Transformative engagement work celebrated in prestigious awards

The WellHome Community Ambassadors won the Partner Award

From championing diverse perspectives to empowering young voices: staff and students recognised in the President’s Awards for Excellence.

The Societal Engagement Awards recognise staff and students across Imperial who have gone above and beyond to engage with wider audiences. This year’s winners have delivered outstanding schools outreach programmes that inspire the next generation, developed meaningful community collaborations that enable new perspectives to inform Imperial’s work and produced life-saving communications that meant vital pandemic research was shared with those who needed it. 

Professor Maggie Dallman, Vice-President (International) and Associate Provost (Academic Partnerships) said, "I am immensely proud of the winners of this year's Societal Engagement Awards. Their dedication not only enriches the lives of those they engage with but strengthens the culture of societal engagement within our institution. It also enables us to build seldom-heard perspectives into our research enabling our work to be accessible, relevant, and responsive to the needs and insights of society. These awardees exemplify the impactful and inclusive spirit of Imperial, demonstrating the vital role that meaningful interaction with the broader public plays in our commitment to changing the world for the better." 

Stephanie Powell – President's Medal 

Stephanie Powell is the Community Collaboration Lead in Undergraduate Primary Care Education, in the School of Public Health. She was awarded the President's Medal for Excellence in Societal Engagement for going above and beyond in her work to ensure that diverse perspectives shape the education of the next generation of doctors. 

She has instigated a variety of innovative programmes that build on what is already strong within communities. In her nomination, Dr Arti Maini (Director of Undergraduate Primary Care Education) said Stephanie’s work had enabled meaningful, long-term collaborations that benefit local communities and enable staff and students to learn vital skills. 

She described Stephanie’s vision and approach as transformative for the department, adding that the trusting partnerships she has built have allowed the team to ensure the curriculum truly reflects diverse lived experiences and addresses priorities that matter to communities. 

As well as enabling Imperial students to work with local schools and communities as part of their degrees, Stephanie has established a unique partnership with Expert Focus, an organisation of people with lived experience of homelessness, substance use and contact with the prison system. She worked with them to develop educational materials reflecting lived experiences and perspectives. This includes audio recordings which are now incorporated into teaching for all third-year medical students. 

Stephanie has also shared her work in with the wider GP teaching community across the UK, leading workshops on community engagement in the medical curriculum and positioning Imperial as a leader in this space. 

Receiving the award, Stephanie said, “It is a joy to lead projects that enable our faculty and students to work in partnership with community organisations, learning about what matters most to communities and the wealth of experience and insights that they hold. This work has transformed our primary care curriculum and to have it recognised in this way is a testament to everyone involved. It is a privilege to work with such fantastic community organisations and to be part of a team that provides constructive challenge and space to reflect. I am excited to see where the work continues to grow.” 

Sabine van Elsand – Leadership Award 

Dr Sabine van Elsand is the External Relationships and Communications Manager in the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis (MRC GIDA). This team was central to the global COVID-19 response and Sabine’s work ensured that wider audiences were engaged with the life-saving work of the department.  

Over the course of the pandemic, Sabine coordinated over 2,000 interview requests and supported 42 media briefings, leading to over 1000 media appearances of Imperial’s researchers. She also led on the pioneering COVID-19 reports, releasing 51 reports on scientific findings in real-time in seven languages. This effort stands as a reference-point of transparency and open-access to cutting-edge science. Sabine also created pandemic-themed games for schools and science festivals to stimulate conversation and raise awareness of pandemic science. 

Nominating Sabine, Senior Lecturer Dr Anne Cori, said, “Sabine has played an instrumental role in amplifying the reach and impact of our research. Beyond enhancing the public’s understanding of cutting-edge epidemiological science, her work has facilitated real-world applications that helped save lives. 

“I am extremely proud of the research we did during the pandemic, but it would have been useless if it hadn’t been communicated in the right way, at the right time, to the right people. Sabine did exactly this, ensuring that our work impacted policymaking, was adequately represented in the media, and informed the public. I do not know of any other research group ever achieving that level of impactful high-quality real-time evidence communication.” 

Another colleague of Sabine’s, Dr Oliver Watson, said that Sabine’s efforts to ensure COVID-19 research was translated into Arabic directly addressed the information needs of non-English speaking, low- and middle-income countries. “This effort led to an unprecedented dissemination in countries that were frequently being overlooked by the global health community and led to new collaborations to launch life-saving social distancing campaigns,” Oliver said. “This endeavour shows her deep understanding of the importance of language and cultural considerations in effective societal engagement. More keenly, it speaks volumes of Sabine’s kindness and generosity of spirit, which underpins her commitment and belief in the importance of engaging the world with science.” 

Receiving the award, Sabine said, “I am really touched by the kind words from my team and collaborators in support of this award. It is a real honour to work with the incredible research group I’m part of. They give me the space to be creative and entertain ideas that push boundaries. This award is as much a token of appreciation to my family, for being my rock throughout an exceptional time, as much as it is testament to the amazing work of MRC GIDA. It is lovely to see knowledge translation celebrated and together we can maximise the impact of the amazing work that is being done across Imperial.”  

WellHome Community Ambassadors – Partner Award 

WellHome is a groundbreaking study looking at indoor exposure to air pollution in over 100 homes in West London. It is run by the Environmental Research Group (ERG) in collaboration with ten local residents who were hired as Community Ambassadors for the project. They helped inspire their fellow residents to get involved in the study by engaging with families at community events and advocating for clean air practices. The diverse group includes healthcare workers, parents, business owners and more, each with decades of lived experience in the local area and strong links with schools and community organisations. 

The project entailed households installing devices into their homes to measure indoor air quality. “Much of the relationships, trust with local families and organisations, and practical ideas for an effective WellHome study have stemmed from the Ambassadors’ contributions. They have been integral parts of our Engagement, Involvement and Participation approach,” says Esther Lie, Community Engagement Lead for the ERG. 

One Ambassador, Mounira Igheldane, is also a participant in the study. She said that being part of the WellHome project has been “an incredibly enriching experience.” Adding that it has “opened doors to what being a scientist and conducting research is like. It turned an alien world into a totally ordinary world that I could be part of regardless of my socio-economic background. It has given me the opportunity as a person to feel valued and to grow spiritually and intellectually. Getting the award was simply the cherry on the cake. It has widened my sense of belonging not only to Imperial College London but to a community that thrives in making a positive impact within their existence. I could never thank enough every single soul that I have come across during this wonderful adventure.” 

Young Producers Research Team – Achievement Award 

Imperial’s Young Producers programme is an innovative co-design initiative that sees local young people collaborate with Imperial researchers to develop public engagement activities. The researchers who took part in 2023 are from the Department of Infectious Diseases and won the Team Achievement Award for their enthusiasm and commitment during the programme. 

The result of their dedication was two interactive installations about antimicrobial resistance that were delivered at both the March Lates and The Great Exhibition Road Festival that year. The researchers actively participated in these events, delivering the activities alongside the young people. 

Following the programme, the research team continued to collaborate with the young people - engaging them in other paid opportunities, such as commenting on lay summaries for ethics and writing short blogs about their experience on the programme. 

Nominating the researchers, Cristina Torrent from the Public Engagement team said, “The team had a direct impact on increasing the young people’s science capital and their attitudes towards science, and furthermore, their awareness of the actual topic, antimicrobial resistance due to improper use of antibiotics.” 

The team of researchers said, “This project was a great demonstration of what collaboration between researcher and young people can achieve. We gained invaluable insights and enhanced our science communication skills, while our co-produced gained increased awareness of AMR and new skills and confidence through participating at the Imperial Lates and Great Exhibition Road Festival. Winning this award was a testament to the hard work, dedication, and collaborative spirit of everyone involved.” 

Liva Donina - Achievement Award 

Liva Donina is a Research Assistant in the Department of Chemical Engineering. Over the past two years, Liva has been integral to the delivery of several high-quality and innovative engagement activities reaching a broad range of audiences in collaboration with the Public Engagement Team, local community organisations and educational establishments. She has led family workshops in the Invention Rooms, delivered interactive demonstrations at the Imperial Lates and last year she featured in The Great Exhibition Road Festival’s first ever demo kitchen, using live cooking to explain soft matter science to the public.  

Liva is also active within her department, delivering an ambitious outreach programme in schools, community centres and libraries engaging 800 members of the public over 12 months. The project included workshops on fluid mechanics and molecular science and took place in boroughs with the highest levels of child poverty. It was enabled by a prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry outreach grant, managed by Liva and involving 23 Imperial students and staff in the delivery. 

Receiving the award, Liva said, “Organising public engagement activities has offered me to reach underrepresented audiences in STEM as well as to reflect on and inform my academic research. I am grateful for receiving the President’s award and would like to thank Professor João Cabral and Mimmi Martensson for their kind nominations and the Department of Chemical Engineering for their ongoing support.” 

Vanessa Madu – Student Award 

Vanessa Madu is a PhD student in Mathematics. She joined Imperial as an undergraduate in 2018 after attending Imperial’s Summer Schools and now she delivers sessions at the Summer Schools herself, inspiring young people from disadvantaged backgrounds with the wonders of maths. She has also delivered activities with families in White City and coordinated initiatives such as ‘Science Shorts’ - explainer videos that were published on Instagram and viewed thousands of times. As an Outreach Leader, as well as delivering Maths Summer School sessions, she has supported the STEM Futures programme for pupils of Black heritage who are interested in STEM. In total, she has engaged over 1,000 young people in the last year alone.

Nominating Venessa, Dr Melanie Bottrill, Head of Outreach Programmes, said, “The creativity and breadth of Vanessa’s engagement is inspiring. She is passionate about engagement, and wants to share the excitement of STEM widely.” 

Vanessa was a young carer until very recently. She visits her old school annually to talk about not only her research but her journey to Imperial. Her honesty about her own experiences and challenges as a young adult ensure that those she engages with see her as real role model. This is the second time she has won a President’s Award for Excellence in Societal Engagement, receiving the prize in 2020 to recognise her work on a Hackathon event to encourage girls to pursue STEM. 

Vanessa said, “Reflecting on how things have changed since I was presented with this award four years ago, I'm delighted to see how my love of maths has grown and deepened, so much so that the concept of not sharing it is inconceivable! Maths is one of the closest things we have to magic, and I find it devastating that many people will never know that because all they were ever presented with were problems, not for the fun of solving them, but as the gatekeepers between them and the future they want. I'm delighted by my impact on the perceptions of maths in the children and adults I've worked with, and I am honoured to have been recognised once again. I feel encouraged and inspired to continue sharing my knowledge, excitement, and curiosity for maths in its many forms!” 

Alexandra Cardoso Pinto – Student Award 

Alexandra Cardoso Pinto is an undergraduate student in Medicine. She won the student award to recognise her “far-reaching and highly-impactful” societal engagement work. She has been involved in, and has led on, numerous projects on top of her intensive studies. These projects include a mentoring programme for disadvantaged pupils considering a career in healthcare, volunteering with PlayTeam to engage children on paediatric wards and helping create a scheme to support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children at St Mary’s Hospital. On top of this she is the Community and Outreach Founder and Chair for Imperial’s Paediatric student Society and was the President of Teddy Bear Hospital, designing games for 6-8-year-olds to teach them about what happens in hospital to help reduce fears. 

Alexandra said, "When I found out I had won this award – I really couldn’t believe it. The projects that together led to this were some of my happiest, most rewarding moments during medical school. I am very grateful to everyone I have worked with throughout these initiatives and friends I made along the way. To me, this award highlights the importance of collaborating with communities. We could have the biggest scientific breakthroughs – but if we don’t develop these alongside the people who we hope will benefit most from them and communicate in a way that is accessible – they will never be as meaningful."