University honours staff in centenary year

Flood warnings on the White Nile, an innovative AI teaching project and Christmas dinners for local people in need are among the work recognised at the University of Reading's first Vice-Chancellor's Awards.

Among the winning projects was a Teaching and Learning award for a team from Geography and Environmental Science, who worked with students in the design of a new system to improve the feedback students get on their work. Together, staff and students designed a survey and focus groups to find out what would work better. The new practices that came out of this have increased student engagement, and other teams have since adopted the model.

Professor Robert Van de Noort, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading, said: "As we mark 100 years since Reading became a University, it is right that we celebrate the people who make it what it is.

“Bringing our awards together means we can recognise outstanding work in every part of the University, and learn from each other as we look ahead to our next century. Congratulations to all our winners."

The University launched the awards as part of its centenary year celebrations. They bring its existing staff awards for Research, Teaching and Learning, and Professional Services together for the first time, to celebrate outstanding work across the University that supports the strategic goals of the organisation as well as driving innovation and improvement for the staff and student experience.

The winners received their awards at a ceremony in the University's Great Hall on Wednesday 30 September.

The winners

Research

• Research and Innovation Community: Dr Mara Oliva and Professor Roberta Gilchrist, for building Digital Humanities at Reading.
• Highly commended: Reading Latin America and the Caribbean Research Network
• Research Excellence: Dr Nicholas Hedger, for research on how the brain links vision and touch
• Highly commended: Professor Vicky Li (Henley Business School) and team, Professor Chris Venditti (Biological Sciences)
• Sustainability Research: Professor Liz Stephens, for improving flood forecasting on the White Nile
• Highly commended: Dr Amelia Hood and Professor Simon Potts (both Sustainable Land Management)
• Impact Through Engagement: Professor Stella Chan, for school-based mental health projects, including Resilience Rucksacks
• Highly commended: Professor Colette Fagan (Food and Nutritional Sciences) and team

Teaching and Learning

• Collaborative Awards: The Geography and Environmental Sciences Staff-Student Partnership – for improving feedback for students; the Making the invisible visible team – for creating short videos to help teach non-verbal cultural competence; the PACT-AI team – for supporting students to use AI in a responsible way
• University Teaching Fellowships: Fangya Xu (School of Philosophy, Politics and Economics), Brian Turner (The Global Academy), Renee Lee (School of Biological Sciences) and Eamonn D'Arcy (Henley Business School)
• Externally-awarded Teaching and Learning prizes:
• Advance HE National Teaching Fellowship: Suzy Tutchell (Institute of Education)
• Blackboard Catalyst Award for Leading Change: Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) team

Professional Services

• Community: Dawn Grout (Occupational Health), for her hard work to understand and address specific challenges faced in different environments, including a focus on mental health and wellbeing
• Highly commended: Mathew Haine (Centre for Quality Support and Development), Pete Castle (Communication and Engagement)
• Excellence: Rachel Lewis (Research Engagement and Innovation), for her extensive work in helping arts and humanities researchers secure project funding
• Highly commended: Baskaran Nair Ragunathan Nair (Estates and Facilities, University of Reading Malaysia), Jo Stace (Creative and Print Studio)
• Sustainability: Jo Merry (Sustainability Services), for her role in raising awareness of environmental sustainability and sustainable behaviours among staff
• Highly commended: Andy Whittam (Technical Services), Kirsty Shakespeare (Climate and Environmental Sustainability Engagement)
• Engaged University: Mark Berridge (Dining Services), for hosting local community events and Christmas dinners for people in need
• Highly commended: Ho-Kit Lam (Communication and Engagement), Florella Illes (Careers and Employability)