Julia Higgins Medal and Awards

This year the Julia Higgins Medal was given to Christopher Peters, Department of Surgery and Cancer.

The following received a Julia Higgins award:

• Anne Barrett, Division of University Secretary
• Samuel Cooper, Dyson School of Design Engineering
• Lucia Lombardi, Department of Chemical Engineering
• Shiranee Sriskandan, Department of Infectious Disease
• Teresa Thurston, Department of Infectious Disease
• Anique Varleigh, Business School

The 2023 Julia Higgins Medal was awarded to Dr Isabel Rabey, Department of Physics.

Julia Higgins Awards were given to:

• Professor Faith Osier, Department of Life Sciences
• Dr Maria Ribera Vicent, Department of Aeronautics
• Dr Ilaria Belluomo and Dr Nina Moderau, Department of Surgery and Cancer
• Mrs Karen Tweddle, Imperial College Business School

This year we congratulate the following for their work supporting women at Imperial:

• Sheena Cardoso, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Centre
• Dr Claudia Contini, Department of Chemical Engineering 
• Professor Saskia Goes, Department of Earth Science and Engineering 
• Dr Myrsini Kaforou, Department of Infectious Disease 

The winners of the Julia Higgins Awards in 2021 were:

• Professor Anne Dell
• Dr Victoria Salem
• Dr Emma Watson

The 2020 Julia Higgins Medal was awarded to Professor Mary Ryan, Department of Materials. 

Awards in 2020 were given to:

• Professor Jane Mitchell, National Heart and Lung Institute
• Professor Anna Randi, National Heart and Lung Institute
• Women in STEM@IC Group
• Department of Bioengineering
• Department of Chemistry Athena SWAN Implementation Group

In 2019 two Julia Higgins Medals were awarded to:

• Dr Jess Wade, Research Associate, Department of Physics
• Dr Emma Chapman, Research Associate (Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow), Department of Physics

And awards were presented to:

• Dr Stefano Sandrone, Teaching Fellow, Department of Medicine
• Dr Renáta Kosová, Associate Professor of Economics and Dr Marisa Miraldo, Associate Professor in Health Economics, Business School
• Professor Clare Lloyd, Vice-Dean, Institutional Affairs, Faculty of Medicine; Professor Sian Harding, Professor of Cardiac Pharmacology, National Heart and Lung Institute; and Professor Sara Rankin, Professor of Leukocyte and Stem Cell Biology, National Heart and Lung Institute
• Mr Nicholas Wood, Programme Manager – Data, Department of Surgery and Cancer

The 2017 Julia Higgins Awards were presented to presented Dr Cleo Kontoravdi and Dr Jess Wade. Cleo was recognised for her work improving culture in the Department of Chemical Engineering, including a number of initiatives to support the postdoc community. Jess received the award for her outreach work with schools and her work to support women in physics at the College and beyond.

The 2016 Julia Higgins Medal was awarded to Professor Dot Griffiths, Provost's Envoy for Gender Equality, for the fundamental contributions she has made to the support of academic women and the gender culture of the College over many years. 

Hailey Smith, Welcome Service Manager, Human Resources, and Lenne Lillepuu, Department of Life Sciences, received Awards for their work in relation to the College’s Athena SWAN work. 

The 2015 Julia Higgins Medal was awarded to Dr Liz Elvidge, Head of the Postdoc Development Centre, in recognition of her work with female postdocs and early career academics.

The 2014 Julia Higgins Medal was awarded to the Department of Chemistry, in recognition of its success in becoming the first College Department to receive a Gold Athena SWAN award.

The 2014 Julia Higgins Awards were awarded to:

Mr Rob Bell from the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Centre

Dr Patricia Hunt from the Department of Chemistry

The Learning and Development Centre

The inaugural Medal was awarded to Professor Lesley Cohen from Physics. Lesley initiated the activity in support of women academics at the College through her booklet ‘Voices from Women in Science’. This led to the foundation of the Academic Opportunities Committee and a survey of all academic women. What has distinguished Lesley’s work and leadership is her commitment to inspire and enable improvements which benefit the whole College community.

The Department of Chemistry and the National Health and Lung Institute received Julia Higgins Awards for their work in supporting their female academics. Both have engaged in significant cultural transformation which has created benefit throughout their departments.