within or beyond your immediate research group or service. It rewards efforts to support the wellbeing of others, creating inclusive teams and examples of inspirational leadership.
Winning project: PhD Discussion Community (‘DISCO’)
Team members: Francis Poitier, Anam Ayaz-Shah, William Goodman, Nichola Jones, Maisie Martland and Dr Rebecca Beeken.
Runners-up: Let’s Bragg about it! How the Bragg Centre forged an engaged community when the world stayed apart.
Team members: Dr Andy Lee, Daniel Paterson, Lucy Leonard and Helen Walters.
Responsible research and innovation
This award recognises the importance of responsible research practices, and rewards efforts to place research integrity at the core of our work, ensuring it’s trustworthy, ethical, honest, rigorous, respectful and accountable.
Winning project: Leading change in the responsible use of research metrics.
Team members: Claire Knowles, Liz Neilly, Alistair Knock, Professor Simon Ball, Sally Dalton, Rebecca Fleming, Dr Barbara Lancho-Barrantes, Professor Yingqi (Annie) Wei, Tina Egan, Jo Squires and Professor Alan Haywood.
There was no runner-up in this category.
Personal development, reward and recognition
This award recognises the importance of developing and rewarding others. The focus is on the often-unrecognised contributions that people make in developing our culture, including those who support the development of others.
Winning project: Instigation of the water@leeds funded Water Woman Award and associated career development initiatives.
Team members: Professor Clare Woulds, Professor Julia Martin-Ortega, Dr Gabriela Lopez Gonzalez, Ann Marie Boyle and Dr Susannah Hopson
Runners-up: ‘Long horizon’ mentoring to foster a supportive, world-leading research culture.
Team members: Dr Alex Beresford, Professor Richard Beardsworth, Dr Emma-Louise Anderson and Marie Johnson.
Open research and impact
This award recognises initiatives that increase the transparency, collaboration, inclusivity, reproducibility and efficiency of research processes to build trust and accountability. It focuses on aspects such as open access and open data, and promoting the use of open platforms for sharing research data, activities, outputs and impact.
Winning project: Opening up data science to solve real-world problems.
Team members: Dr Emily Ennis, Professor Mark Birkin, Professor Ed Manley, Dr Nik Lomax, Adam Keeley, Dr Pete Baudains, Kylie Norman, Robyn Naisbitt, Mel Green, Oli Mansell and Paul Evans.
Runners-up: Creating an impact strategy for the Faculty of Medicine and Health to accelerate the translation process between research excellence and societal impact.
Team members: Ali Quaile.
Equality, diversity and inclusion in research
This award recognises initiatives that make positive changes to embed a culture of equality, diversity and inclusion in research.
Winning project: Championing recruitment for diversity on the LIDA Data Scientist Development Programme.
Team members: Kylie Norman, Dom Frankis, Dr Michelle Morris and Professor Nick Malleson.
Runners-up: Belonging and Success research group – building a more equitable future for all.
Team members: Louise Banahene, Dr Paul Taylor, Katie Livesey and Dr Emma Peasland.
Engaged for Impact
The Engaged for Impact Awards recognise the road to research impact is often a long one, with many engagement steps along the way that are worthy of celebration. And it’s the commitment to travel that road that we want to recognise. We value research impact in all its forms, whether introducing new ideas, changing how we do things or building people’s capacity to engage and benefit from our research.
Building partnerships and networks
This award recognises the importance of partnerships and networks to bring about change. It seeks to recognise the development of sustained collaborations with external organisations. The focus is on developing shared objectives and linking engagement activities across organisational boundaries towards a common impact goal.
Winning project: Building networks with supermarkets to assess healthy and sustainable consumer diets.
Team members: Dr Michelle Morris, Dr Victoria Jenneson, Dr Stephen Clark, Diogo Ann Onuselogu, Alexandra Dalton, Francesca Pontin, Hannah Skeggs, Becky Shute, Paul Evans and Dr Emily Ennis.
Runners-up: IPEN – networking across the world to enhance democratic engagement.
Team members: Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira, Zoe Backhouse, Nick Caley, Derek Dignam, Dr Sarah Moulds, Dr Nicole Nisbett, Temitayo Odeyemi, Dr Naomi Paxton, Alex Prior and Elise Uberoi.
Finding a better way
This award recognises all the ways in which new thinking and acting, new products and knowledge, lead to creating and galvanising change and innovation.
Winning project: Spreading the research, not the virus – Novel methodologies for the assessment of COVID-19 aerosol risk and mitigation in dental environments.
Team members: Jon Vernon, Professor David Wood, Professor Brian Nattress, Emma Black, Professor Deirdre Devine, Dr Louise Fletcher, Paula Lancaster and Tom Dennis.
Runners-up: Building an online nutrient profile model calculator for implementation of HFSS legislation.
Team members: Dr Victoria Jenneson, Dr Michelle Morris and Rosalind Martin.
Caring for the future
This award recognises research impact that’s likely to build over time, leading to a fairer, safer and more equitable world and healthier environment.
Winning project: Understanding and improving the carbon footprint of school meals in Leeds.
Team members: Dr Emily Ennis, Alexandra Dalton, Dr Michelle Morris, Mel Green, Kevin Mackay, Polly Cook, Ellie Salvidge and Gillian Banks.
Runners-up: Strengthening health systems and capacities for global health security.
Team members: Professor Garrett Wallace Brown, Dr Gemma Bridge, Natalie Rhodes, Elena Barbaud, Dr Blagovesta Tacheva, Jessica Martini, Jay Patel, Simrit Bhandal, Rebecca Hakim, Sadia Zaman, Atirolaoluwa Obileye, Jimyong Um, Helen Bailey, Luc Tsachoua Choupe, Marc Ho and Nimral Kandel.
Widening perspectives
This award recognises activities where multiple views from different knowledge holders (including seldom-heard voices) are brought together to inform, reframe or change public debate, and to inspire learning and sense-making that leads to empowerment.
Winning project: Act Early – Holme Wood community-engaged data science to improve societal outcomes.
Team members: Dr Faisal Mushtaq, Mallory Morehead, Hayley Irving, Katherine Hiley, Dr Katy Shire, Chris Brown, Lauren Batty, Dave Lynch, Pete Eyres, Kathryn Loftus, Professor Mark Mon-Williams and Christian Bunting.
Runners-up: Inspiring and empowering young people through arts and science.
Team members: Dr Briony Thomas, Dr Morgan Herod, Dr Indira Banner, Dr Shamaila Anwar, Kacper Dobras, Ahlam Abumughli, Dinuo Liao, Batley Multi Academy Trust, Upper Batley High School, Batley Girls’ High School, Field Lane Junior Nursery and Infant School and Batley Grammar School.
Making a positive difference to society
This award recognises engagement that leads, or may lead, to positive changes to society. It also includes engagement that prevents harm for groups within society. Working with communities and groups, this could involve activities that enable this positive difference to happen.
Winning project: Banning LGBTIQ+ ‘conversion therapy’ – Engaging with policymakers and LGBTIQ+ organisations to change UK law.
Team members: Dr Ilias Trispiotis, Craig Purshouse and Elliot Ross.
Runners-up: Transforming the culture underpinning disabled children’s services: focussing on family support needs not parental failings.
Team members: Professor Luke Clements, Dr Ana Laura Aiello, Beverley Hitchcock, David Laurence, Priya Bahri, Louise Arnold and Lucy Fullard.
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