Vitae Impact, Culture and Engagement (ICE) Award Nominations Longlist

The nominations are listed in alphabetical order

ICE Award banner

Newcomer Award

  • Anna Pilz, Academic Developer: Researcher Development at University of Edinburgh. Nominated by Fiona Philippi
  • Laura Cole, Commercialisation Lead, Social Sciences at University of Birmingham. Nominated by Yvonne Hackforth-Williams
  • Oli Schofield, Doctoral Development and Training Manager at University of Bath. Nominated by Shyeni Paul & Rachel Arnold
  • Rebecca Hoyle, Researcher Developer (PGR) at University of Liverpool. Nominated by Claire Faichnie
  • Dr Sarah Macmillian, Research Development Manager, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at University of Birmingham. Nominated by Steve Taylor
  • Taryn Bell, Fellowship Coordinator at University of York. Nominated by Karen Clegg
  • Dr Tim Giles, Researcher Development Manager at University of Birmingham. Nominated by Professor Philip Newsome

Outstanding contribution award

  • Dr Dheshnie Keswell, Coordinator: Researcher Development at University of Cape Town. Nominated by Dr Gaelle Ramon
  • Emma Spary, Head of Researcher Development and Culture at University of Leeds. Nominated by Catherine Davies
  • Francesca Long, Head of Training and Talent Development at The Faraday Institution. Nominated by Ferran Brosa Planella
  • Georgina Hardy, Postgraduate Development Officer at University of Birmingham. Nominated by Judith Hegenbarth and John Dowd
  • Prof Hilary Ranson, Dean of Research Culture & Integrity at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Nominated by Lorelei Silvester
  • Dr Ipshita Ghose, Head of Research Strategy and Development, Social Sciences at University of Birmingham. Nominated by Xavier Rodde
  • James Green, Head of Research Support, Colleges of CAL and CoSS at University of Birmingham. Nominated by Xavier Rodde
  • Dr Jennifer Leigh, Reader in Creative Practices for Social Justice at University of Kent. Nominated by Dr Amy Bonsall and Kelly Pickard-Smith
  • Dr Jessica Blair, Senior Lecturer and Postgraduate Research Lead at University of Birmingham. Nominated by Professor Philip Newsome
  • Karen Hinxman, Researcher Development Consultant at Imperial College London. Nominated by Emma Spary
  • Natasha Kitano, Language and Learning Educator at Queensland University of Technology. Nominated by Susan Gasson, Vani Naik and Julia Rayner
  • Peter Samuels, Senior Lecturer at Birmingham City University. Nominated by Loice Natukunda
  • Dr Saneeya Qureshi, Head of Researcher Development and Culture at University of Liverpool. Nominated by Dr Eva Caamano Gutierrez and Annette Bramley

Innovative and inclusive practice award

  • Alice Haslam, Mandy Gill, Rachel Van Krimpen, Sandra Rose, Welfare and EDI Officer, BBSRC DTP Project Officer, BBSRC DTP Manager, Welfare &EDI Officer - part of the Researcher Academy, UoN at University of Nottingham. Nominated by Jane Wellens for work done at the Researcher Academy UoN in pioneering a range of interventions to support success for PGRs from diverse backgrounds. These include the development of a suite of research-based, EDI best-practice guides to enable HE organisations to effectively recruit and support diverse PGRs. 

  • Dr Amy Smith, Researcher Development Officer at University of Manchester. Nominated by Dr Cathal Rogers for developing innovative approaches to equity for disabled postgraduate researchers at the University of Manchester, including designing a fully accessible and meaningful development resource with disabled PGRs to provide a one-stop shop of information on the researcher development programme and other support at the very start of their PhD career.
  • Dr Athina-Myrto Chioni, Senior Lecturer in Pathology and Cancer Biology at Kingston University London. Nominated by Dr Francesca Mackenzie for work in increasing inclusivity in researcher development and researcher supervision at Kingston University London.
  • Co(l)laboratory Team -Rebekah Smith-McGloin, Matthew Young, Rachel Handforth, Alex Nkrumah, Co(l)laboratory DTP Project Management Team at Nottingham Trent University. Nominated by Jonathan Tallant for developing an innovative and inclusive PhD funding model focused on research that addresses challenges faced by local people, aiming to develop research and researchers that will make a significant, positive impact to Nottinghamshire communities.
  • Dr Hannah Spring and Dr Fiona Howlett, Senior Lecturers at York St John University. Nominated by Alison Laver-Fawcett for their inclusive research with asylum seekers and refugees and their related 'Student as Co-Researcher' (SCoRe) projects.
  • Helen Matthews, Institute Manager for the Institutes of Cardiovascular Sciences, Metabolism and Systems Research and Microbiology and Infection at University of Birmingham. Nominated by Professor Philip Newsome for initiating and leading a transformative programme of work around menopause awareness and support within the research environment, spearheading the creation of a College Menopause Support Group and leading University-wide menopause support initiatives.
  • Jennifer Leigh, Hannah Geer, Dr Helen Leech, Careers and Employability Services, The Graduate and Researcher College, Research and Innovation Services, Education Directorate, and Divisional Research Teams. Nominated by Shane Weller for work leading the Work Study Scheme and Summer Vacation Research Competition, an innovative, intersectional approach to eliminating barriers preventing access to research careers for marginalised groups of staff and students by providing postdoctoral researchers with valuable first experience of designing, managing, and leading an independent research project whilst offering students paid employment and hands-on research experience.
  • Mr Paul Woolnough, Research Strategy and Development Manager, Arts and Law at University of Birmingham. Nominated by Xavier Rodde for fostering an inclusive research culture and practice by removing barriers of access for researchers at risk, including hosting Ukrainian researchers as part of the British Academy researcher at risk scheme in 2022. 
  • Prosper at University of Liverpool. Nominated by Dr. Annette Bramley for developing a new model for postdoc career development, for rollout across the UK HE sector, which tackles barriers of access to professional development opportunities for postdocs. 
  • REIC, Research Engagement and Impact Committee IOE at UCL's Faculty of Education and Society. Nominated by Tatiana Souteiro Dias for the development of excellent practice that reduces barriers to participation, in the shape of the IOE Early Career Impact Fellowship - an innovative programme co-created with early career researchers, for early career researchers. 
  • Rui Pires Martins, Researcher Development Manager at Queen Mary, University of London. Nominated by Anna Price for leading the creation of a new and innovative collaborative Networking and Profile Building Course involving twelve institutions. The online course supports the development of networking skills and the building of cross-institutional networks of the cohorts of 70-90 postdocs participating in each iteration. 
  • Dr Tina Ramkalawan, Director Graduate School at Brunel University London. Nominated by Donna-Marie Holder for creating initiatives, strategies, and events that highlight the importance of diversity within the institution for racially minoritised groups, including a pilot programme for researchers of colour from BUL and University of Westminster that provided peer mentoring, group and 1:1 coaching, writing workshops, mental health and well-being support,  career advice, and a symposium.
  • Dr Stephanie Smith, CENTA Training Fellow at University of Birmingham. Nominated by Dr Victoria Cabrera-Sharp for her work removing barriers of access to training opportunities for researchers at CENTA including creating the CENTA Digital Education Framework, a series of initiatives designed to increase accessibility of training.

Research culture impact through researcher development award

  • Andrew Lane, Professor of Sport Psychology at University of Wolverhampton. Nominated by Tracey Devonport for of his long-term commitment to facilitating research aspirations and career development through work as research centre lead, and Associate Dean for Research Excellence at the University of Wolverhampton (UoW).
  • BIST PEOPLE WORKING GROUP, HR, academic, talent officers at BIST and centres (CRG, IBEC, ICIQ, ICFO, ICN2, IFAE, IRB Barcelona). Nominated by Míriam Navarro for providing training opportunities for researchers who work in different fields but share challenges and struggles and for planning activities and programmes to support researchers, in all their stages. 
  • Doctoral Researchers Group (DRG) - University of Strathclyde, Doctoral Researchers at University of Strathclyde. Nominated by Ivan Yankov for working in partnership with the University to connect and serve the diverse and vibrant community of postgraduate researchers by running activities including the Doctoral School Multidisciplinary Symposium, giving postgraduate researchers the opportunity to present their research and to develop valuable skills. 
  • Eimear Fitzpatrick, HR Business Partner for Research at SETU. Nominated by Professor Peter McLoughlin for playing a fundamental role in the development, roll out and embedding of the Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R) initiative at South East Technological University and for positively impacting the research culture of the university through developing engagement and training opportunities which have benefitted the research community at all levels.
  • Institute for Global Innovation/Institute of Advanced Studies (IGI/IAS) team at University of Birmingham. Nominated by Steve Taylor for establishing a new institute at the University to champion interdisciplinary research. Through workshops, fellowships, training programmes, and the development of toolkits, the team have galvanised the research community, embedding a culture of interdisciplinarity and an appreciation of how to work respectfully, building coalitions across disciplinary boundaries.
  • Kate Tapper and Sonja Foster, Founder of 'Your Research Matters and SWDTP Manager at BUD Development and SWDTP (South West Doctoral Training Partnership). Nominated by Lisa Wojahn for their work creating a novel online community coaching programme bringing together research students from five universities over six months, empowering them to find agency to achieve their best work without compromising wellbeing.
  • Lisa Thompson, Doctoral Development Manager at Ulster University. Nominated by Professor Sonja Mcilfatrick for facilitating the creation of collaboration and communities, resulting in improvements to the research environment, evidenced by the annual Ulster Festival of PhD Research (2018-2023), where her leadership and innovation has made an impact on the experience, culture, and visibility of PGRs in the broader academic community and beyond. 
  • Loice Natukunda, Lecturer in Research methods at University of Lincoln. Nominated by Doris Kakuru for founding the Network for Education and Multidisciplinary Research Africa (NEMRA) to demystify the issues around doing academic research, develop insights across a wide array of disciplines, share ideas and develop networks in the process of providing solutions to societal problems through research. NEMRA has engaged in numerous researcher development activities that have boosted the research culture in Uganda over the last four years.
  • Louise Bracken, Pro Vice Chancellor Research and Knowledge Exchange at Northumbria University. Nominated by Matt Baillie Smith for leading changes which provide a platform for researcher development based on greater collegiality through multiple and inclusive research communities, and doing so at scale and pace. This includes the development of university wide research groups, a new transparent process for all staff to compete for funding for research development, and for developing new disciplinary and interdisciplinary communities of researchers. 
  • Researcher Development and Culture Team at University of Leeds. Nominated by Louise Woodcock and Emma Spary for using development to help build collaborations and show that everyone has a role to play to drive cultural change. This includes implementing research culture cafes, providing facilitated safe spaces to hear what our current culture looked like and ideas for change, and hosting a research culture community of practice bringing people together to share ideas, problems and experiences, with findings feeding directly into the University's Research Culture strategy.
  • Researcher Development Group at University of Hertfordshire. Nominated by Lisa Whiting for The Skill-up! Research Skills Development Fund at the University of Hertfordshire which promotes bespoke researcher development through a researcher-led mechanism for managing and distributing funding. It enables researchers to apply for training that is not offered within the University, through a competitive application process, providing unique opportunities for individuals to develop their research skills and knowledge within a range of contexts. 
  • Researcher Development Team and postdoc organising committee, Conference Organising Team at Queen Mary, University of London. Nominated by Anna Price for running the first Queen Mary Postdoc Conference in March 2023, co-created by an organising team of 17 postdocs along with researcher developers and careers consultants in order to bring postdocs from across the University together as a community and create a forum for their voices to be heard.
  • Dr Sandra Oza, Manager, Doctoral Academy at University of Dundee. Nominated by Professor Michael Gratzke for developing the innovative Wellbeing Comic project which uses storytelling & dynamic visual representations to showcase the diversity of the PGR community and create a safe space for open discussions about mental health & wellbeing in the research environment. 
  • The University of Liverpool Researcher Development Team at University of Liverpool. Nominated by Dr Claire Wilson for significant contributions to improving research culture through a range of initiatives including designing and making freely available to the sector several impactful RD Concordat-related tools and resources that nurture, value and celebrate diversity and the empowerment of research talent.