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University Awards winners 2018

Congratulations to all our 2018 University Awards winners and highly commended nominees!

All nominated staff were invited to an Awards Evening at the Butterworth Hall on Friday 18 May. With 570 nominations made this year, we'd like to say a huge thank you to all those staff and students who took the time to recognise and celebrate the outstanding contributions of staff across the Warwick community.

Congratulations to all those who were nominated - individuals and teams.

If you were a highly commended nominee, keep an eye out for your certificate – we’ll make sure it gets to you soon!

Winners and highly commended nominees

Unsung Hero

Winner: Sally Bromage (Estates)sally_bromage.jpeg

As well as undertaking her role to an amazing standard, Sally has a kind word for everyone and she is tremendously popular amongst staff and students alike.

We are very fortunate to have Sally as a colleague... not only is she a totally reliable member of the team but she is also a friend to many.

Nothing is ever too much trouble, she is truly a valued colleague who goes above and beyond what is expected. Our working environment is so much better for Sally.

Sally is very conscientious and ensures that all public, student areas and staff spaces are kept to a high standard, I have never had to ask her to fulfil anything, as she is typically one step ahead."

Sally's award was collected by Wendy White (pictured)

Winner: Colin Ellis (Economics)Colin Ellis

Colin is really the oil in the Economics machine - the department could not run without him. We teaching staff ask a lot of him and he seems to be able to fix any problem, always with a smile on his face, and sweeties to offer!

Colin is always thinking how to improve the impression people have of the department... If I walk around the department I would not find one person who would not praise Colin to the skies for the enormously positive contribution he makes...

He is also at the heart of the student's lives. He is practically the face of the department - all of the students know him and love him for his dedication to his job and the invaluable positive effect he has on their student experience."


Winner: Emily Reid (Warwick Medical School)Emily

Emily is just wonderful. In particular, she worked tirelessly to help with academic foundation training application, not only providing help with interviews in her own time but also emotional support and wellbeing.

There are not many people as committed as Emily and it's comforting to be supported by someone who you know is so willing to help and so positive.

As Senior Careers Consultant, Emily has gone far above and beyond everything required of her to ensure that we stay informed and updated with all of the necessary information for our employment after graduation."

Highly commended: Adrian Seymour (Engineering)

If no one else knows, Adrian will. He does well over the expectation of his role, not only in the hours he works, coming in at weekends and evenings but also in the tasks he does to help everyone out, making their lives easier. Above all, everyone likes Adrian. He is friendly, approachable and makes every day brighter with his humour.

He is highly respected amongst staff and students as someone who will get things done and works hard to ensure his colleagues are happy in the workplace... I don't believe he realises the impact that he has on the School and those who work there..."

Highly commended: Helen McGowan (Warwick Medical School)

Helen is a wonderful hero(ine) who is highly able, extremely committed, and in a very modest and unassuming way represents the very best of Warwick's values.

Helen is the person who keeps the Unit of Academic Primary Care functioning and without her we would grind to a halt. She is always willing to go above and beyond to ensure that members of the unit have the information they need to assist with research grants, conferences, teaching or anything else that comes up."

Highly commended: Matthew Scott (Residential Life)

Matthew works so hard to say yes to everybody, he wants to help and provide the best customer service he possibly can to the students and other departments.

Matthew is a true ambassador of Warwick. After 30 years he is very positive about the service we offer, he is proud of working for Warwick and will do anything in his remit to enhance the student experience. Ex-Warwick students mention Matthew by name on Facebook as a good guy"

Outstanding Contribution

Winner: Annunziata Videtta (Wellbeing Support Services)Annunziatta

I would describe her as tenacious and dedicated, working conscientiously to deliver a vast project whilst being an extremely supportive colleague. She always notices when I'm having a tough day - she's amazing!

She skilfully negotiates with a range of stakeholders who hold conflicting views, remaining calm and pragmatic in the face of adversity. As a result the profile of Respect for All is being raised across the board, increasing the confidence of staff to deal with disclosures and of students to report crimes."


Research Contribution

Winner: Interface Polymers team (Chemistry and Warwick Ventures)

Team members: Peter Scott, Chris Kay, Shaun Morris, Paul Goring, Connah BuInterface Polymersrnett, Kevin Marks, Phil Smith

Starting from scratch, this team have created a world-leading piece of laboratory research, used it as the basis for a new award-winning Warwick spin-out company, have been awarded £1.5 m in grant funding, raised £2.7m in private equity, created 10 new jobs, and produced a new type of material that is enabling more sustainable use of plastics. Researchers and professional staff have been propelled in new and exciting career directions, and the way that Warwick promotes innovation by researchers is, as a result, being revolutionised.

The team have used new Warwick research to make a real difference in the way the world will use plastics, as well as new and exciting careers for the members. It is creating local jobs and international impact."

Highly commended: Felicity Boardman (Warwick Medical School)

Felicity is an exceptional researcher whose enthusiasm and dedication to her research area are outstanding. Joining the department as a Research Fellow in May 2010 having recently been awarded her PhD, Felicity's research career has blossomed. She initially worked for the Research Design Service, but Felicity's passion and vision for her research, which focuses on the social and ethical dimensions of genomic medicine, became the driving force of her professional life.

Felicity is a highly successful researcher who has already secured four personal funding awards over the course of her career, within which public engagement activity has always been a central component."

Highly commended: Astrophysical Transients team (Physics)

Team members: Prof Andrew Levan, Dr Danny Steeghs, Ryan Cutter, Dr Ben Gompertz, Dr Joe Lyman, Dr Samantha Oates, Dr Elizabeth Stanway, Dr Krzysztof Ulaczyk

I'd like to nominate this team for their major contributions to the detection of electromagnetic light from merging neutron stars, triggered by the detection of gravitational wave signals, enabling the origin of the heaviest elements to be ascertained and providing a new route to measuring the expansion of the Universe.

The team's research has already appeared in 15 papers with Warwick authors, and three of these were led from Warwick. Amongst these are four articles in the premier journals Nature and Science. In just five months since the announcement, these papers have been referenced by other articles more than 500 times."

Highly commended: Dr Daniel Lester (Polymer Characterisation RTP)

Dr Daniel Lester, Manager of the Polymer Characterisation Research Technology Platform (RTP), is certainly an individual who deserves to be recognised for his essential contribution to underpinning the University's research in both polymers and the wider materials characterisation. The RTP that Daniel manages facilitates the research of 20+ groups across five departments, in addition to a considerable portfolio of external clients.

Dan is the most talented analytical scientist I have met, due to the breadth of his knowledge, the quality of his work and the 'can do' approach he has to challenges."

Global Contribution

Winner: Esther de Perlaky (Student Careers and Skills)Esther de Perlaky

Esther is a collaborator in every sense of the word, spotting opportunities to work with and for others at all levels, both within Warwick and beyond, to achieve the best possible global employability outcomes for Warwick's students.

Esther has since applied the knowledge gained from her work with China to another strategic priority area for Warwick - South East Asia - organising the first 'China and Asia Pacific' careers fair in 2017 at the Shard and running online chat sessions and in-person employability workshops with SE Asia-based employers, often in collaboration with student societies."


Winner: International Biology Olympiad team (Life Sciences)

Team members: Kevin Moffat, Leanne Williams, Miriam Gifford, Lorenzo Frigerio, BranInternational Biology Olympiad teamagh Crealock-Ashurst

The International Biology Olympiad 2017 Team successfully planned, coordinated, organised and executed a massive, complex international event, hosted in the School of Life Sciences and across the Warwick campus to an exceptionally high standard. The success of the event not only showcased the hard work of all of the IBO 2017 team members, but also their dedication and desire to strive for excellence in all areas with all of the team members taking on the extensive and time consuming support for this internationally recognised event on top of their day to day responsibilities."

Highly commended: SMLC Year Abroad team (School of Modern Languages and Culture)

Team members: Dr Margaux Whiskin, Dr Cathy Hampton, Ariane Demeure-Ahearne, Dr Michela Coletta, Dr Mila Milani, Dr Rich Rabone, Raquel Navas, Dr Katie Stone, Andrea Klaus, Katsuko Nagata, Marion Imber, Lisa Archer, Evan Stewart

Over the past academic year, the SMLC Year Abroad team has faced some major challenges and has overcome these barriers to deliver a high-quality teaching and learning experience for a cohort of 120 students from SMLC on their integrated Year Abroad programmes. In the current academic year, members of the team have successfully negotiated natural disasters, most notably the hurricane in Puerto Rico in October, where team members worked round the clock to bring back one student who wished to return to the UK, finding the individual an alternative placement in mainland Europe and liaising with this student as and when communications worked on the ground. Team members also worked to support the remaining students in Puerto Rico, providing them with pastoral support and ensuring that they felt that the institution was monitoring their situation."

Outstanding Team

Winner: SMaRT Project team (Pyschology)

Team members: Professor Dieter Wolke, Dr Nicole Tang, Dr Sakari Lemola, Dr Adrian von Muhlenen, Dr Anu Realo, Lauren Jones Ahuti Das, Anita LenneisSMaRT project

The SMaRT Project team put in outstanding teamwork to initiate a research project that has excellent scientific merits and great potential for improving our students' wellbeing. SMaRT stands for Student Mental Health and Resilience in Transition - the team evaluated feasibility of a longitudinal study on risk factors and protective factors for mental health and psychological wellbeing among our undergraduates.

The team beautifully executed a truly complex operation with great significance, which was made possible by tightly-coordinated team work, driven by the sense of mission to improve student lives and to push the boundary of scientific understanding of mental health and wellbeing."


Highly commended: Warwick Business School Distance Learning MBA team

Made up of the: Teaching team, led by course director Dr Vikki Abusidualghoul; Programme team, led by Jane Miller; Teaching & Learning Support team, led by Ray Irving; eSolutions team, led by Simon Harper and Martin Chandler; Careers & Corporate Relations team, led by Sue Thorn; Marketing & Recruitment team, led by Karen Barker.

Being ranked #1 in the world doesn't happen by accident. The continuing development of the DLMBA team exemplifies the School's CORE values of Curiosity, Openness, Restlessness and Excellence. The programme has been regularly reviewed and re-structured to refresh the curriculum in alignment with academic development and business needs and to improve the delivery methods in line with technological advances and in response to student feedback."

Highly commended: Gibbet Hill Health and Wellbeing Group (Warwick Medical School, School of Life Sciences, Warwick Sport)

Team members: Sunita Palmer, Laura Cranshaw, Rosemary Cragg, Catherine Eaton-Brown. Kirstie Haywood , Tim Hunter, Debbi Marais, Claire McDonald, Tania Page, Roulla Phillippou, Lucinda Sidbury, Stephanie Tierney, Julie Tod, Karl Waldron

This team organised a very successful and well attended Health and Wellbeing Day in 2017 which is going to take place again this year. As a result of the event a walking group was organized to take place each Tuesday lunchtime which again is very popular and well attended. Team members support both each other and the wider School community in order to reach their goals, and recognise the importance of colleagues having the opportunity to take time out of their busy working day to do something fun and rewarding."

Student Experience

Winner: Chris Bradford (Library)Chris Bradford

She is incredibly focused on the needs of the students and is quick to identify practical ways of improving their experience. She has used module feedback forms to target purchases of additional resources to support the areas of greatest need. Chris has produced a comprehensive and attractive annual review/action plan for PAIS, summarising the support she provides and the students' behaviour and interaction with the Library.

Externally, Chris is an active member of the Library Profession and a CILIP mentor. She has mentored many young aspiring professionals through their Chartership, encouraging and nurturing new talent. Her desk was recently graced with a massive bouquet from an appreciative colleague."


Winner: Team Warwick (Warwick Sport, Warwick SU, University Marketing, Alumni)Team Warwick

Team Warwick as an active campaign runs from January to March, however students associate with the campaign all throughout the year, and in the future Team Warwick will feature even wider in student recruitment and Freshers Week. Being part of a club means having a shared identity that is formed on a team and learning important lessons about cooperation.

Beyond simply being part of a community, being part of Team Warwick enables extra career-building opportunities. This year, some of the students featured in a professionally captured film, other students featured in an advert and again others have had opportunities to speak on the radio, attend event days or use Team Warwick for their own career progression - this year three out of four SU Sports Officers used their knowledge and experience of being part of Team Warwick to campaign for elections."

Highly commended: Student Reception team (Senate House)

Team members: Gareth McConnell, Louise Gower, Lynn Watson, Lewis Morris, Kuldeep Surana, Michelle Thurman, Weronika Saran, Sarah Brennan, Sunita Barpagga, Thea Cristina Munteanu

We are there for them every step of the way, from the moment they first set foot at the university and come to us to pick up their ID cards and keys, right down to the moment when some of them come to collect their graduation certificates.

We deal with an international, multicultural, diverse client base catering to their individual requirements sensitively, ensuring they are orientated to their environment, many of whom have come to the UK for the first time."

Highly commended: Dr Tom Long (Politics and International Studies)

In his first year at Warwick, Dr. Long has created a brilliant and engaging module regarding both the history and international relations of Latin America. His approach to the subject is novel, and his fantastic book demonstrates his importance in the field. His module has been one of the most engaging that I have ever taken at Warwick, and I am well aware that this feeling is near-ubiquitous in the class."

Community Contribution

Winner: Creative Learning team at Warwick Arts Centre (Creative Learning, Warwick Arts Centre, Centre for Education Studies)

Team members: Kate Sayer, Carly Mee, Lynsey Cullen, Dr Rachel Kingcreative_learning_team.jpeg

Warwick Arts Centre's (WAC) Creative Learning Team stepped in to form a partnership with The Belgrade Theatre that would see both organisations work together to keep the Canley Youth Theatre going. This partnership is a shining example of how neighbouring arts organisations, who might ordinarily be competing with each other in terms of trying to engage the public, can work together to ensure a consistent and quality educational experience for young people in the local area who are most at risk."


Winner: Diane Sargeant (Estates)Diane

For many years Diane has been co-ordinating the removal of left items at the end of term from student accommodation. She has implemented the British Heart Foundation initiative providing big red bins on our campus for students to recycle their unwanted clothes. Diane was able to support BHS in recovering enough clothes to provide £120k to the charity. Diane also supports the work of Rawkus, who collect over 102 crates of mixed food and household items at the Easter end of term and summer. Diane managed to organise all of our duvets (6,400) to go to charities this year to help out those less fortunate than ourselves. The last batch went to Afghanistan."

Diane's award was collected by Wendy White (pictured)

Highly commended: Premier Squash League team (Warwick Sport)

Team members: Steve Fruer, Laura Henson, Natasha Bedford, Selina Welter, Steve Townsend

This project has had a massive impact on inspiring our local community - the PSL team enables our University community and the local community to see live sport played at the highest level featuring players at the top of their game.

This team uses sport as a vehicle to raise aspirations, inspire junior players and build further relationship with our local community."

Highly commended: Margaret Archer (Sociology)

As editor of Human Trafficking: Issues beyond Criminalization (2016)... Margaret Archer wanted to be of practical assistance and bought a terraced house in Kenilworth. The house is provided rent-free and maintained appropriately. Since 2016 we have housed 2 Nigerian young women, one trafficked into domestic servitude at the age of nine (for over 10 years), the other into prostitution, and their three children. The overall aim is to help the family to become independent in their daily lives within the UK."

Inspirational Leadership

Winner: Jayne Lawrence (Centre for Teacher Education)Jayne Lawrence

An energetic and inspirational leader, Jayne Lawrence, Head of Administration, over a three-year period has transformed the Professional Support Services (PSS) at the Centre for Teacher Education (CTE). Jayne has created robust systems and processes within the CTE, and has taken every member of her team with her on this journey.

We are nominating Jayne for the Inspirational Leadership award as to our team nothing sums her up more... Jayne is determined to make sure that we are all well informed, and have all the tools we need in order to progress, not just within the University but outside of it too. We feel that Jayne has a positive impact on the centre as a whole, and not just on our team."

Winner: Dr Maria do Mar Pereira (Sociology)

Maria voluntarily organises a number of meetings that bring people from various departments together to discuss both ongoing research ideas and current affairs (e.g., the sociology lunches and the 'prMaria Do Mar Pereiraoducing feminist research' network). This is based on a commitment to create spaces for dialogue and knowledge production, the hallmarks of any thriving university. Significantly, all these sessions are beyond her formal teaching commitments.

Maria is a major champion for equality. She is always attentive to using language in such a way to respect all gender/sexual identities and goes to great lengths to avoid making assumptions based on racial and cultural stereotypes."

Service Excellence

Winner: Alastair Dixon (Estates)Alastair

When timeframes are tight and situations seem pressurised, it is Alastair who calmly and reassuring comes to the rescue with solutions and plans of action. What really stands out, though, is that Alastair really cares about the project. He wants all those who will be working in the new Faculty of Arts building to have the best academic space possible and to have a place where they will be happy. His hard work will make this a reality, and his support has not gone unnoticed."


Winner: Campus Cleaning Services - Accommodation (Estates)

Members: Jane Wilson and teamCCS

The team did a fantastic job of ensuring Sherbourne phase 2 was ready for new students in September 2017 - the team all went far above their job descriptions to support the Project Manager and ensure the students could move in on arrivals day.

We are consistently astounded by their hard work and sky high standards for our accommodation. They deal with logistically difficult requests in record time, and offer a fantastic service to our students. They care so much about our students and their residences. I have worked in student accommodation for over five years, and I am always astounded at the high standards of cleaning here at Warwick."

The team's award was collected by Wendy White (pictured)

Highly commended: Louise Gower (Warwick Accommodation - Student Reception)

Louise is calm and professional in stressful situations. Louise is motivational, a great leader and the team are proud to work for her.

The team can always rely on Louise - during the snowy weather she walked from home (40 minutes) to open and work on Reception at the weekend (she was not due in) as the rest of the team were not able to drive into work. Louise has come into work on her day off to help a disabled student who was having trouble with door access, to ensure the situation could be managed and the student was not distressed."

Highly commended: Jo Latimer (Academic Office)

Jo Latimer is, to my knowledge, one of the hardest working people at the University. She works closely with every academic department, ensuring that every student ends up with the correct exam paper. Jo does a lot of other work in relation to exams, module registration, external examiners and other areas. She is a professional, pleasant and efficient person who plays a crucial role within the examinations section of the academic office. She is also a very caring line manager and does everything she can to support the staff she is responsible for, even when her own workload is remarkably high."

Highly commended: Deskside, Printing Services and Infrastructure (ITS)

Team members: Sri Sharma, Hailey Barrett, Tariq Zaman, Jatinder Heer, Matt Constable, Ravindra Nathani, Chris Wood, Matt Corbett, Matt Lynch, Mark Finnie, Jasdeep Bhamra, Tim Brown

It would be hard to find teams who strive more for service excellence than Deskside, Printing Services and Infrastructure. By collaborating together, putting the needs of the customer first and always looking to make improvements to benefit the customer, they always provide an exceptional service and I have no hesitation in nominating them for the Service Excellence award."

Public Engagement

Winner: Nick Barker (Chemistry)Nick Barker

Nick is a professional, kind and engaging young man who obviously has high scientific knowledge but also the intelligence to realise that young people need to be inspired as soon as possible.

Nick Barker's outreach work has achieved semi-legendary status both within the University and amongst all the schools who are fortunate enough to have had him visit. He is deeply committed to encouraging the aspirations of, and furthering the educational opportunities available to, young people in the region - many of whom perceive that, given their background, studying at the University of Warwick is an unattainable goal."


Winner: Classics teamClassics

Team members: Classics department

I would like to take the opportunity to celebrate and recognise the Classics department and their response to public engagement and support they offer across the board to encourage everyone to get involved and be aware of public engagement activities and what these activities can do for individual research projects and the wider department. Headed up by Alison Cooley, who is one of the most responsive and aware heads of department I have had the pleasure of working with.

It is so important to recognise how supportive the whole Classics department is towards others' successes and projects - this is how they are able to produce things that are so consistently fantastic."

Highly commended: Milestone Project (Warwick Medical School, Health Sciences)

Team members: Dr Helena Tuomainen, Prof Swaran Singh, Dr Priya Tah, Rebecca Appleton, Rose-Marie Lomax, Dr Jane Warwick, Dr Cathy Street, Dr Jason Madan, Dr Alastair Canaway, James Griffin, Philip Wells, Prof Dieter Wolke, Claire Daffern, Leanne Walker, Anna Wilson, Charlotte Gatherer, Amanda Tuffrey, Sarah Buttle, Meghan Killilea, Courtney Smyth, Caoimhe Kelly, James Kirwin

The Milestone Project is an EU-funded longitudinal study looking at the transition of young people from the Children's Mental Health Services in to the Adult Mental Health Services. They have been working closely with young people going through this transition to build up their skills and confidence to talk about the service they have received, and been using the voice of the young people to help raise awareness of the issues young people face around mental health care."

Highly commended: Dr Hannah Jones (Sociology)

Hannah was academic lead for the Tate Exchange project in 2017 - this event showcased research across Warwick and brought together the arts and the academic life to share and embody research elements in different ways. Not only was Hannah a massive support in the organisation and implementation of the project, which was a massive task on top of all her research work and teaching responsibilities - she also created an interactive seminar entitled 'Alternative Facts and Immigration: Fake It Until You Make It', providing an intimate opportunity for the audience to understand how and why news headlines can be constructed and mediated to share only one point of view."

Highly commended: Dr Rachel Moseley and Dr Gemma Goodman (Film and TV, English and Comparative Literary Studies)

What I think is truly brilliant about this pairing are they are willing to adapt and evolve their public engagement, to understand their audience as well as how to reach said audience.

Rachel's research on screen representations of Cornwall (culminating in a book release titled Picturing Cornwall) and Gemma's work on literature written by Cornish writers led to a monograph entitled Alternative Cornwall: Constructing Place in Literature. Rachel and Gemma's project bought together their separate research interests into a one-off event. It is really interesting how they identified the shared elements of their research in this case their audience and decided to collaborate on their public engagement aspects."

Brilliant Newcomer

Winner: Laura Waller (Library)Laura Waller

Laura is not only an active participant of groups, sharing best practice to develop the service, but has an impressive work ethic and displays a genuine interest in her area of work. It is impossible not to be drawn in by her enthusiasm and determination to progress projects and ideas. Laura balances focus and determination with thoughtfulness, caring and fun - for me she is a very worthy Brilliant Newcomer.

She was keen to join forces with students for the SU's Disability Celebration Week, taking the opportunity for further collaboration with a charity to promote Tinnitus Awareness week and the Library's existing Mindfulness session. She encourages others to get involved (even those who are sometimes shy, reticent or unsure), to ask questions and raise awareness - Laura makes everyone feel it's ok to try out new things and join in."

Winner: Natasha Bedford (Warwick Sport)Natasha

Between August and the start of October, Natasha put everything in place needed to open a brand new therapy clinic which included refurbishing existing treatment rooms, putting in place all policies and procedures, sourcing all equipment needed for the clinic and a medical booking system, benchmarking other therapy providers in the area, defining a product and pricing strategy, planning a marketing strategy and understanding what other university therapy provisions looked like.

Natasha has worked exceptionally hard in her first six months at Warwick, establishing an excellent provision on campus and providing our students and staff with an exceptional experience that has never been made available before."

Natasha's award was collected by Gemma Carter-Morris (pictured)