Written by Thomas Baker and Rieman Rudra

Hello everyone!

Your ex-Presidential Team of 2019-2020 here!

We celebrated the PhD Awards in August so it is high time we did full justice to all the wonderful individuals and teams who were nominated for them! We had 146 individuals or groups of individuals who were nominated which is truly incredible and shows just how many there are doing fantastic work supporting us all, we are immensely grateful for you all!

Below is a reminder of the criteria of each award, who was nominated (in no particular order), and who won! Huge well done to all!

(NB: nominators were asked to provided a reason and these were recently shared with nominees anonymously with approval).

All the best for your futures,

Tom (t.e.baker@lboro.ac.uk) and Rieman (r.rudra@lboro.ac.uk)

Awards for Academic Excellence

Contribution to Knowledge – Presented by Professor Liz Peel (Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor – Doctoral College)

This award is to be given to a doctoral researcher who has made significant/creative contributions through sharing their research within the University. Examples include: annual School conferences, Summer showcases, Café Academique, Loughborough University’s Research Conference, other internally based events, activities, and student-led seminars.

Naomi Howard (Winner!) / Sui Liu (Highly Commended!) /Amir pasha Moetazedia / Artemis Tonikidou/ Katrina Duncumb / Meena Tamilarasan / Naval Singh / Nicolette Formosa / Sally Ahmed

Contribution to Field – Presented by Dr Duncan Stanley

This award is to be given to a doctoral researcher who has made significant contributions to their field of study. Examples include: publishing articles, journal papers, conference papers, conference presentations, artistic presentations, or any other field-appropriate format.

Naval Singh (Winner!) / Gabe Knott-Fayle / Hannah Newman / Peter Alway / Ping Zhang / Rami El Geneidy / Rory England / Ruby Appiah-Campbell / Stephanie Montanaro / Sui Liu / Thanh Cong Nguyen / Thomas Fiducia / Tom Whittaker

PhD Teaching Excellence – Presented by Dr Jessica Noske-Turner

This award is to be given to a doctoral researcher who has demonstrated innovative and impactful teaching capability in any capacity. They would have taught or trained others, with some examples including: running seminars/labs for UG/PGT students, giving lecturers to UG/PGT students, or running trainings for fellow doctoral researchers. This is not necessarily related to their research – if it is, please refer to other awards that are more complementary of that.

Theresa Wege (Winner!) / Naval Singh (Highly Commended!) / Christos Kouppas / Colum Breen / Dongrui Xie / Jamal UmerJose Salazar-Vela / Magdalena Langosch / Mia Dinh / Ruby Appiah-Campbell / Tom Whittaker / Vani Naik / Vincenzo Cucumazzo

Awards for Community Engagement

Contribution to Doctoral Researcher Community – Presented by Zoe Crowson

This award is to be given to a doctoral researcher who is particularly active outside of their research-centred activities. Their contribution would have specifically been most impactful within the doctoral researcher community at Loughborough University. They would have, for example, volunteered their time through organising/running campaigns, events, or activities at Departmental/School level. 

Chloe Blackwell (Winner!) / Rachel Armitage (Winner!) / Amber Leonard / Auri Evokari / Bethany Woollacott / Brett Friskney / Erica Fletcher / James Allumn / Jedi Mould / Liam Baddeley / Luke Wilkinson / PhD SSN / Rieman Rudra / Tasha Kitcher / Tony Tian / Tymele Deydier / Vani Naik

Contribution to the Wider Community – Presented by Dr Kathryn North

This award is to be given to a doctoral researcher who is particularly active outside of their research-centred activities. Their contribution would have specifically been most impactful within the doctoral researcher community at Loughborough University. They would have, for example, volunteered their time through organising/running campaigns, events, or activities at Departmental/School level. 

Liam Baddeley (Winner!) / Tymele Deydier (Highly Commended!) / Amina Hamoud / Donald Inns / James Allumn / Joe Forde / Kathrin Burdenski / Rieman Rudra / Yuki Zhang

Sub-Warden of the Year – Presented by Dr Katryna Kalawsky

This award is to be given to a doctoral researcher who has taken up the role of Sub-Warden in a University Hall of residence, in addition to their already-existing research-specific activities. In this role, they would have enhanced quality of life for students within their Hall and shared their knowledge within the Warden/Sub-Warden community.

George Alliott – Robert Bakewell Hall (Winner!) / Brian Wong – Hazelrigg and John Philips Hall (Highly Commended!) / Cheuk Man (Jacky) – Rutherford Hall / Chidinma Okorie – Falk Egg Hall / Falk Egg Sub-Warden Team / Jyoti Gosai / Nicolette Formosa – Telford Hall / Priyanka Ghosh – Telford Hall / Towers Sub-Warden Team

Statement of the Year – Presented by Dr Jill Thurman

This award is to be given to a doctoral researcher that has taken the time to voice their opinion on a certain matter or subject. They would have approached an interesting yet challenging topic and would have done so either through a blog entry, podcast, vlog or any other mean of communication. Some the topics could be: climate change, mental health, LGBTQI+ rights, oceanic plastic, Black Lives Matter.

Nathan Ritchie (Winner!) / Naomi Howard (Highly Commended!) / Caroline Appleton / Steff Farley / Tymele Deydier / Wolé Adaramoye

Awards Open to Staff Members

Contribution to Student Development – Presented by Monia Del Pinto

This award is to be given to a member of staff who has enhanced doctoral researchers’ personal and professional growth. For example, they would have provided workshops or training within Schools or at a University level, such as research assistants, technicians, or academic/non-academic staff.

Jessica Noske-Turner (Winner!) / Katryna Kalawsky (Highly Commended!) / Chemical Engineering Technician Team / Duncan Stanley / Gyula Toth / Holly Collison / Kelly Trezise / Line Nyhagen / Martin Sykora / Paola Iannone / Paula Griffiths

Supervisory Team of the Year – Presented by Hugh Tawell

This award is to be given to a supervisory team that has worked collaboratively for positive research results and/or dissemination. Members of this supervisory team should demonstrate strong attention to student wellbeing and personal growth.

Luke Garrod and Christopher Wilson (Winners!) / Andrew Archer / Janine Coates and Carolynne Mason / Kemefasu Ifie, John Cadogan, and Nina M / Konstantinos Baxevanakis / Mahdi Mohammadpour and Stephanos Theodossiades / Michael Skey and Alan Bairner / Sarah Mills / Sophia Jowett and Daniel Rhind / Stephen Rice and Paul Wood / Victoria Haines and David Allinson

Team of the Year – Presented by Dr Leah Henrickson

This award is to be given to students and/or staff who have collaborated well to plan a successful event, series of events, or other endeavour – this would have had a positive impact on the students’ experience and/or wellbeing. In your nomination, make sure you underline the impact that this team has had within the community they represent, and how their event has stood out for you.

PhD SSN (Winners!) / ABCE Hub Committee / Camilla Gilmore and Matthew Inglis-Centre – Mathematical Cognition / Casper Oelen / Chloe Blackwell & Rachel Armitage – Heads Together / David Sibley, Upul Wijayantha, Andrew Archer, and Darren Southee / Falk Egg Sub-Warden Team / Qinggang Meng, Christos Kouppas, Rob Bateson, Aaran Grimley, Simon Andrews, and Mohamad Saada – Robotics and AI module / Telford Sub-Warden Team / The Mathematics Education Centre (MEC)

Unsung Hero dedicated to Peter Beaman – Presented by Tony Tian

This award is to be given to a staff member who has positively contributed to the social and/or research experience of doctoral researchers. This person is the one in the background making magic happen, often not being the face of the contribution. This person could be someone that works tirelessly through their admin work, IT support, lab maintenance, and so on. Ultimately, this person would have stood out for you through their positive impact on your own experience.

This award is dedicated to an in honour of the University’s unsung hero, Peter Beaman, who sadly passed in 2019. Peter worked in the Social Sciences School for over 20 years as a psychology technician. He was also an assistant chaplain and an equalities champion for both students and staff at the university. Recognised for his tireless support for the PGR community, Peter won the Unsung Hero award in 2018.  He was always available to help, no task too big or small, and was a mentor and advisor to PGRs for many years. His understated and everyday efforts in supporting colleagues and students sums up the spirit of this very special award. 

Glen Benkinsop (Winner!) / Aatif Patel / Alastair Daley / Andrew Weston / Berkeley Young / Carolynne Mason / Jessica Noske-Turner / Keven Smith / Lauren Long / Line Nyhagen / London Campus Security Team / Maya Lad / Mikko Koria / Richard Harland / Tom Carslake / Tracey Preston & Aly Howells-Chivers

Doctoral Representative and Lead Representative of the Year – Presented by Ana-Maria Bilciu

This award was originally part of the Loughborough Academic Awards (LAAs) this year to better reflect the representative structure as part of the LSU, and in line with the undergraduate structure. No formal award ceremony was possible for these awards due to COVID, though we were going to celebrate them again here anyway. Thank you, Doctoral Representatives!

Cecilia Landa-Avila (Winner!) / Callie Merrick / Chloe Blackwell / Guy Tallentire / Ursula Davis

Nathan Ritchie (Winner!) / Brett Friskney / Matthew Lee-Smith / Monia Del Pinto / Zahra Rezaie-Yazdi

The Big One

Overall Impact – Presented by Professor Steve Rothberg (Pro Vice-Chancellor Research)

This award is to be given to a doctoral researcher who has demonstrated academic excellence as well as strong community involvement. This person is well-rounded and could easily conquer the world if they were not so darn nice. This is the individual that you are most grateful for within the doctoral researcher community!

Jacqueline Mueller (Winner!) / Aakash Bansal / Beth Woollacott / Kathrin Burdenski / Nathan Ritchie / Peter Alway / Ping Zhang / Rieman Rudra / Rory England / Sui Liu / Thomas Baker / Tymele Deydier