Meet our October Wows winners

It's that time again - after re-opening our nomination process in September, we're delighted to announce the latest staff winners of our Warwick 'Wows' award!

Nominated by you, these awards celebrate our outstanding people and the work we do together. Keep an eye out for the Warwick Wonders announcement, coming soon...

Want to say well done? You can congratulate our winning colleagues in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Warwick Wows

The Warwick Wows celebrate amazing work, projects, and achievements at the University.

Leadership for Educational Transformation ('Ukrainian Summer School')

Our Wows this month are Dr Bo Kelestyn (Associate Professor, WBS) and Professor Gwen van der Velden (Professor of Education).

Over the summer of 2023, Bo and Gwen teamed up with the Ukrainian Leadership Academy to create a pioneering seven-day co-creation programme - Leadership for Educational Transformation - for 40 Ukrainian leaders.

Bo and Gwen's nominator shared:

"Bo and Gwen secured funding from the Ukrainian Leadership Academy for the group of teachers, educationalists and policy makers to travel from Ukraine and spend eight days at Warwick. During this time they learned from specialists in the field of educational leadership - exploring themes such as policy making, education reform, inclusion, diversity, well-being, curriculum development, leadership challenges, institutional challenges and resilience, and much more.

The summer school was incredibly well received and our Ukrainian colleagues felt the sessions and support provided by Bo, Gwen and the extended team were exceptional. Not only were our Ukrainian colleagues provided with knowledge and understanding of educational challenges and potential solutions, but the summer school also gave them a platform to gather strength, form networks, and take this momentum back with them to further motivate and encourage their teams at home.

It was an inspirational project and one that was deeply powerful for both Ukrainian and Warwick colleagues."

Stuart Croft, our Vice-Chancellor, had this to say about Bo and Gwen's win:

"This partnership was amazing, as was the energy that came across from the participants - they really felt this was something being co-created. Thank you so much to Bo, Gwen and a number of other colleagues, for their brilliant initiative, work and enthusiasm."

Wow Transcript

Stuart:

So we're here again for some Wows and Wonders in the Business School, coming to say thank you and well done to Bo Kelestyn and Gwen van der Velden, a number of their colleagues who did an amazing job over the summer, putting together an educational programme for leaders in Ukraine.

It was a summer school, but it's also a whole series of ongoing programmes with fantastic engagement and work with Ukrainian educational leaders. And this is part of the work that's going on in this university. So let's go and see Bo and Gwen and say to them well done.

Hello. Do you know what this is a bit like 'This is your life', isn't it? Here we are. Here we are.

Because some, some, some wonderful people are responsible for setting you up. Not saying who. Not saying who. We are here for the award of our Wows and Wonders because people have been nominated because of course, of the Ukrainian leadership work, the summer school, the programme, the ongoing work that's gonna be happening, the partnership, because it was so amazing in the energy that came across from the participants that they really felt this was something being co-created.

So the first thing is that we would like to say thank you so much for the brilliant initiative, energy, work, enthusiasm, and we have some small gifts, A certificate, I mean now it's real, isn't it?

Bo: Thank you.

Stuart: There's a certificate. It is real.

Bo: Is this a handshake moment?

Stuart: Thank you, but it's not finished yet because also we have the most important thing. The star. You're a Star. And you too!

Gwen: Me?

Stuart: And you too. You too. But it, it has been amazing both of you. Thank you so much. You've been brilliant. Thank you.

After accepting their award, Bo and Gwen said:

"Winning this Wonders and Wows Award has been such a wonderful surprise! Thank you so much to our nominator(s). It has been a journey of 15+ months to see the programme grow into what it is today.

This recognition means so much to Bo as a Ukrainian staff member and alumna of Warwick. The success of the programme has been due to the institution and so many individuals supporting us, but also contributing to the curriculum and generously giving their time to teach and mentor. Huge thanks to all involved!

For participants, having the time and space to connect, think, learn and reflect on Warwick campus has made a huge difference. We are receiving stories of impact from Ukraine almost daily, whether that's supporting each other on difficult days, or co-creating projects and bidding for funding, to even securing support with projects from institutions that were previously impenetrable.

The work for both participants and us continues with the first individual assignment due at the end of November, and the start of the second face to face module in January."

Congratulations to our winners and thank you to everyone who submitted a nomination in September. We received so many high-quality nominations - and now we're ready to start revealing them! Keep an eye on inbox insite and the insite homepage over the coming months to see who'll be named a winner.

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