It's awards season at Imperial! Huge congratulations to staff who have been honoured in this year's Staff Recognition awards, including from EEE.

Imperial's Staff Recognition awards ceremony took place yesterday, celebrating those who have been nominated by their managers, peers and colleagues for their vital contributions to the College over the last year. It also recognises staff who have supported important projects, provided excellent service and taken on new challenges. 

Winners of this year’s President’s Awards for Excellence include three members of staff from our department. The President's Awards for Excellence have four streams: Culture & Community, Education, Research, and Societal Engagement.

Professor Deniz Gündüz

President's Award for Excellence in Research Supervision

Awards in the education stream recognise staff who have made outstanding contributions in teaching, pastoral care, research supervision and supporting the student experience.

"This is one of the most important and meaningful recognitions of my career. I am deeply honoured and humbled. Research supervision is an essential component of my job, and it is one of the main reasons for me to be in academia.

I have been extremely lucky and privileged to have worked with outstanding PhD students and postdoctoral researchers throughout my career. Sharing the excitement of research and the joy of producing new ideas with my team has always given me a great pleasure. I continuously learn from them, and their excitement and eagerness have been a constant driving force.

I am very happy to see that many of them have become capable researchers and went on to highly successful careers. Hearing about their achievements in life is the most gratifying experience as a supervisor.”

Anna McCormick

President’s Award for Excellence in Culture and Community - Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (Team Award)

This award recognises an individual or team who have delivered a specific project, initiative or demonstrated inclusive participation in their everyday behaviour that significantly contributes to the enhancement of equality, diversity and inclusion at the College, whilst demonstrating commitment to the College’s expected values and behaviours: Respect, Collaboration, Integrity, Innovation and Excellence.

The award was won by Imperial's Sexual Violence Liaison Officer (SVLO) Team, of which Anna is a member.

"I started as a SVLO in November 2017 so I’ve been volunteering now for almost 6 years. I took on further training as an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) a couple of years ago so I could enhance my existing training. Students experiencing any form of sexual violence, whether past or present, can experience such trauma, which can be further exasperated by a society and systems that still have so much bias and so many barriers. If students don’t receive swift, meaningful support early on, their mental health can suffer tremendously and it can affect several areas of their life, including their studies.  

The SVLO team are a wonderful, positive, caring group of people. We have been battling for a long time for reforms in the college, to give us an infrastructure that allows us to support students in a meaningful way. In the last few months we are finally seeing actions being made to help support the service, and therefore the students.

The work the SVLO team does is invaluable, it puts things in perspective for me every day, and creates a platform for me personally to do something I am passionate about. I’m so happy that the team won this award. The recognition is gratefully received and motivating."

Professor Paul Mitcheson

President’s Award for Excellence in Research (Innovation and Entrepreneurship)

The Award for Excellence in Innovation and Entrepreneurship celebrates the achievements of academics at Imperial, recognising unique activities breaking new frontiers, the effective and appropriate exploitation of research, and realised or prospective economic or social impact.

"It’s great to receive this award for innovation and entrepreneurship. Along with Dave Yates (a College alumni and long-time collaborator) I have founded two College spinouts – Drayson Wireless, now called Freevolt Technologies, and Bumblebee Power.

The aim of both of these companies has been to provide electrical energy to portable devices wirelessly, improving convenience and safety, and reducing costs.

Bumblebee is working with IP licensed from College related to the second generation of inductive power technology developed by the fantastic team in the Wireless Power Lab, and is gaining traction in the area of micro e-mobility charging  — e-scooters and e-bikes — and for industrial applications."

Please join us in congratulating Deniz, Anna and Paul for their well-deserved recognition.