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The Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Excellence have run annually since 2018
Vice-Chancellor's Awards 2021
Eight award winners and 16 commendation winners were recognised for their astounding achievements over the past year at an in-person awards event on campus. A new, special award was also announced and awarded for the first time during the ceremony.
Spirits were high at the event, which took place in Eldon Building and saw around 100 attendees, including individual and team winners and their nominators, and commendation winners. Nominators said a few words about the achievements of their nominees before the award winners came up to the stage to accept their certificates and have their photograph taken with the Vice-Chancellor. Afterwards, a celebratory reception was available with food and drink to give colleagues the opportunity to catch up and take more photos.
Amy volunteered over 1,300 hours in 2020 in the front-line of the Covid response. This included a month supporting patients in London's Nightingale Hospital in the first wave of the pandemic. Following this she volunteered in hospital A&E departments last summer doing four 12-hour shifts a week, alongside completing training for her Emergency Ambulance Crew qualification with St John Ambulance when she responded to 999 calls in London, Isle of Wight, Bristol and Reading. By mid-February she had already volunteered over 300 hours in 2021 and aimed to complete over 1,500 hours in total this year. This has been based at St James' Vaccination Centre in Portsmouth, where she has been doing three 12-hour shifts each week as a Unit Manager of the University of Portsmouth St John Ambulance Unit. In this role she manages around 20 volunteers, helping them with their training as well as organising and planning events and ensuring volunteer welfare.
Read lessBAME Conference Team
Following the murder of George Floyd and the University's pledge last June to make a step change in efforts to end racism, a conference for our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff and alumni was envisioned by Marcella Kirby. Sharing her vision with Senior Leaders, funding was secured to enable it to happen. With the dedicated support of colleagues volunteering from our community, the team came together and delivered a truly exceptional conference to over 180 Black, Asian and Minority Ethinic staff, alumni and allies including keynote speakers Karen Blackett OBE, University of Portsmouth Chancellor, alumna, WPP UK Country Manager and the Government’s Race Equality Business Champion; Asif Sadiq MBE, Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Adidas; and Nira Chamberlain PhD, alumnus and President of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.
Photo from left to right: Emilie Smith, Graham Galbraith and Marcella Kirby.
Read lessCovid-19 Testing Team
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit it quickly became clear that testing would be a key tool in reopening our campus and keeping our staff, students and the wider community as safe as possible. The team has played a vital role in the safe reopening of campus, carrying out over 32,000 tests to provide accurate infection data and in combating the narrative that university students were a primary cause for Covid-19 spread.
Photo from left to right: Georgina Barker-Woodward, Amanda Ward, Graham Galbraith and Joe Shoebridge.
Read lessICG Covid Response Team
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the team at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (ICG) leveraged their expertise in statistics, computing, and data analysis, to help the university. The team built a tailor-made data management system to critically underpin our testing system. The team also crucially enabled new research efforts to better understand the spread of the virus, for instance through detailed studies of coughs and sneezes in clinical environments. Their rapid response, often under extreme time pressure, and keen engagement to solve other groups' technical challenges is an outstanding model for how well cross-departmental collaborations can work to address major challenges, especially during a public emergency.
Photo from left to right: Chris Pattison, Jascha Schewtschenko and Coleman Krawczyk.
Read lessPre-Sessional English (PSE) team
The PSE team are responsible for the Pre-Sessional English courses for international students wishing to develop their English Language skills to meet their degree's entry criteria. In March 2020, responding to the global pandemic and the potential impact on international students planning to undertake their studies in the UK, the team developed an institutional test to assess students' English Language skills for entry onto university courses due to the closure of English Language test centres which would in normal circumstances determine students’ eligibility. The team also completely redeveloped the campus-based Pre-Sessional English programme into a pure distance learning course in just 10 weeks, using a range of highly innovative technologies which was new to the institution. If they had not done so we would not have met our international student recruitment targets.
Photo from left to right: Andrew McColl-McWha, Graham Galbraith and Helen Ringrow.
Read lessSamuel Robson - STOP COVID-19
In collaboration with university and hospital research staff, Sam Robson established a next-generation sequencing centre for Covid-19. Using university equipment, hospital labs and a lot of good will, testing began on all SARS-CoV-2 positive samples collected at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth to identify variants and transmission chains in the local area. Over 15,000 genomes have been processed, with samples being sent from all over the South East of England. Sam has worked tirelessly to ensure rapid turnaround of results and provided the critical information required by infection control teams at local hospitals, as well as providing essential data on variants which has been used by policy makers to inform transmission control decisions.
Read lessThe Study Buddy Club project
The Study Buddy Club was established during the third lockdown in February 2021 to support University of Portsmouth staff who had home education responsibilities during school closures. The project was staffed by University students who provided an online club for children between the ages of 7 and 11 to help staff with home schooling. The club provided teaching placement opportunities for students who would have normally been based in schools. It also gave the children an opportunity to mix with other children in an online environment. Staff members whose children attended the online club provided very positive feedback about their children’s experience. One child said: “I wish Study Buddy Club lasted forever!”
Photo from left to right: Alexander Sabine, Catherine Carroll-Meehan, Graham Galbraith, Jodie Pinnell and Karolina Szczepaniak.
Read lessVice-Chancellor’s Award for Citizenship
A special Award called the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Citizenship was also awarded to one of our students, Jessica Ware, in recognition of her remarkable courage and for being an outstanding representative of our students.
Last year, Jessica received a Vice-Chancellor’s Commendation for helping to save the life of a fellow flatmate with meningitis. Her quick actions made the difference between her friend making a recovery or losing his life to the infection.
More recently, Jessica intervened to control the bleeding of a member of the public whilst waiting for the emergency services to arrive and take over. Jessica has encountered two incredibly traumatic situations which she faced with bravery and determination to help those in need.
Read lessWendy Wang - Food packages for isolating students
Wendy showed true leadership and determination in implementing a process for welfare packages for students. An estimated 500 international students were due to arrive into halls and the community on the weekend of 12-13 September 2020. These students were required (due to Covid) to immediately quarantine so had no chance to shop in advance. Wendy arranged hot food from a local restaurant and became the sole point of contact for those managing the phones that weekend. Wendy went to great lengths across that entire period to ensure no student went without a suitably culturally appropriate meal.
Read lessVirtual Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Excellence
Watch as the Vice-Chancellor celebrates excellence in this annual award ceremony, delivered virtually for the first time for 2020.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris Welcome, everybody, to the Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Excellence. I'd like to hand over to the Vice-Chancellor.
Graham Galbraith Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to this event of celebration: the Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Excellence. And I hope you know who I am but if you don't I'm Graham Galbraith and I'm Vice-Chancellor of this fantastic University.
Graham Galbraith And of course, what's really great is the fact that our teaching is recognised as gold-rated by Government. And of course, we know we are ambitious and we are successful. And what's important is our strong values and commitment to doing the very best for our students and our wider community. And but, you know, success can only happen because of dedicated staff and because of the hard work of colleagues throughout the University. And this COVID pandemic has demonstrated to me just how committed my colleagues are across the University for making things work well for our students and to carry on in these difficult times through our research and other activities.
Graham Galbraith Now, this is the third year that we've had these awards. And of course, this is all about celebration of our students and staff who have made an exceptional contribution to the University and to the community through their creativity, passion and exceptional skills. But it's very strange times that we're in. And, you know, it's very strange celebrating in this way, I suppose. And we have been a bit later this year, I suppose, hoping that maybe the pandemic would magic away and we'd be able to it in person. But that's not been the case. So despite the circumstances that we're in, I think it's really important that we do take the time to celebrate together, even if we can't be in person to do that.
Graham Galbraith I think the great thing about these awards is the fact that they are drawn from individuals who have been nominated by University staff and students and members of the community. And that's good because it's like our peers saying these are the individuals who have done outstanding things. And so it's good that we're recognising those outstanding achievements today. And we have today 7 awards and 4 commendations and they will be given out to well-deserving teams and individuals. So I'm really grateful to be here today with you and to acknowledge the impressive contribution that you all have made towards the success of the University. So I'll now handover to Harriet, Dean of Learning and Teaching and chair of the awards panel to guide us through the ceremony. Thank you.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris Thank you, Graham.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris So as chair of the awards panel, I can say we really did find out about some excellent work going on across the University community. And it was quite difficult to whittle down the nominations and arrive at these final awards and commendations. I'd also like to let you know if you hadn't noticed, that the event is being recorded and will be shared externally. So if you're uncomfortable with that, please do feel free to turn off your camera, although it is lovely to see those who have kept their cameras on. If you could also change your settings to 'speaker view' to make sure that you can see us as we award each of the awards, that would be great.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris I'm delighted today that we are celebrating the good work of 4 recipients of Vice-Chancellor's Commendations for Excellence and highlighting them in this Roll of Honour. And I'd like you to join me in recognising and celebrating the following recipients. Perhaps you could use in Zoom one of the reactions buttons and show your appreciation through that as I give you a little bit of information about each one of the recipients. And that will be the same when we come to the award winners. And many of you will have, if you can see this in my hand, a glass, the award winners and the commendations have received this in the post. If you could raise your glasses, that would be great. I won't do that because I've got to do a lot of sharing screen buttons.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris So. I'd like you to hear about, first of all, Raben Aytas, Jamelia Brown, Theodore Entwistle, Georgia Olley and Jessica Ware. Five students who ensured that their fellow flatmate, Ben de Souza, received urgent medical attention for meningitis. Please do show your appreciation for our first commendation winners.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris Second commendation winner, Bobby Mehta. For his work as an ambassador for the University, especially the way in which he has forged links with the Bangladeshi community.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris And our third commendation winner, Marta Roldo. For her work to ensure student's access to overseas mobility experiences and also for pursuing the 'internationalisation at home' agenda.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris And our fourth commendation winner is Ben Rudge for his work to develop self-defence workshops for student societies and the University's residence services.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris So, please, all do show your support now to all receiving Vice-Chancellors Commendations today.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris And without further ado, let's move on to celebrating our award winners. And I'd like to ask all our nominators to get ready with your microphone unmute buttons. You'll be asked in turn to read your citations for your award winner and we will then turn to the Vice-Chancellor, certificate at the ready, and then we will all raise our glasses, again, those who've got your glasses, or clap for each of the award winners. So if Jennifer Gupta, nominator Jennifer Gupta, please, could you tell us about the achievements of our first award winner, Nic Bonne?
Jennifer Gupta Nic has devoted his career to engaging young people with physics, particularly those with visual impairments. Since 2016, he has let the award winning Tactile Universe project taking research from the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation and making it accessible to people with vision impairments. As a blind astronomer himself, he is an inspiring and relatable role model for the children he works with. Nic has gone above and beyond to ensure the success of the Tactile Universe, taking over the management of a large public engagement grant while I was on maternity leave. He has travelled the country training others to use the Tactile Universe resources and established himself as a leading authority in accessible physics outreach.
Graham Galbraith Well done, Nic, congratulations. And so impressed with the credit that you bring to the University, particularly for your work in schools and engagement outside the University. So much appreciated. Well done.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris And by the magic of Zoom, here is Nic with his certificate. If you'd like to show your appreciation. Congratulations, Nic, and let's raise our glasses.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris The next award winner is Mohammad Alatoum. Unfortunately, Mohammad's nominator, Ahmed Khamiz, is not available today, so I will read his nomination. Mohammad organised the biggest student social entrepreneurship competition to take place at the University. He was selected as a Campus Director to host the Hult Prize, a global programme powered by the United Nations, in our University. Over 103 students participated and came up with profitable business ideas that contribute to solving a climate change issue. They were trained in multiple workshops by Google, and the winning team represented Portsmouth in the semi-finals in London. Mohammad is also the Vice-President of the Entrepreneurs Society, in which he continuously works with our students to come up with business ideas and turn them into effective, profitable start-ups while they are studying.
Graham Galbraith Well done, Mohammad, and congratulations for your inspiration of so many students to take up entrepreneurship and to be involved in the Entrepreneurship Society. Well done.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris Here is Mohammed with his certificates. Very nice background there, Mohammad, and many congratulations. And let's raise our glasses to Mohammad.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris Andrew Wood will now tell us about award winner Louisa Burton.
Andrew Wood Thank you. I'm really pleased Louisa has won this award. She's transformed a programme for students of accounting to work with local charities. Through energy, creativity and doggedness she's more than doubled the number of students involved and tripled the number of charities involved. At the same time, she's created accounting and tax advisory clinics for individuals and to help individuals, small businesses and entrepreneurs. And all of these are delivered by students. These initiatives have been developed in liaison with Portsmouth City Council and take place at HIVE Portsmouth as well as on the campus. I think these initiatives fit very well with the University's values and the strategic objectives that we have. Not least in providing students with genuinely meaningful, life changing experiences that considerably enhance employability skills, but also in helping us achieve our aspirations of being one of the UK's leading civic universities. Thank you.
Graham Galbraith Well done, Louisa, congratulations. And just as was said there, taking the University out into the community and inspiring our students to get engaged in community work. And using their expertise and academic knowledge is something quite fantastic and really aligns well with the values of the University. Well done. And congratulations.
Louisa Burton Well, thank you so much. This has been really unexpected. I'd like to congratulate the other winners and commendations, your stories were really inspiring. The accounting and the community initiative is something that we feel is very important to the student experience and also to our commitment to being a leading civic university. I couldn't do it without the support of my course leader, Ian Toon, or my subject head, Andrew Wood. Along with many other valued colleagues at the University. I just feel really lucky to work with a University that supports these initiatives. In March, when we faced the suspension of face-to-face teaching, I was really worried about how our students were going to be able to continue working with charities in the community. But thanks to the power of Zoom, we've been able to reach even further into the community. And we're really delighted to be able to keep growing this initiative. Thank you for your support.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris So congratulations to Louisa and thank you for her message. Let's raise our glasses.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris And the next award winner, Vikas Kooneti, was nominated by several staff and students, but Ana Baker will be reading the citation.
Ana Baker Well done, Vikas, good to see you on the screen. So, Vikas. My citation to the Vikas was this, like Harriet said, along with many other members of staff and students across the University. In a world with ongoing concern about sustainability and energy efficiency, we're lucky to have students, now alumni, like Vikas who are creating, sharing and applying knowledge to make a difference to society. Throughout his tenure, Vikas led the Society of Petroleum Engineers to some very successful outcomes. Winning the Society of Petroleum Engineers Best Performing Student Chapter and the Students' Union Award for Outstanding Society achievement, are both recognition for his energy and enthusiasm for ensuring his fellow classmates have the opportunity to engage with their subject area outside of the classroom. Having lived in India, Germany and here in the UK, he's brought these lived experiences to Portsmouth and shared them through collaboration with staff and students across the institution. Well done, Vikas.
Graham Galbraith So congratulations, Vikas, and thanks for all the work that you've done, inspiring students and even down to things like the organisation of the beach clean up in Southsea. So well done, congratulations.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris Congratulations to Vikas and let's raise our glasses. And this is a picture of Vikas on a beach clean, I believe.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris Award winner, Anna Vaernes, was nominated by a student and by a member of the wider Portsmouth community, Will, whose citation I am going to read on his behalf today.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris Anna has been an integral part in the University's engagement with Hampshire Constabulary to tackle students' experiences of hate crime, discrimination and intolerance. Anna has led the way in this piece of work, which has resulted in the University signing up to become a third party reporting centre for hate crime. This work has been pushed by Anna's inspirational passion to support international students and address issues they may face, refusing to turn a blind eye to the harm some students experience. Anna's initiative in this area has resulted in training being provided for the office even before this became part of the wider University scheme, purely motivated by commitment to improving the experiences of students.
Graham Galbraith Congratulations, Anna, and well done again. I'm so pleased that you've been able to do what's quite difficult work liaising with different external organisations in this way. But the fact that we are now a reporting centre is excellent news for the University. Thank you and congratulations.
Anna Vaernes Thank you. I want to very quickly say a big thank you to Will for the work that we've done with the third party reporting centre and hate crime awareness. And, of course, a very big thank you to Bobby for all his support as well.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris Congratulations, Anna. And let's raise our glasses. And if I could now invite Trevor Keeble to read his citation for award winner Charlie Watts.
Trevor Keeble Thanks, Harriet. CCI TV is an important part of the University's civic engagement. Led for many years by Charlie Watts, CCI TV's engagements include filming graduation's, the city's annual Remembrance Ceremony and a number of one-off events, which last year included the live screening of the general election hustings. At the heart of the CCI project is a fantastic partnership between academic and technical teams, who together support our students to work in real-world, real-time live and recorded broadcast environments. Our students' achievements are at the highest possible standard, and they consistently represent the Faculty and the University at its very best. This can be seen each Saturday at Fratton Park where, trained and supported by CCI TV team, our students undertake the live screen filming of all Portsmouth, Pompey home matches. So congratulations, Charlie.
Graham Galbraith Yes, well done and congratulations, Charlie, for your really professional work that you do. And so often I've been at the other end of your camera and filming. So impressive. And of course, as Trevor said, on a match day and Saturday (when we had those match days) it was amazing for the Eisners to commend the work that the students and that you and CCI TV do in filming and creating atmosphere videos and the like. Our students are really impressive because of the work that you do and your support of them. Well done. Thank you.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris And it won't surprise you to know that Charlie was able to send in a video.
Charlie Watts Well, I'd just like to say thank you. It's lovely to be recognised for an ongoing pursuit, which is very close to 15 years. There's a lot of work gone into this. So, yeah, thank you, thank you very, very much. Just like to convey some thanks to the team as well. Firstly, whoever nominated me, but also to the team, because obviously, this is a team effort. So big thanks to David, to Evan, to Ben T, Louise, Mike, Steve and also Zoe, Katie and Gary. A lot of people involved behind this. So thank you very, very much. And also, I'd like to say thank you to my wife and children for all those times I was zoned out, for those times I wasn't present because I was worrying about this, sort of, thinking and planning about that. Really, really appreciate it. Thank you to everyone, cheers.
Graham Galbraith I think Charlie's ready for an Oscar now, certainly got his speech ready. And please do raise your glasses to Charlie. Louise Fell, would you like to tell us about the Women's Football Club achievements?
Louise Fell Yes. So the 2019/20 season was an excellent one for women's football. The first team have consistently been our top-performing sports team, ranking in the top 10 women's football teams in the entire country. And our women's second team have recently gone a season unbeaten and have been promoted to 2A, regularly playing against first teams of other universities and really holding their own. They also developed the first ever competitive women's football team in the history of University of Portsmouth Women's Football. However, their plaudits aren't just on the pitch. Off the pitch, these ladies are consistently breaking barriers through volunteering, making lunches for the homeless, walking rescue dogs with the RSPCA, packing shoeboxes for children with Samaritans, and leading activity sessions at the local Regency care home. The championing of equality in sport was also key in establishing a women's football site in the annual Staff vs Students Charity Match. They have been a pleasure to work with this past year.
Graham Galbraith And of course, it's so impressive not just to be outstanding at your sport, but also I think this is about recognising the wider work that the football team has done. So congratulations and well done.
Charlotte Hi, my name's Charlotte and I was President of Women's Football last year. I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who nominated us for this prestigious award and the Vice-Chancellor, himself, for presenting us with the award. We couldn't be more proud of what we achieved last season and the acknowledgements we have received from all our hard work. I'd like to say a last thank you to the Sport and Rec staff for supporting us throughout all of our initiatives along the way. Thank you.
Harriet Dunbar-Morris Congratulations to the Women's Football Club represented today by Charlotte Long. Let's raise our glasses to the Women's Football Club. So congratulations to everybody, some great achievements. And I'll now hand back to Graham for some closing comments.
Graham Galbraith This is so impressive to see the work of so many students and colleagues across the University. And I think this is just a small snapshot of the amazing work that people do, but it's good to be able to recognise that. And, you know, I want to take time to thank all those who have been involved in putting this together because it's not been easy doing it in this way. But hopefully, you've enjoyed the event. But I'd like to also mention the nominators because if it wasn't for the nominators, there would be no one being awarded! So I would encourage you to speak to colleagues and, you know, please lets be an institution that puts forward those that we know are doing a great job for these kinds of awards in the future. And I also want to thank the awards panel, because it's not an easy task sometimes making those final decisions about who gets an award or who gets a commendation. So, again, I'd like to thank them for the work that they put in, in putting this together. And, of course, the Communications and Events team that are always in the background making events like this happen and make them run smoothly. So thank you and thank you all for attending. And yeah, another successful year for the University and another successful event. But again, get your nominations in for next year. Thank you.
Vice-Chancellor's Awards 2019
In 2019 12 awards and 10 commendations were awarded to individuals and teams at a celebration event at the New Theatre Royal, to recognise a range of achievements including supporting students with complex mental health difficulties, showcasing motion capture and virtual realities, raising money for homeless charities, and encouraging students to progress to college and university, who might not otherwise think of doing so.
Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Excellence event 2019
Students and staff who have made exceptional contributions to the University of Portsmouth and the community were recognised at the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence 2019.
Vice-Chancellor's Awards 2018
The first ever Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Excellence celebration event in 2018 saw certificates presented to 14 individuals and teams for a range of initiatives and achievements including delivering CPR training to school children, helping adults with autism find jobs, students providing free legal advice to local residents, and projects raising the profile of the University both in the city and abroad.
Zoe Monk on behalf of the Portsmouth Cheerleading Club
The University’s Cheerleading Club, Portsmouth Phoenix, has delivered the Cheer Off programme with the Department of Sport and Recreation for eight years. This year they’ve engaged with 17 Portsmouth schools. Cheer Coaches thrive as positive female role models, demonstrating the benefits of physical activity to young women over a 10-week programme, culminating in a showcase event where pupils perform their new skills to peers and family. Students involved also benefit from the career enhancing experience through a nationally recognised qualification and in-house training.
Read lessWill Bergstroem
Will is a dedicated student who has made meaningful contributions to tackle hate crime. Through his own initiative, he is involved in two Hampshire Constabulary groups and is now an intern for the Cross Government Hate Crime Programme, working on a database of hate crime symbols that can be used by police forces. Will’s ambition is to join the police, before working in international crime investigation to fight human trafficking, genocide and crimes against humanity.
Read lessBeatriz Lopez
Beatriz established and runs the Autism Centre for Research on Employment, working with four local authorities with funds from the Department of Health. The centre has helped around 75 adults with autism find jobs through a range of support services, including an innovative assessment tool that provides employers with extensive information about individual strengths and weaknesses, and adjustment needs. This has led to interest across Europe including recognition in the Department of Health’s Autism Adult Strategy.
Read lessCardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Project
Every year in the UK there are around 60,000 cardiac arrests and 270 children die at school due to heart attacks. Using the University’s simulation ambulance, staff and students worked with the NHS to deliver compulsory CPR training to 125 school children across the Isle of Wight. The positive response received from the schools and local media demonstrated that the University had successfully brought its values and expertise into a local community. A second phase of training will be delivered to more schools in Portsmouth and on the Isle of Wight.
Read lessGet Active Stay Active Programme Team
The ‘Get Active Stay Active’ programme was funded by Sport England over a three year period, targeted at traditionally hard to reach groups. More than 40,000 sessions were delivered to 3,665 different students, including 40% from a black and minority ethnic background. The key to success was peer to peer delivery with 98 students contributing over 4,700 voluntary hours per year. Staff were also able to tackle psychological barriers by adapting sessions to avoid stress, and focusing on fun and friendships. Sport England recognised the project as outstanding and the University has sustained it permanently.
Read lessJennifer Gupta
Jennifer is an astrophysicist and science communicator extraordinaire. She has transformed schools and public engagement from ad hoc responses to a programme of coordinated events in target schools. She puts Portsmouth on the map with the Stargazing Live events, from the original BBC version to the now annual event in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Jennifer’s a regular media presence and was also instrumental in bringing astronaut Tim Peake to Portsmouth Guildhall to meet and inspire hundreds of local school children.
Read lessJohn Williams
John’s collaboration with Southern Water to form the Innovation Hub at the Environmental Technology Field Station in Petersfield, has revitalised the facility into a thriving research station to pilot technologies to dispose wastewater efficiently, safely and cleanly. John was provided with £150,000 to upgrade the existing, but run down, field station with an expected return on investment of £475,000 over five years. Halfway into the project, and that return has already been exceeded by a further 44% to help solve real-world problems.
Read lessLaw in Practice Unit
The unit provides the opportunity for students to give free quality legal advice to the local community through the General Legal Advice Clinic and Small Claims Clinic. Set up in 2013, the programme has grown to include 28 students with a further 44 trained to join in September. With staff support, the students ran five sessions each week this year to deliver advice to over 200 members of the public, providing students with essential skills and helping the not for profit sector in Portsmouth fill the gap following legal aid reforms.
Read lessMelanie Fitzgerald
The Creative Volunteers are a team of students who deliver creative workshops to schools and colleges across Portsmouth, offering an insight into the University and the creative industries to raise aspirations. Melanie started the project seven years ago with a team of 16 students visiting one local school, dedicating seven hours to work with 75 pupils. Since then the project has grown significantly. From September 2017 to January 2018, 65 students visited seven schools, working with 268 pupils across 96 hours.
Read lessSandra Kerr
Sandra Kerr redefines the role of a receptionist; she is an advisor, a guide, a listener, a consultant, a supporter, an administrator and a helper – all in one. Everyone in St George’s Building speaks very highly of Sandra, for her outstanding administrative skills and her beaming positivity and passion for her role. Examples of her good work include greeting visitors tired after their long journey with a genuine smile and calm and friendly voice, to helping an international student unfamiliar with the NHS book a hospital appointment.
Read lessSarah Blackmore
Sarah Blackmore is a netball enthusiast and a highly academic individual. As president of the University’s netball club she developed the club to such a high standard that it was shortlisted for Hampshire and Isle of Wight’s Club of the Year Award and it was awarded the University’s Athletic Union’s Club of the Year Award. Sarah became the joint head coach of the netball club and was awarded Hampshire Coach of the Year, guiding University teams to promotion, as well as coaching at four different clubs and schools.
Read lessStaff and Students on the Applied Theatre Unit
Students worked with staff to create six original performance pieces, based on Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales which were revised to include contemporary events. They took the performances out to local schools to enhance their curriculum, enabling 500 children to experience live theatre – some of them for the very first time. The project also helped staff and students give something back to the community, whilst enhancing the students’ employability skills by working as autonomous theatre companies.
Read lessSue Noble
‘What We Wear Is Who We Are’ was a collaborative project with the College of Fashion at Wuhan Textile University in China. It brought students together for two weeks in Portsmouth and two weeks in Wuhan to co-design garments for a fashion collection inspired by cultural distinctiveness. Sue’s project exemplified the University’s values of global engagement. The project has been used by the British Council as a case study across the world, receiving significant press coverage in China and raising the University’s profile.
Read lessVincent Pericard
Vincent has made outstanding contributions to the student experience, in particular, by integrating his ‘WhatsUp’ mobile app into the University’s wellbeing services. ‘WhatsUp’ is a secure, confidential app which provides daily tools to promote positive mental health, and instantly support those students that need help. The app has been downloaded by hundreds of students, providing them with safe and secure access to vital services. The former professional footballer is now completing his masters and continues in his role as a student ambassador promoting the University on open days.
Read less