Congratulations to Ally Caldecote, Rashida Mohamed, Don Pollacco and Pam Thomas who were named as overall winners in three categories at the Warwick Staff Awards. The winners were announced at a celebratory gala dinner on Friday 11^th March.

Don Pollacco won for Research Excellence.

Don Pollacco is an outstanding astrophysicist and planet hunter hoping to answer the question “Do other Earths exist?” His WASP project is by far the most successful ground based detection facility and, in 2010, he received the Royal Astronomical Society Team Award for having discovered over 100 transiting planets. SuperWASP followed, as did Don’s Next Generation Transit Survey. This project, based in Chile, concentrates on much smaller Earth-like planets. Now the European Space Agency has selected the PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars mission to launch in 2024, with Don as Mission Science Coordinator. This means Don will extend his planet searching to a dedicated space-based telescope.

Rashida Mohamed won in the Student Experience category.

Rashida, as the secretary in the undergraduate office in the physics department, is the first point of contact for all our students. Her sense of duty goes well beyond what is expected of a secretary, and is greatly appreciated by all. Staff are completely reliant on her availability throughout the teaching term, often from very early in the morning. Rashida goes out of her way to help staff that deliver teaching, and engages with our students in a reassuring fashion, fully contributing to the positive experience they have at Warwick.

Ally Caldecote and Pam Thomas were part of the winning team in the Public Engagement category

The activities planned for the anniversary celebrations were designed to have public engagement at their heart, to bring people together, and to engage with key stakeholders. Festival of the Imagination facilitated an opportunity for over 450 staff and postgraduate students to engage with the public. The marquee at Cheltenham Science Festival involved over 120 University members. Warwick worked together with Cheltenham Festivals to maximise opportunities for our academics to showcase their expertise, and give profile to the University. The role of the 50th team was to create, facilitate and maximise these and other opportunities, which they did to great effect.