In 2023–24, Heriot-Watt University ensured its future as a provider of employment-focused education for a wide range of students, in every mode of delivery.

Educational, financial, social, environmental and institutional sustainability was built. The university exceeded its inclusion targets, expanded access through philanthropic campaigns, and championed equity with landmark appointments and global outreach.

Financially, it secured long-term resilience by opening a £110 million wholly owned Dubai campus. Research sustainability was marked by record income and a strong presence in UK-funded doctoral training. Leadership development was prioritised through a unique Global Leadership Programme and community initiatives.

Heriot-Watt also led in employability, ranking first in Scotland and second in the UK, with graduates holding top executive roles. Environmentally, it committed to net zero by 2035, hosted a major Climate Hub at the COP28 climate change conference, and rose 277 places in the QS Sustainability Rankings.

The university has built a legacy of enduring impact for future generations.

Queen Mary University of London’s four founding institutions were established to bring hope, opportunity and better healthcare to the less privileged in society. We continue to deliver that mission today: tackling inequalities and transforming lives.

We open the doors of opportunity for students from backgrounds under-represented in higher education. We were the first Russell Group institution to deliver degree apprenticeships, for which, in 2024, Ofsted rated us “outstanding” across all areas. In 2022-23, we opened the London City Institute of Technology, a collaboration with Newham College and employers including PwC and Goldman Sachs.

We tackle public health and social injustice by addressing “dental deserts”; working with forgotten communities locally and across the globe through our Genes & Health programme; and producing the research that underpins groundbreaking policy such as London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone.

With the world’s inequality gap widening at an alarming pace, now more than ever, Queen Mary’s vision, mission and work is critically important.

In 2023-24, Teesside University continued its mission to transform lives through education, particularly for under-represented groups – 87.4 per cent of students came from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Teesside expanded global opportunities with a 61 per cent rise in international mobility and achieved triple gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework. Its Future Facing Learning programme and award-winning Student Futures Strategy boosted employability, with 77 per cent of graduates entering high-skilled roles.

The university promoted digital inclusion by distributing more than 2,600 iPads to students. Outside the classroom, students contributed 14,000-plus volunteer hours, while clinics supported thousands in the community.

Teesside drove regional growth, with graduate start-ups generating £118 million. Major investments included the £36.9 million Bios facility and plans for a £42 million Digital Life Building.

Despite sector challenges, the university reported exceptional financial resilience. Staff achievements earned a fifth consecutive Investors in People Gold award.

Community support following national riots underscored Teesside’s strong civic presence and transformative impact.

The University of East London has delivered the most ambitious transformation in UK higher education – turning risk into resurgence and redefining what modern universities can achieve: the greatest, fastest improvement in graduate outcomes; the highest, fastest-improving institution for student experience; the largest, fastest new business enterprise growth; and the biggest, fastest, most diversified university revenue growth.

The agility and brave innovation of UEL, the UK’s most socially inclusive university, is deployed to drive social justice – closing gaps, not widening them.

UEL is a standout university not just for where it stands today, but for what it has demonstrated is possible in today’s challenging sector: rapid, inclusive, sustainable transformation. It has set a benchmark for what a 5.0 higher education must become and provided a blueprint for how modern universities can lead national renewal, improve social equity and build a more resilient, future-ready society – tackling tomorrow’s challenges, yesterday.

In a year of sector-wide uncertainty, the University of Hertfordshire redefined what a modern university can be: globally ambitious, locally rooted and inclusive.

Our revitalised international strategy delivered record-breaking recruitment from more than 110 countries, earning us the 2024 King’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade. This global success powered local impact. We opened Spectra, our £100 million School of Physics, Engineering and Computer Science, securing a £13.5 million Expanding Excellence in England grant to launch the Biodetection Technologies Hub.

Our research thrived across disciplines, with major accolades for academic excellence. We launched bids for Hertfordshire’s first medical school and a new film studio, Propeller Stage One.

Ranked first in the east for student satisfaction, we saw rises in all national league tables and welcomed national recognition for inclusion. We celebrated with our Festival of Ideas – welcoming 4,600-plus attendees – showcasing innovation, impact and public engagement.

In 2023-24, we didn’t scale back – we scaled up.

In 2024, the University of Worcester was again ranked as the UK’s top multi-subject university for sustained employment or further study five years after graduation, according to the government’s Longitudinal Educational Outcomes (LEO) data.

Since the LEO was launched, Worcester has averaged the top spot for multi-subject universities at five, three and one year after graduation. This success is especially notable given that 97 per cent of its students come from state schools. Success has been achieved through curriculum innovation, work placements, additional qualifications, employer partnerships and “earn as you learn” opportunities. This led to 96 per cent of graduates being in work or further study within 15 months of leaving (Graduate Outcomes, 2024) – well above the national average of 89 per cent.

The university has expanded its professional health and education programmes, launching new degrees in medicine and radiography, and has supported national teacher recruitment efforts. Employability is integrated across all subjects, including law, sport and art.

Aston Business School (ABS) is a strong contender for Business School of the Year due to its impactful research.

In 2023-24, ABS achieved significant successes, securing more than £18.5 million in research funding from bodies such as the Economic and Social Research Council, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Innovate UK, placing it among the top 20 UK business schools for research income.

ABS emphasises collaboration, interdisciplinarity and real-world application. Flagship centres such as the Advanced Services Group and CREME lead in servitisation and inclusive enterprise, respectively. ABS received a £1.25 million ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, supporting more than 30 projects. The school excels in knowledge transfer partnerships, with a 100 per cent funding success rate.

Hosting international conferences, ABS showcases leadership in global academic discourse. Research by Jun Du on Brexit impacts gained significant media attention, highlighting ABS’ international influence.

Members of the leadership team including but not limited to: Professor Alma McCarthy (executive dean, College of Business Public Policy and Law, and former head of school); Professor Jonathan Levie (head of school); Dr Edel Dohery (associate head for EDI); Dr Majella Giblin (associate head for external engagement and alumni relations); Professor Emer Mulligan (University of Galway Tax Clinic director); Professor Karyn Morrissey (associate head for research); Dr Emer Curtis (associate head of internationalisation); Mr Adrian Larkin (marketing and recruitment manager); Ms Orla Naughton (MBA programme manager); Ms Eilis O’Regan (school manager); Ms Louise Monahan (external engagement and alumni manager)

J. E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics at the University of Galway is a globally engaged institution driven by its mission to serve the public good.

With 2,800 students and more than 140 staff, the school delivers more than 30 programmes and integrates the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across teaching, research and engagement. Its SDG Integration Mapping Project has linked faculty outputs to all 17 SDGs and 83 per cent of their targets. The school was ranked first in Ireland and 47th globally in the 2024 THE Impact Rankings, and it holds an Athena SWAN Silver Award for advancing gender equality.

Notable initiatives include the Deloitte Partnership, Ireland’s first Tax Clinic, the Thinking Beyond series, and impactful research in environment, health and digital responsibility. With more than €19 million (£16 million) in research funding since 2017, international partnerships, and new programmes in management and sustainability, and fintech, the school fosters global citizenship, societal impact and responsible business.

Liverpool Business School

Guided by our vision, Shaping a Better Future, Liverpool Business School aligns inclusive education, applied research and strategic partnerships to deliver regional and global impact.

In 2023-24, our business clinics generated £1.7 million in consultancy value, students completed more than 50,000 hours of sustainability-focused project work, and over 1,000 individuals from underserved communities accessed funded leadership qualifications.

Our international Đigi:Đổi initiative, co-led with the British Council, supported digital transformation across 170 Vietnamese institutions.

Regionally, our Centre for Management Development and Innovation is transforming healthcare leadership in partnership with NHS University Hospitals Liverpool Group. Three management knowledge transfer partnerships, including an £11 million social value collaboration with Cobalt Housing, exemplify our applied impact.

In 2024, we launched LiRICS to drive climate action research and shaped SME policy through a regional scale-up study. Liverpool Business School is a catalyst for inclusive innovation and civic transformation – locally rooted, globally connected and committed to shaping a better future.

In 2023-24, LSBU Business School delivered high-impact, inclusive business education.

Ranked joint first in the UK for value-added (The Guardian, 2024) and second in London for academic support in economics (NSS, 2023), we also helped London South Bank University achieve third globally for reducing inequalities (THE Impact Rankings 2024). Our inclusive approach spans a decolonised curriculum, embedded employability and sector-specific leadership programmes.

Over three years (peaking in 2024), we supported 500 SME leaders through the Help to Grow scheme and trained 200 third-sector CEOs via our Inclusive Leadership programme. Students in the award-nominated Business Solutions Centre supported more than 100 businesses in consultancy projects with partners (eg, Southwark and Lambeth councils). MSc internships nearly doubled, with most in SMEs.

Our research environment has grown rapidly, with staff conducting world-leading research. Our Rye Lane project supported 250-plus businesses with TikTok marketing, building long-term support for local commerce. We expanded international partnerships to eight institutions.

Fatima Annan-Diab (dean of Royal Docks School of Business and Law, UEL); Shampa Roy-Mukherjee (vice-dean of Royal Docks School of Business and Law, UEL)

The Royal Docks School of Business and Law (RDSBL) at the University of East London leads the way in the business education landscape, setting the gold standard nationally and globally through transformative impact in enterprise, community engagement and global partnerships.

Our unique and innovative practice-based centres resulted in more than 600 SMEs receiving impactful business support through the expertise and contributions of over 2,000 students. Our Noon Centre for Equality and Diversity led pioneering youth health projects and influenced UN climate and gender policy.

Our new business incubator supported student ventures and secured major funding, while our Centre of FinTech’s partnerships with Avalanche and Guangdong University advanced fintech and ethical business practices.

By embedding equity, sustainability and global leadership at the heart of our mission, RDSBL is redefining what it means to be a next-generation business school through innovation.

Named top UK business school in the Corporate Knights’ 2024 Better World MBA ranking, we showed that the values we profess are also those that we teach, and our academic experts continued to influence policymakers and industry.

Our circular economy experts will be partners in the world’s first UN-backed centre of excellence and will also collaborate with John Lewis on a new “circular collection” of products. Our economists devised a new way of calculating the benefits of conserving biodiversity and nature for future generations, which could soon be adopted by the UK’s Treasury.

And in a year when the quality of our governance, processes, teaching and research was recognised through AACSB reaccreditation, six of our students on degree apprenticeships programmes were nominated for the Multicultural Apprenticeship Awards, which celebrate those from multicultural communities who have worked hard to overcome adversity through apprenticeships.

Aftrak, a techno-economic initiative to empower smallholder farmers across Africa, is an international collaboration between Loughborough University, the Consortium for Battery Innovation (CBI) and the Malawian-UK NGO Tiyeni.

It combines an innovative agricultural technique (deep bed farming), solar microgrids and bespoke tractors to provide rural communities with sustainable electricity while increasing crop yields, food security and income.

A commitment to shared goals and a combined wealth of expertise ensured that the Aftrak team overcame the many challenges encountered, among them the development of heat-resilient battery technologies, customs hold-ups and subsequent delays to field trials, and meeting the needs of Malawian farmers in a culturally appropriate way.

Aftrak has received numerous accolades – including the $1 million (£730,000) Milken-Motsepe Prize in Green Energy – and launched as a spin-out company in 2024 to cement the successful collaboration and accelerate active deployment of its revolutionary technology.

Dr Alison Buckler

Globally, 251 million children do not attend school. Non-formal education pathways can significantly improve children’s learning opportunities. The challenge is evidencing this for policymakers to change the status quo.

A collaboration in Zimbabwe involving the Open University (OU) and Plan International has done precisely this. The UK-aid funded SAGE programme (Supporting Adolescent Girls’ Education) combines pioneering OU-led research and pedagogical expertise with the deep local knowledge and the national-level reach of NGO partners to design, implement and evidence a highly successful community-based, non-formal education pathway for Zimbabwe’s most marginalised girls.

In 2023-24, SAGE led a strategic national campaign to shift the education dial. The unique combination of partners enabled the curation and mediation of a case for non-formal education. SAGE was subsequently commissioned by the Education Ministry to lead a national consultation on non-formal education and is being positioned as a blueprint for national expansion of non-formal education for Zimbabwe’s 1.2 million out-of-school children.

In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the University of Birmingham, the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and the Constitutional Court of Ukraine formed a groundbreaking partnership to support Ukraine’s legal sovereignty.

Together, we have developed an English-Ukrainian legal dictionary, a vital tool providing precise legal definitions contextualised with examples from cases at the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and the UK Supreme Court. Despite the challenges of war, the project thrived through funding from UK Research and Innovation, student involvement and high-level engagement, including a delegation to Lviv, a showcase event in Birmingham and a presentation to Supreme Court justices.

The initiative is part of our wider “Identity, Sovereignty and Resilience” research programme, which includes academic exchanges and capacity-building workshops. The dictionary has been celebrated by legal institutions in both countries and will help to align Ukraine’s legal system with NATO and European Union standards. Our collaboration exemplifies values-driven research, international solidarity and the power of academic partnerships in times of crisis.

The University of Exeter led an international collaboration to produce the first Global Tipping Points Report (GTPR), published in December 2023 at the COP28 climate change conference in Dubai.

Backed by the Bezos Earth Fund, the report assessed the dangers of negative Earth system tipping points and the transformative potential of positive tipping points. The effort brought together over 200 researchers from more than 90 institutions across 26 countries.

The GTPR featured at high-profile events at COP28. Influential figures including King Charles III and John Kerry referenced tipping points in their speeches. More than 2,000 global leaders signed a call to action that highlighted tipping points. Nearly 800 media articles mentioned the GTPR. This groundbreaking project was possible only through robust international collaboration.

The team is now preparing for the second Global Tipping Points Conference in Exeter in July 2025 and a second report, to be launched at COP30 in Brazil.

Professor Jeremy Howick

The Global Empathy in Healthcare Network, founded at the University of Leicester, is reshaping medical care by placing empathy at its heart. This pioneering international collaboration spans eight countries across six continents, bringing together leading academic institutions, healthcare professionals, researchers and patient advocates in a unified mission to humanise healthcare delivery.

In just three years, the network has achieved remarkable impact – establishing empathy centres in Brazil, Nigeria, Japan and India; publishing the world’s first global framework for empathy in healthcare; and launching the inaugural Empathy in Healthcare Day to drive global awareness.

By integrating culturally sensitive, empathy-driven approaches into medical education and clinical practice, this initiative is bridging the gap between technological advancement and human connection. With more than a third of UK healthcare practitioners trained internationally, its global perspective is fostering compassionate, inclusive care for increasingly diverse communities worldwide.

Professor Michael Scott (pro vice-chancellor (international), University of Warwick)

To mark the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo’s death, the University of Warwick led the Marco Polo International Programme – a major global collaboration involving 36 partner institutions. The initiative celebrated intercultural exchange through research, education and public engagement, reinforcing Warwick’s leadership in international collaboration.

Highlights included the restoration of a lost 14th-century Silk Road manuscript with Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, global conferences with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and digitisation of Ibn Battuta’s travel writings with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Warwick also launched an interactive AI model of Marco Polo for schools and the public, and brought together 300-plus students from 15 countries in hybrid symposia across Warwick, Venice and Singapore.

The programme fostered new global academic networks, student partnerships and digital tools for learning and discovery.

Professor Robert Young (Lancaster University and Quantum Base founder and chief scientist); Dion Williams (director of research, enterprise and innovation, Lancaster); Dr Mark Rushforth (associate director of enterprise and innovation, Lancaster); Dr Alan Gilchrist (senior lecturer in marketing, Lancaster); Professor Benjamin Robinson (director of materials science, Lancaster); Gillian Whitworth (media relations manager, Lancaster)

Lancaster University’s Quantum Base has transformed theoretical quantum research into market-leading anti-counterfeiting technology now protecting 500 million products worldwide. Its Q-ID technology creates security tags that cannot be cloned by exploiting atomic-level quantum effects, recently propelling it to become Lancaster’s first spin-out to IPO on London’s AIM market (April 2025), raising £4.8 million.

This university-industry knowledge exchange initiative combines dual-location operations, strategic funding, infrastructure access, and shared intellectual property to bridge academic advancement and commercial application. Robert Young maintains his university position while serving as chief scientist, creating a seamless knowledge transfer pathway.

The technology addresses the £2.8 trillion global counterfeiting crisis across pharmaceuticals, government security, aerospace and luxury goods. Economic impact includes high-value job creation, regional development and establishing UK quantum technology leadership.

Quantum Base exemplifies how effective knowledge exchange transforms fundamental science into solutions with profound economic and social benefits.

During 2023-24, the University of Chester reimagined the established Festival of Ideas model to support local needs and ambitions, alongside its own research and knowledge exchange (RKE) aspirations.

The resulting Chester Festival of Ideas, a programme of free, inclusive and accessible public events, is entirely new and pioneering for the university and its communities and stakeholders, with the first-ever Chester Festival of Ideas taking place in July 2024. Working with local partners, the university established a model that encourages and facilitates university staff to engage publics and communities in their work, while also supporting those publics and communities to hold their own events as part of the festival.

In 2024, the festival recorded more than 2,500 attendances at nearly 90 events. The festival planned for 2025 includes more than 90 events and has increased its engagement from university staff and local schools compared with last year.

University of Essex and Railscape

Leaves on the line, fallen trees and survey crews having to walk Britain’s railway tracks cause delays, customer dissatisfaction and can create unsafe working conditions.

The University of Essex and Railscape are using smart technology to spot vegetation and potential obstructions before they cause problems, and their revolutionary approach is surpassing all expectations. By deploying the latest technology in new ways, the DroneArb knowledge exchange project has delivered a faster, more efficient and safer approach that is cutting train delays for commuters and boosting safety. The groundbreaking digital surveying system combines artificial intelligence, drone imaging and remote sensing to monitor trees and undergrowth with pinpoint accuracy.

This partnership is more than a project. It’s a story of reinvention and real-world impact that has generated significant revenue, has positioned Railscape as a leader in sustainable railway safety and has demonstrated the power of academia and industry working together to solve complex challenges.

A partnership between academics, a Yorkshire packaging firm and the national wool organisation has resulted in the launch of five new products, including a groundbreaking sustainable packaging liner – the first one of its kind to be certified for being made from 100 per cent British wool.

A key strength of this collaboration was the partnership with the University of Huddersfield, which ensured that all solutions developed were grounded in rigorous academic research. This academic backing provided the business with a significant competitive advantage, enhancing the credibility and marketability of its products.

The collaboration bridged the gap between theoretical research and practical application, allowing the company to bring scientifically validated, high-performance packaging solutions to market. As a direct result of the knowledge transfer partnership, five new products were successfully launched.

Dr Andrew Daymond (University of Reading); Professor Tom Sizmur (Reading); Dr Amos Quaye (Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana); Dr Laura Atuah (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology); Dr Dadson Awunyo-Vitor (Kwame Nkrumah University)

Many cocoa farmers in West Africa face soil degradation resulting from continuous cropping. While soil amendments made from on-farm organic wastes offer a sustainable solution, many farmers lack necessary information and training.

A collaboration between the University of Reading, the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology worked with farmers to test the potential of compost and biochar made from cocoa pod husks to improve yields through on-farm trials. For the 2024 season, they recorded an average yield increase of about 40 per cent with 5 tonnes per hectare compost application.

Field-based collaborative workshops resulted in training more than 1,000 farmers and extension agents. Knowledge exchange materials were translated into multiple languages. The project directly impacted Emfed farms, as compost production from cocoa farm waste became their fastest growing business segment. A stakeholder workshop achieved broader industry engagement, leading to a follow-on industry-supported project.

Warwick Manufacturing Group

Waste2Race is a hydrogen-powered racing car built at the University of Warwick that redefines sustainable innovation and knowledge exchange. Fuelled by hydrogen derived from sewage and constructed using circular economy materials – such as a beetroot-waste wing mirror and a reused battery from a crashed car – this vehicle pushes the boundaries of green performance.

A collaboration between students, researchers, SMEs and national partners, the project offers real-world experience to students and acts as a demonstrator platform for industry. It builds on Warwick’s legacy of motorsport innovation, following the success of the 2009 WorldFirst car.

Waste2Race showcases regional innovation while contributing to national net zero goals. The project has attracted new research and development funding, elevated regional manufacturing visibility, and reinforced Warwick’s leadership in applied sustainable engineering.

Through bold design and a commitment to impact, Waste2Race proves that waste isn’t the end of the road – but rather the start of something powerful.

Dr Zemin Chen

Zemin Chen, senior lecturer in the School of Business at the University of Lancashire, is a trailblazer in the adoption of AI to support learning and development. As her students testify, she is a forward-thinking lecturer focused on the future of business education.

For her MBA students, she developed a custom AI virtual assistant trained on programme materials, university policies and academic writing support, which provides instant, personalised guidance, 24/7.

Dr Zemin is widely and highly respected in the sector on AI and technological advances in learning, and while she has shared her expertise within the university and externally on national and international stages, the key beneficiaries of her dedication and expertise will always be her students.

Dr Cora Beth Fraser

When Cora Beth Fraser, an associate lecturer at the Open University, was diagnosed with autism in 2020, she found that her experiences gave her an insight into the barriers faced by her neurodivergent students, as well as ideas about how to dismantle those barriers.

She developed novel ways of making her online tutorials in classical studies more welcoming to autistic and neurodivergent students. In the process, she found that her “relaxed” tutorials improved the experience of students with anxiety and chronic illnesses, students who were carers, and students who were in full-time employment.

Dr Fraser’s Relaxed Tutorial Project concluded in 2023, and relaxed tutorials have since been rolled out to thousands of students across the world. Dr Fraser also advocates for autistic students, consults on accessibility, and has set up a UK-wide organisation called Asterion to celebrate the achievements of neurodivergent staff and students in Classics.

Dr Brian Freeland

Brian Freeland embodies the Dublin City University ethos “transforming lives and societies”. He leads the award-winning Grain-4-Lab project, and he launched the inaugural undergraduate bioprocessing specialism. The programme is one of 10 new Futures programmes underpinned by innovative pedagogies and co-designed/co-delivered by industry.

Dr Freeland applies himself wholly to his students. He wants them to have real-world experiences that help to make them work-ready graduates. A co-designed module with Sartorius has been transformative for students as it recreates real-world challenges designed by industry leaders. In addition, Dr Freeland’s students undertake a “Fermentation Festival for the Circular Bioeconomy” challenge that tasks them to maximise sustainable and innovative brewing practices while optimising the usage of by-products.

“Dr Freeland’s support, insight and example have had a lasting influence on how I view research and professional growth. Not only does he offer guidance when needed but always trusts you to take the lead and grow in the process.” (Malha, final-year bioprocessing.)

Dr Edvard Glücksman, senior lecturer in sustainable futures at the University of Exeter Business School and faculty director of education in sustainability

Edvard Glücksman, senior lecturer at the University of Exeter’s Business School, is a sector-leading educator in sustainability, known for pioneering globally connected, interdisciplinary teaching.

He co-leads Future17, an award-winning programme developed with QS and 13 universities across five continents, in which students tackle UN SDG-aligned challenges with real-world clients. Dr Glücksman’s innovative use of design thinking, flipped classrooms and digital collaboration enhances student engagement at all levels – from undergraduates to senior professionals. He is piloting Exeter’s sustainable solutions minor and leads executive education initiatives, including bespoke, award-winning programmes with Capgemini.

His teaching bridges theory and practice, equipping learners with future-ready skills and, for corporate learners, fosters development of new products and services based on the latest science.

Described as “transformational” by learners, Dr Glücksman’s work exemplifies global citizenship, real-world relevance and curricular innovation. He is not only reshaping Exeter’s educational landscape but also influencing the wider sector through scalable, high-impact learning models.

Dr Matthew Jones

Dr Matthew Jones has exemplified innovation in the three years he has been at the University of Salford. He has constantly looked to push boundaries in how biomedical science can be taught and assessed, through the development of novel modes of delivery, technology use and assessment design to elevate student experience.

His work has had real impact on outcomes for students, including a 100 per cent first-time pass rate in modules incorporating his innovations.

One key example of this is the development, in 2023-24, of an institution-wide platform for the creation of digital escape rooms to gamify student learning. Thanks to collaborations with multiple external institutions, it has travelled further afield since its launch in late 2023, and the platform is now used in 28 countries by more than 16,000 individuals. The work has also been published as a paper in the journal Pedagogy.

Kate Knight, professor of practice education and simulated learning

Kate Knight, professor of practice education and simulated learning at the University of Chester, has pioneered innovative, student-centred models that have transformed practice learning in health and social care.

Her innovative integration of simulation placements and indirect supervision has unlocked more than 450 new community-based placements, increasing capacity and enriching student experiences in line with NHS goals. Recognised nationally and internationally, her model has been adopted by 16 UK universities and has featured at global conferences.

Professor Knight’s leadership is inclusive and impact-driven – supporting at-risk students and embedding safeguarding and quality standards. She mentors staff across the sector and collaborates with NHS England and Skills for Care to shape national policy. Her work directly benefits under-represented communities and enhances patient care, earning national award nominations.

A former student captures her impact best: “You changed my life.” Kate exemplifies the university’s Citizen Student Strategy, delivering scalable, meaningful change across education and health systems.

Jon Newton, senior lecturer in paramedic science at the University of the West of England

Jon Newton, senior lecturer in paramedic science at the University of the West of England, has transformed major incident clinical care teaching by introducing a six-week module comprising lectures, discussion-based learning, a table-top exercise, and a high-fidelity, multi-professional major incident simulation.

He integrated 19 external partner agencies within the simulations, a mock major trauma hospital, and full deployment of the emergency services.  The innovative approach to teaching has transformed the module and provided hundreds of students with real-world experience in a physiologically safe environment.

Mr Newton has created a suite of digital artefacts that has provided more innovative training for our students following the simulation. The module has been so successful that Mr Newton has been approached to create similar simulations for several of the emergency services. The simulation has received multiple accolades and lots of positive student feedback and has helped to drive recruitment in paramedic science.  

Marie Taillard, L’Oréal professor of creativity marketing at ESCP Business School

Marie Taillard, L’Oréal professor of creativity marketing at ESCP Business School, is redefining business education through bold, student-centred innovation.

Introduced in 2023-24, her Omnichannel Management module, co-designed with global luxury brand Chanel, immerses students in real-world strategy work. Each team is mentored by a Chanel manager to solve live business challenges, supported by in-class frameworks, coaching and reflective assessment.

Inspired by a “not by the book” approach, assessment replaces traditional exams with client presentations, group projects and self-reflective essays. The course evolves each year through feedback, peer review and industry engagement, ensuring relevance and continuous improvement.

Its impact is tangible: 26 per cent of the 2023-24 cohort entered fashion and luxury industry roles, with 10 per cent joining Chanel and most advancing in role seniority.

Students consistently praise the course’s intellectual stimulation and Professor Taillard’s supportive, coaching-based style. By fusing creativity, industry collaboration and transformative pedagogy, she equips students to thrive as bold, future-ready marketers.

Aston University’s Green Advantage Programme, delivered by the Aston Centre for Growth, is a globally recognised approach for incorporating sustainability into company leadership.

The programme, funded by the UK government’s Community Renewal Fund, has helped more than 250 business leaders in the West Midlands to establish personalised green impact strategies and lower their environmental footprint. Participants learn how to incorporate sustainable practices into essential company processes through expert-led workshops, peer mentoring and personalised coaching.

Green Advantage reflects Aston’s social commitment and sector leadership in practical sustainability education. The initiative has built long-term collaborations between universities, local governments and SMEs, resulting in significant economic and environmental benefits.

Graham Lewis (chief officer university environments and property); Lee Davies (environment and energy manager)

Cardiff Metropolitan University’s initiative to tackle energy waste on campus began with space utilisation analysis in the 2023-24 academic year. We uncovered that our buildings consume more than half their energy out of hours, and that there is a total disconnect between building occupancy and energy use.

In response, targeting out-of-hours waste achieved the following:

• A saving of £5.1 million in capital cost and 402 tonnes of embodied CO₂, as well as an annual saving of £78,000 in operational costs and 55 tonnes of operational carbon in not building new facilities we had envisaged in the first year, as a result of utilisation findings
• Future cost avoidance of £53 million through not building new teaching space but rather utilising underused facilities
• A 20.77 per cent reduction in gas consumption in the first nine months of the academic year
• A combined reduction of 1.93 GWh in gas and electricity consumption
• £945,000 in annual tariff and consumption savings.

Menus of Change is a flagship initiative central to the Climate & Sustainability Action Plan at King’s College London. This programme has transformed campus dining by prioritising sustainable, plant-forward meals through an “Inverted Menu Design” approach – featuring seasonal, local ingredients and avoiding overfished species. More than 350,000 sustainable meals have been served, reducing CO₂ emissions by 6.42 tonnes and generating £1.5 million in revenue.

Food waste has declined thanks to smarter portioning and whole-ingredient use, while nutritional quality has improved through research-led enhancements. Menus of Change exemplifies collaboration, engaging students in carbon labelling research and partnering on sector-wide projects such as the Circular Food Sprint. King’s initiatives – Too Good to Go, Love Our Leftovers, and Root-to-Tip – further reinforce the institution’s commitment to net zero carbon by 2030.

This model not only redefines sustainable campus dining but also offers a replicable framework linking climate action, education and health.

Nottingham Trent University has set a challenging target to be net zero carbon by 2040 across all three scopes, including in our supply chain, which is the largest and most challenging source of emissions.

Working with NETpositive Futures, NTU has developed the Net Zero Carbon Supplier Tool to engage with a range of businesses on net zero, obtaining robust carbon data to help measure, monitor and reduce supply chain emissions.

A one-year action research project led by NTU brought together more than 100 procurement and sustainability professionals from 32 UK universities to learn how to deploy the tool in their own supply chains and to contribute to ensure that the tool was designed “for the sector by the sector”.

The project shines a spotlight on higher education collaborating to tackle a challenge that had been placed in the “hard to do” box, and working together to maximise resource, which has a profound measurable impact.

Royal Northern College of Music

Throughout 2023-24, the Royal Northern College of Music presented The Future is Green, a programme embedding climate issues and our environmental impact at the heart of our decision-making, seeking ways to reduce our carbon footprint while asking “What role could and should musicians and creative artists have in response to the climate crisis?”

As well as providing opportunities for students, staff, audiences and the wider community to learn with us, we also highlighted the important work within our curriculum and the sustainability measures in place across our estate.

The programme delivered 30 public performances, an Earth Day symposium, eight student Spotlight concerts, five Green Fund-supported student projects and significant reductions in energy and carbon consumption, food waste recycling and CO₂ emissions.

The Future is Green was shortlisted in the 2025 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards’ Series and Events category and for the Educate North Awards’ Sustainable Green Initiative of the Year.

Rachel Drinkhill; Jane Güleç; Lindsay Stringer

Environmental sustainability is a core principle at the University of York, driving research, education and partnerships. The York Environmental Sustainability Institute (YESI) exemplifies this through its pioneering YESI Fellows Programme – an institutional model for interdisciplinary, impact-led research that is scalable across the sector. Since 2022-23, 43 fellows have secured more than £1.5 million in grant income.

The programme supports researchers at all career stages through three schemes: Discipline Hopping Fellowships (cross-disciplinary research); Knowledge Exchange Fellowships (co-created work with stakeholders); and the International Fellows Scheme (global collaboration with Official Development Assistance recipients). These schemes foster innovation, stakeholder engagement and real-world impact.

York shares its model through national forums and training, helping to embed sustainability into wider research culture. By championing interdisciplinary, actionable research, York is leading systemic change in how environmental sustainability challenges are addressed.

Universities claim to be bold and distinctive while using the same “inclusive, friendly and welcoming” buzzwords. Something’s not working, though, when you consider higher education’s workforce demographics in 2022-23: 44 per cent of full-time academics were female; only 22 per cent of colleagues were global majority; and almost half of professors were aged over 56.

We practise what we preach with inclusive recruitment. All candidates receive interview questions 72 hours in advance. Hearing this, critics say people need “to think on their feet” and will cheat. At Buckinghamshire New University, we aren’t looking for people who shoot from the hip. We prefer taking the time to consider and reflect. And it’s working: the numbers of global majority and disabled colleagues are up by 5 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively. Our disability pay gap is at 0 per cent.

We’re calling on others to learn from our approach. We believe organisations purporting to be inclusive, friendly and welcoming must match what they say and do.

Liverpool John Moores University

In 2023, Liverpool John Moores University launched the Diversity and Inclusion Fund to support staff- and student-led projects tackling inequality and to promote representation. Nineteen projects received up to £10,000 each, co-created with students, staff and community partners.

The projects tackle complex, often overlooked areas such as life-limiting illness, SEND inclusion in the workplace, menstrual equity, and Gypsies, Travellers, Roma, Showmen and Boaters (GTRSB) representation, delivering sector-leading solutions that address structural barriers with compassion and innovation.

The university’s approach moves beyond consultation to co-creation, empowering those affected by inequality to lead change. Every funded project is not just supported; it is strategically designed, implemented and evaluated with those it seeks to impact.

By empowering those most affected by inequality to co-lead/produce projects, lived experience is embedded into the institutional structures, which ensures that the initiatives are not only relevant but deeply impactful.

RCA BLK

RCA BLK, founded as a grass-roots group in 2020, has become an essential and transformative platform for Black students, alumni and staff at the Royal College of Art. Funded and staffed by the RCA since 2022, they are uniquely positioned to drive change from within, advocating for a more inclusive environment and providing tailored support to Black creatives.

Their approach focuses on three areas: encouraging Black students to join the RCA, enhancing their experience while studying at the college, and supporting post-graduation success. The autonomy, resources and focus provided by the RCA have supported the leadership of RCA BLK in building a community that fosters long-term success, making it a pioneering model for diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education and the arts.

Emily Nordmann; Rafael Henry-Venson; Chiara Horlin; Lauren McDougall; Kirsty Hacking

Rainbow Office Hours is a low-cost, scalable initiative that creates safe, informal spaces for LGBTQ+ students and staff to connect. Launched in 2019 within one school, the initiative expanded university-wide during 2023-24. It now includes more than 30 staff across all colleges and professional services. The sessions coincide with LGBTQ+ awareness days and offer affirming support, distinct from counselling or academic advising.

Rainbow Office Hours challenge the assumption that personal and professional identities must remain separate. They provide a visible message to LGBTQ+ students that they belong. For many, these are the first encounters with visibly queer adults in leadership roles, helping them to imagine a future for themselves in academia and beyond.

Built on existing resources, the initiative is highly sustainable, cost-effective and transferable to other institutions committed to enhancing diversity, equality and inclusion. Our work not only supports marginalised voices but also fosters a transformative campus culture that empowers everyone.

In response to the British Medical Association’s 2020 Racial Harassment Charter, the University of Leicester Medical School launched MedRACE – a pioneering initiative redefining racial equity in medical education. Rooted in student experiences and staff collaboration, MedRACE fosters a safe, inclusive learning environment through robust reporting, anti-racism curriculum and policy advocacy.

MedRACE has directly impacted more than 1,400 students annually, embedding inclusion in teaching, clinical placements and institutional policies. It has influenced NHS trust policies on inclusive attire and contributed to national toolkits on decolonising curricula. Through a flattened hierarchy model, students drive change, ensuring sustainable structural reform.

A dynamic force beyond the university, MedRACE collaborates with NHS trusts and national bodies, shaping a generation of doctors who lead with equity and empathy. It is more than an initiative – it is a movement transforming medical education at local and national levels.

The University of Liverpool and upReach

The Liverpool Rise programme, a collaboration between the University of Liverpool and social mobility charity upReach, addresses persistent barriers facing disadvantaged undergraduates in securing top graduate roles. Complementing the university’s in-house EQ+ widening participation programme, Liverpool Rise provides additional, targeted careers support to 60 students from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Programme participants receive one-to-one career coaching throughout their university journey, while also benefiting from skills workshops, application support and exclusive work experience opportunities with prestigious employers. Combined, these powerful interventions help undergraduates to explore different career pathways and to develop the vital skills, networks and experiences needed to succeed in their chosen career and beyond.

The results are transformative: students show significant improvements across all employability skills, with application and interview abilities improving by 111 per cent and work experience increasing by 31 per cent. Of 2024 graduates, 100 per cent have gone into graduate employment or further study after graduation – demonstrating the programme’s effectiveness.

Villa Vision stands proud testament to the power of higher education and to Aston University’s commitment to – and achievement in – innovation, impact and community transformation. Through strategic and collaborative excellence, and focusing on addressing a critical health inequality, this pioneering initiative has made a transformational difference to the lives and futures of Birmingham’s children.

Poor eye healthcare can lead to poorer health, social and educational outcomes in children, and further drives health inequalities. Grounded in a series of listening events that identified barriers to eye health engagement, this creative and collaborative eye health initiative engaged almost 5,000 children (2023-24), united higher education, health and sport to achieve transformative community health and educational outcomes. It continues to provide long-term impact and opportunity across higher education and wider society.

Community Gateway: Professor Mhairi McVicar; Corey Smith; Jenny Cater; Lynne Thomas; Rosie Cripps; Ali Abdi; Grange Pavilion CIO: Abdi Yusef (co-chair); Beth Gaffey (co-chair); Grange Pavilion Youth Forum: Nirushan Sudarsan; Shoruk Nekeb

In 2023-24, Cardiff University’s Community Gateway/Grange Pavilion partnership marked the Grange Pavilion’s first full operational year following a decade of co-creating a £2 million redevelopment. Between 20 and 30 weekly well-being, education, enterprise and arts activities served thousands of residents through partnerships with more than 30 organisations, creating an estimated £25 million in social value.

Community Gateway’s Grangetown Careers and Role Model Week 2024 engaged more than 200 residents in collaboration with five regional higher education and further education institutions. CardiffUni@GrangePavilion delivered 30 interdisciplinary sessions with 90-plus university staff, while 15 students and 80 residents co-produced Love Grangetown partnership proposals. Participatory action research with the Grange Pavilion, Grange Pavilion Youth Forum and Cardiff Council influenced the city’s approach to community engagement in planning. The Youth Forum, led by Grangetown-resident Cardiff students, reported over half its members studying at Cardiff University.

Community Gateway/Grange Pavilion partnerships demonstrate how universities can act as transformative local anchors through long-term, equitable collaboration.

Doris Chauca (leader, Empoderando Familias, King’s College London); Gina Rodriguez (leader, Empoderando Familias, King’s); Dr Farhan Samanani (lecturer in social justice at King’s); Hannah Gretton (lead organiser, Citizens UK); Michael Bennett (associate director – social mobility and widening participation, King’s); King’s for Change society, King’s College London Student Union; Social Change Lab students; Dr Kirstie Hewlett (senior research fellow, King’s Policy Institute); Johnny Runge (senior research fellow, King’s Policy Institute); Marypaz Ventura-Arrieta, PhD candidate and research assistant, King’s Policy Institute); Suzanne Hall (director of engagement, King’s Policy Institute)

King’s College London, a Living Wage Employer since 2018, is championing the real London Living Wage through community organising and deep local engagement.

Trust for London research shows that 600,000-plus Londoners earn below the threshold for a basic standard of living. In response, King’s students, academics and local parent groups united in support of the “Make London a Living Wage City” campaign, led by Citizens UK and Trust for London. This initiative has helped lift many thousands of Londoners out of in-work poverty.

Their efforts led to the accreditation of major South Bank employers – resulting in an estimated £4,700 annual pay rise per full-time employee.

To evidence impact, the King’s Policy Institute is working with Southwark Council and the Living Wage Foundation to build a case for wider adoption of the London Living Wage.

King’s received the Living Wage Foundation’s “Institution” award for its leadership in promoting the London Living Wage.

Nottingham Trent University (NTU) – Centre for Student and Community Engagement

Taking a systems thinking approach, the Getting School Ready initiative seeks to tackle poor “school readiness” in a systemic way that involves the local community.

Nottingham Trent University has used the convening power and neutral status of the institution to act as a backbone for a group of partners: a school, parents, the council and local services, who are all committed to addressing poor school readiness through improving the quality of their relationships.

Families and professionals work together equitably and shape service delivery, which has created a better social ecosystem and improved outcomes. As a result, the school’s Ofsted rating has risen from “inadequate” to “good”; parental engagement has improved significantly, and a range of funding has been secured. It is a low-cost, replicable community engagement approach that helps to build a resilient and self-sustaining community.

Teesside University, in collaboration with the Middlesbrough Football Club Foundation (MFCF), harnessed the world’s most popular sport to unite its local community and faith groups.

Delivering free Ramadan Football Programme sessions, the university and MFCF empowered all members of the community to come together and engage in social sport after the breaking of the fast during Ramadan.

In 2025, a diverse group of 205 participants between 16 and 59 years old and from a range of ethnicities and heritages took part in the Ramadan Football Programme sessions, which were delivered at the university’s state-of-the-art facilities outside operating hours to allow those who were observing the holy period time to break fast and pray before playing.

The programme also helped to break barriers, foster a sense of belonging and address heightened tensions across Middlesbrough after national social unrest caused damage to the university campus and nearby areas in summer 2024.

Chris Smethurst (co-director of the Institute of Education and Social Sciences); Becky Edwards (senior lecturer in childhood, social work and social care); Sandra Lyndon (reader in childhood and social policy)

Adversity to University is a unique and innovative widening participation initiative. It was developed by the University of Chichester to support individuals who have experienced marginalisation and/or disadvantage to access education and employment. The project works with local and national charities and community groups to mobilise the transformative potential of education to address societal inequality, change futures and support social mobility.

Participants include those who have experienced homelessness and addiction, prisoners, refugees, care leavers and those who believed that the door to education was closed to them. Central to the project is initial outreach, a co-produced, 12-week bridging course, and ongoing support from lecturers and peer mentors, with progression into education or employment.

Adversity to University has successfully provided life-changing opportunities for more than 250 students. The programme has received local and national recognition as a simple and effective solution to some of our most deeply rooted social challenges.

Cranfield University has embedded entrepreneurship across its culture, strategy and operations, creating an environment where innovation flourishes. Guided by its Research and Innovation Strategy 2022-27, entrepreneurship is led at the institutional level through the Bettany Centre for Entrepreneurship and strategic oversight from the Innovation Committee.

Students, staff and alumni benefit from initiatives such as the Cranfield Seed Fund, where students engage directly in venture investment, and the Green Future Investments Partnership, a three-stage innovation pipeline that has supported 98 ventures and leveraged more than £19 million in funding. Entrepreneurship is woven into teaching via the Cranfield Venture Programme, corporate challenges and regional SME support programmes. Nationally, more than 1,000 SMEs have benefited from Cranfield’s government-funded growth programmes.

Recognised by Small Business Charter accreditation and Bloomberg’s top UK/Europe MBA ranking for entrepreneurship, Cranfield delivers sustainable, transferable impact and fosters entrepreneurial mindsets across its postgraduate community – shaping future leaders and enabling sector-wide innovation.

Ben Mumby-Croft (director of entrepreneurship); Alyssa Gilbert (director of innovation, Grantham Institute); Graham Hewson (head of incubation and prototyping spaces)

Imperial College London’s 2024 strategy, Science for Humanity, placed innovation and entrepreneurship at the heart of its mission. In 2023-24, Imperial rose to second in the QS World University Rankings, with The Times crediting its entrepreneurial strengths as a key factor.

Home to one of Europe’s leading start-up ecosystems – including the Imperial Enterprise Lab, the White City Incubator and the climate innovation centre Undaunted – Imperial was named Europe’s top large university for start-up creation by Redstone and is the only university with two hubs in the Financial Times’ top 125 European Start-up Hubs.

In 2024, we launched Imperial Global to scale inclusive innovation worldwide, co-founded the Earthshot Climate Innovation Network, and took 30 student and academic founders on international visits. Flagship programmes such as WE Innovate National and the Commonwealth Startup Fellowship are expanding access across the UK and globally, while Imperial’s founder-first policies, such as the Founders Choice™ equity model, continue to shape best practice.

At Northeastern University - London, entrepreneurship is not a department but rather an institutional ethos, embedding innovation across all aspects of the university. Its distinctive approach centres on the Start-up Hub, launched in February 2024, which uniquely houses 22 external start-ups and eight student ventures while strategically pairing companies with students for authentic work experience.

The model has generated significant impact: the number of student entrepreneurship societies grew from one to five, hosting 66 events for 1,300-plus students, while creating 12 internships, six co-ops and three challenge projects. Cross-sector partnerships with organisations such as the UK Department for Business and Trade have produced 38 collaborative events, building a real-world ecosystem around the university.

Northeastern’s scalable approach extends internationally through collaborations, enabling joint showcases and Europe-wide networking. The embedded model permeates curricula, student services and governance, catalysing interdisciplinary research and new academic modules while deepening alumni engagement as investors and mentors, demonstrating transferable institutional transformation.

Entrepreneurship is a strategic cornerstone of Swansea University’s vision and culture, rooted in its founding principle – created by industry, for industry. As one of the institution’s five strategic pillars, enterprise permeates every aspect of our work – from teaching and research to partnerships and civic engagement.

This integrated approach for entrepreneurial excellence has enabled us to cultivate a dynamic, inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem that delivers tangible and meaningful social and economic impact at regional, national and international levels.

We are proud of Swansea’s priority to capitalise on the breadth and depth of our strengths to achieve our vision as a leading global as well as local university in enterprise. Our 2023-28 Institutional Enterprise Strategy focuses on three key themes: unlock talent, enabling environment and impact in place. Through our inclusive, collaborative and impactful model, from groundbreaking research to successful start-up ventures, Swansea University is setting a new benchmark for entrepreneurial higher education.

Jonathan Jones (USW Enterprise); Richie Turner (Startup Stiwdio)

The University of South Wales (USW) is a national leader in entrepreneurial education, ranking first in Wales and sixth in the UK for graduate start-ups, with 136 businesses launched in 2023-24. A university-wide shift to challenge-based learning is embedding enterprise into all courses, informed by the Enhancing Entrepreneurship project, which embedded enterprise into 23 courses and helped to develop a growing international partnership with Tumkur University in India.

USW offers a rich extracurricular enterprise programme through its careers team, including masterclasses, mentoring, start-up funding and tailored support for freelancers and aspiring founders. This sits alongside the university’s enterprise teams – Startup Stiwdio and USW Exchange – and specialist activity supporting women, creative industries and global majority communities. The university also leads a regional innovation programme and is powered by an alumni network of more than 2,000 entrepreneurs.

Enterprise is embedded in our culture – driving transformation across education, industry and communities.

Professor Mark Smith (president and vice-chancellor); Professor Mark Spearing (vice-president, research and enterprise); Diana Galpin (director of enterprise); Associate deans enterprise: Robin Chave (CEO, University of Southampton Science Park); Katy Gordon (director of careers, employability and student enterprise); Sarah Rogers (associate director, careers, employability and student enterprise); Thomas Simmonds (head of student enterprise and events)

The University of Southampton’s “triple helix strategy” is an institutional approach in which research, education and enterprise are distinctively intertwined to successfully embed enterprise and entrepreneurial excellence across our culture and programmes, achieving greater impact and accelerating new ways to tackle the world’s most complex problems. The Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise Strategic Plan ensures that the enterprise vision set out in our university strategy stays on target and delivers against our institutional KPIs.

Successes include our Student Enterprise support, including the 2024 launch of the Student Enterprise Junction space, the 2024 launch of Successful Futures, a strategic major project that embeds enterprise skills across the curriculum, and the broader start-up ecosystem including the Future Worlds tech start-up accelerator, the University of Southampton Science Park, innovation hubs within faculties, and our lead projects undertaken as part of the SETsquared partnership, such as the Deal Readiness Toolkit and iCURE.

Cullen Warnock (chief estates officer); Leigh Black (projects and design manager)

A strategic and co-designed renovation project relocated Abertay Students’ Association (ASA) into the heart of the campus library, leading to a doubling in engagement with its food bank project, improved support for students, and best-in-class space for social events, study and enterprise.

The Abertay library renovation project transformed the library’s ground floor from a utilitarian study area into a multi-use hub designed to support learning and the student experience.

The project had a total construction value of more than £1 million, and the university’s estates team worked with Threesixty Architecture to create a sensitive palette of tones and textures promoting themes of “nurturing, well-being, mindfulness and social interaction”.

The Buckinghamshire New University estates team is a small but dedicated team of professionals. In 18 months, the team delivered a rapid programme of estate regeneration over nearly 40 per cent of the university’s main campus to address its fragmented infrastructure. New specialist teaching spaces were created to meet evolving academic needs, and university colleagues were located into modern working environments to foster innovation and community.

The centrepiece was a £20 million transformation of the campus heart, to serve as a nucleus of student life and interaction. The DOVE project saw the creation of a Student Hub, social and learning facilities opening from autumn 2023. Highly complex, the project was accomplished in just 61 weeks.

A further standout achievement was the sustainable restoration of the listed, historic Brunel Engine Shed in central High Wycombe, achieving an SKA gold rating and EPC A for energy efficiency, through innovative use of recycled and low-carbon materials.

Sophie Bertrand (UK director of estate and operations, ESCP Business School)

In 2022, ESCP London launched a 10-year estates masterplan to modernise its Victorian campus in line with growth, sustainability and community goals. With limited space and budget, 2023-24 saw smart, scalable transformation, co-designed with students and staff.

ESCP opened a new executive wing and a co-designed student wing with society rooms, a start-up incubator and collaborative study areas. The “Kick Space” project converted two existing rooms, adding 187 flexible, tech-enabled seats that blend the site’s heritage with modern functionality.

To meet rising demand, a one-storey, carbon-sensitive Portakabin (+128 seats) was installed with council and community approval. Meanwhile, the low-cost “Free Space” project released staff offices as study spaces, adding 120-plus seats weekly with no investment.

Sustainability was embedded throughout, and all work was co-created with students and staff. Led without a formal estates team, this community-powered, high-impact model shows how institutions can do more with less – creatively, inclusively and sustainably.

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s estates team

In 2023-24, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s estates team delivered four major capital projects worth more than £25 million, including: the restoration of the historic home of the world’s oldest school of tropical medicine; the creation of a specialist inpatient research facility handling dangerous pathogens; the completion of an innovative new teaching space; and the construction of a state-of-the-art medical training and research facility in Malawi, which aims to be the best of its kind in a low-income country and marks a step change in equitable global health. All of this work was delivered in a complex regulated clinical, educational and research environment unrivalled in UK higher education.

These projects added 22 per cent to the university’s estate and were delivered by a team of just 10 people. This dedicated team worked between Liverpool and Africa, where they also supported pioneering work to appoint women to key construction roles in the CREATOR building project at the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome-Progamme.

Ian Grimes

The University of Hertfordshire’s Spectra building is the £100 million flagship of our estates masterplan and a true showcase of whole-team excellence. Delivered with no additional staff, during a period of rapid student growth, every function of the estates department played a critical role – from strategic leadership to logistics, FM, capital projects and governance.

Spectra redefines academic space, replacing offices with collaborative co-working zones and embedding a radical CDIO model where STEM students work across disciplines in industry-style environments. Built in close consultation with students, academics and industry, the building fosters innovation, employability and research.

Delivered on time and on budget through open-book contracting and sustainable design, Spectra includes rare facilities such as a strong floor and a robotics lab. Its impact has already attracted global interest, significant grants and the largest charitable donation in university history.

Spectra is more than a building, it’s a bold vision brought to life.

In the summer of 2020, during the Covid pandemic, the University of Huddersfield identified the growing need to make a significant difference to health outcomes for not only Huddersfield communities but also the wider north of England and beyond.

It acquired a development site adjacent to the main campus alongside obtaining outline planning permission for 75,000m₂ of health-related development, and the vision for a National Health Innovation Campus (NHIC) was conceived.

The estates team delivered a fast-track programme of acquisition, planning, procurement and construction in less than four years during the pandemic and amid unprecedented price rises as a result of world events. The result was the Daphne Steele Building, which is setting a new standard for healthcare education and putting the university on the first phase of a journey to improve health outcomes and lead innovation in healthcare for the north of England, the UK and internationally.

Birmingham Newman University Library team

As generative AI reshapes academia, Birmingham Newman University Library has led efforts to provide structured guidance for students and staff, ensuring responsible AI use. In September 2023, we launched a dedicated microsite featuring clear resources on AI ethics, research applications, citation practices and academic support. Supplemented by video content, this was the first AI  guidance at our institution, and it has influenced university-wide policy.

In October 2023, we introduced interactive workshops, giving students hands-on AI experience while fostering ethical discussions. Originally optional, these workshops were later integrated into embedded teaching, ensuring structured AI literacy across multiple disciplines, including theology, English, psychology and education courses.

By collaborating with academic staff and the e-learning department, we’ve contributed to institution-wide AI discussions and the development of practice, strengthening ethical AI engagement.

As AI continues evolving, we remain committed to expanding our work, ensuring that the library remains a pioneering force in generative literacy.

RCA library team

The Royal College of Art’s library team has built on its role as a high-quality student learning resource to become a hub for community engagement and student well-being at the college.

Initiatives during the year included artists-in-residence, exhibitions highlighting the experience of neurodiverse students, Dada poetry workshops and the inaugural reading of the RCA Africa Society.

The team also created a dedicated Calm Space to provide a space to reflect and relax from the pressure of teaching, research and studio activities, and compiled extensive e-book and audiobook collections to support students on topics such as anxiety, stress, depression, insomnia and loneliness.

The Royal Northern College of Music’s award-winning library service combines a warm welcome, specialist knowledge and expertise with a wealth of resources to support teaching, learning, performance and research through responsive, innovative and student-centred practices.

RNCM library provision supports students during their studies and sets them up for life with a dedicated team of 11 music subject specialists ensuring that every student journey is individually supported. One-to-one specialist copyright guidance – unique to the conservatoire sector – provides essential professional training, in 2023-24 equipping 230-plus students with vital, discipline-specific knowledge, indispensable to their degree and their future music career.

Consistently performing well above benchmark levels in National Student Surveys, the RNCM library’s small but mighty team deliver an exceptional, deeply personalised, specialist music service. Its friendly, student-centred approach opens the doors to learning resources, providing bespoke and adaptive support throughout learners’ time with the RNCM, from offer to graduation and beyond.

The University of Chichester library team, led by Karen Lloyd (university librarian)

During a financially challenging year, the University of Chichester library team embraced the opportunity to work in different ways to enhance the student experience. Actively seeking out learners’ views allowed the team to focus their energies on delivering on student requests.

Targeted inclusive activities such as a dedicated assisted library service Moodle page, volunteering opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and a family fun day for students with children increased our profile and made us more welcoming and approachable.

A small supportive library team took the initiative and created their own video content to free up staff time and encourage students to access self-directed training at point of need.

All these initiatives lead to positive feedback from staff and students, including: “the environment and library resources are great” and “the staff at the library are helpful in supporting our academic studies through offering one-to-one or group/online sessions”.

To mark the University of Strathclyde’s diamond jubilee in 2024, the Andersonian Library led a collaborative project to create a unique oral history trail, both online and across the Glasgow campus.

Drawing on interviews from “The University Experience, 1945-75”, an oral history project by the Scottish Oral History Centre, the trail features memories that reflect not only university life but also broader social issues of the time.

Seven locations around campus were chosen to display quotes and images, encouraging exploration and engagement. The library’s archives team curated content from the collection, while colleagues from the conferencing and events team helped to deliver a high-quality design and promotion strategy.

The trail stands as a long-lasting tribute to Strathclyde’s heritage, showcasing its cultural resources and offering global digital access. It’s the university’s first project of this kind, highlighting how historical archives can be meaningfully integrated into campus life to celebrate collective memory and institutional history.

Davina Omar

University of West London Library Services have responded to the challenge of making an inclusive and supportive environment for learners by centring students’ personal academic preferences, understanding that students are individuals with varying needs and requirements.

Through activities including arranging convenient appointments with librarians either online or in person, offering embedded information literacy teaching in modules using videos or live lectures, updating the physical library to better respond to their needs, investing in more than 1 million e-books and providing a £100 bursary at levels 5 and 6 so that students can personally choose the material that they feel best will support them, the library team has given students the confidence to develop their literacy skills and academic knowledge.

Success is shown through the library receiving its highest level of satisfaction – 92 per cent in the Module Evaluation Survey in both semesters in 2023-24.

Edinburgh Napier University’s communications team, creative team and marketing team

In 2023-24, Edinburgh Napier University launched its first brand campaign, marking the culmination of a strategic transformation that began in 2019.

With a new leadership structure and a clear brand value proposition – “Home of difference makers” – Edinburgh Napier’s marketing and communications teams gained influence across the university. Innovative campaigns such as #NapierNames and the rebranding of a local pub for graduations showcased creativity and in-house design strength. A consistent visual identity was established across all platforms.

In 2023, Edinburgh Napier partnered with Creature London to launch the “Must Be Napier” campaign, spotlighting student and staff success. The campaign significantly boosted brand perception, application consideration and search traffic – outperforming even the University of Edinburgh – and won the 2024 Drum Award for Brand Campaign of the Year.

These achievements reflect the team’s pivotal role in redefining Edinburgh Napier’s image and positioning it as Scotland’s top modern university.

Dane Vincent; Dan Trussell; Amy West; Rachel MacKenzie; Lynsey Heap; Abbie Ryan

Imagine legally not being able to mention the major event you’re covering. This is what Loughborough University faced during the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.

Oops! We shouldn’t have said “O******s”. Reminder: Don’t Mention It.

About 120 Loughborough-linked athletes, coaches and practitioners competed in France. We launched an eight-week campaign to amplify our involvement – without using protected terms.

Led entirely by our in-house team, we created a microsite with athlete stories, real-time updates and academic insights. Social media engagement soared, driven by alternative phrasing, athlete content and standout videos such as Daniel Wiffen’s “Day in the Life” (518,000-plus views).

Despite legal limits, the campaign delivered:

• 159,000-plus social media engagements
• 1.2 million video views
• 89,800 microsite visits
• 772 media hits, reaching 1.3 billion users and £5.4 million in media value.

We turned restrictions into creativity – proving Loughborough’s place as a global leader in sport, research and innovative communications.

In support of the University of Birmingham’s ambition to become a global top 50 institution, our marketing and communications team launched a bold new brand identity in September 2023, in partnership with agency Mammoth. Grounded in insights from more than 1,000 stakeholders and guided by our brand philosophy, “Activate with Intent,” the brand expresses who we are, aligns with our values and unites our community.

With more than 100 brand ambassadors, we achieved full adoption university-wide. Key outcomes include an 8 per cent rise in undergraduate applications, a 28 per cent increase in PGT applications, and a record 36 per cent undergraduate conversion rate. Our “Now is the Time” and “Changing How the World Works” campaigns generated millions of views and impressions, while our “Built in Birmingham” campaign boosted web traffic by 1,300 per cent. Pride surged across social media and student surveys, and we rose eight places in the THE World University Rankings.

Karen Chater 

In 2023, the University of Hertfordshire’s marketing and communications team launched The Festival of Ideas – our first large-scale public event – to address low awareness of our research, enterprise and academic excellence.

Designed to connect with key influencers such as families, teachers and local businesses, the free two-day festival welcomed 4,654 attendees, far surpassing our target of 3,000 visitors. We delivered more than 150 inclusive, interactive sessions, developed collaboratively across all departments.

Despite no existing public database, our multi-channel campaign reached one in 10 of our target audience, with 4.6 million paid digital impressions and a 253 per cent boost in LinkedIn engagement.

Results were outstanding:

• 98% of attendees said the event had improved their perception of the university
• 94% said it had met or exceeded expectations.

The Festival of Ideas reshaped public perception, forged new partnerships and positioned Herts as a modern, dynamic institution – delivering long-term brand impact far beyond the event itself.

The student communications team at the University of Southampton

At the University of Southampton, the student communications team has redefined how the university engages with students – placing co-design, insight and feedback at the heart of every campaign. Rather than communicating to students, the team works with them to create clear, inclusive and empowering campaigns across the entire student journey.

From a redesigned welcome campaign that boosted digital engagement by 101 per cent to a centralised exams and assessment strategy that significantly reduced student queries, every initiative is shaped by what students say they need.

This student-led approach underpins all communications activity, ensuring that campaigns reflect real student priorities and experiences. By embedding insight into decision-making, the team has created messaging that is timely, trusted and effective.

The result is a student communications model that is strategic, inclusive and sector-leading – making students not just the audience, but active partners in their university experience.

Rebecca Giddings (deputy director brand and marketing)

The University of Wolverhampton’s marketing and communications team delivered a transformative 2023-24, demonstrably reshaping public perception, driving engagement and exceeding challenging recruitment targets.

Our flagship “Every Story Has a Start” campaign addressed the historical under-promotion of our diverse alumni by highlighting their incredible achievements – which include an Oscar-winning special effects maestro, a New York Times-best-selling author and a UN climate change adviser.

Building on this, Could it be? is a poignant spoken-word video created in collaboration with alumnus and local trans rapper Nate Ethan Watson, who shared his story of resilience and transformation. Launched before clearing, it appealed directly to Gen Z’s demand for diversity, equity and inclusion, proving our commitment to creating opportunity and transforming futures.

It led to tangible, quantifiable results, including a 6 per cent uplift in conversion campaign, a 4.3 per cent saving in campaign spend, a 10 per cent increase in enquirer communications open rate, and more.

Professor Qammer H. Abbasi

Qammer Abbasi is an outstanding research supervisor whose innovative and inclusive approach has transformed STEM mentoring.

He has guided more than 50 students and postdocs from diverse backgrounds, including those from conflict-affected regions, empowering them to excel in academia and industry. His pioneering “How to Supervise Your Supervisor” workshops and open-door policy foster a supportive, student-led research-culture, enabling his students to thrive in research and secure prestigious positions.

Professor Abbasi’s mentorship has led to award-winning student research recognised by IEEE, URSI and SPIE, and has inspired valuable industry partnerships. Recognised through the University Teaching Excellence Award 2022 and the University Research Supervisor Award 2023, and as policy adviser to the UK government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and a member of the Scottish Science Advisory Council, he aligns his students’ research with national priorities, delivering real-world impact.

Dr Josie Barnard (associate professor of creative and digital practice)

As creative writing research evolves to include interviews with audiences, influencers and industry practitioners – particularly in fast-moving digital fields such as podcasting and social media – ethical approval has become essential. Without it, research students can’t gather the data that make their work cutting-edge and impactful.

However, most institutions lack the expertise to support this kind of research. Josie Barnard is a rare exception: her in-depth understanding of ethical processes has enabled De Montfort University to support innovative, socially relevant PhDs that other universities have turned away, giving the university a clear USP in an emerging area of doctoral study.

Professor Lars Chittka

Over 23 years at Queen Mary University of London, Lars Chittka has trained 28 PhD students, with two more in progress. Many were from developing countries or minority backgrounds, and 18 were female.

Several now hold prestigious academic positions, including full professorships at UCL, the University of Arizona, the University of Würzburg, Jiangnan University and elsewhere. Notable alumni include Professors Fei Peng (head of department, Southern Medical University), Anna Dornhaus (University of Arizona) and Elli Leadbeater (UCL, winner of two European Research Council grants). Recent graduates are postdocs at top institutions including Sorbonne University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Sheffield. Students such as Alice Bridges and Samadi Galpayage have won international awards.

Professor Chittka focuses on fostering intellectual independence, encouraging students to design their own research rather than following predefined projects. This approach, diverging from typical UK training models, prepares students to become future research leaders.

Many former mentees remain in academia, achieving significant success, which Professor Chittka considers the best indicator of effective PhD mentoring.

Dr Andy Clarke (senior lecturer, School of Business)

Andy Clarke is an exceptional research supervisor known for his inclusive, innovative and student-centred approach.

He has supported more than 16 doctoral candidates in the past five years, helping them publish in top journals, present internationally and move into high-impact roles in academia, industry and government. His pioneering initiatives – such as structured peer review and concept map assessments – have strengthened research quality and communication skills across his institution.

Beyond academic supervision, Dr Clarke is deeply committed to student well-being, offering sustained support through personal and professional challenges. He actively helps students access funding, develop their careers and build lasting research networks. His guidance continues beyond graduation, with many former students crediting his mentorship for their ongoing success.

Dr Clarke’s dedication, creativity and care make him a standout figure in doctoral education.

Professor Stephen Gibson

Stephen Gibson has built a stellar reputation across multiple institutions as an authentic, inclusive, talented supervisor who changes lives through his work. Known colloquially as “the PhD whisperer”, his ground-up leadership has made a measurable impact on both people and purpose at Heriot-Watt University.

His core areas of impact are direct supervision, leading and mentoring teams of supervisors, leading the development of the School of Social Science’s postgraduate research (PGR) programmes and Doctoral Centre – measurably improving PGR satisfaction – and well-being. He most recently ascended to the position of associate executive dean for research and impact.

It is Professor Gibson’s perennial sense of possibility, teamwork, professionalism and inclusion that set his work apart.

Professor Ursula Hurley, professor of life writing, University of Salford

Ursula Hurley is an outstanding research supervisor known for her unique approach to enabling challenging or unconventional PhD projects. Her groundbreaking application of practice-based research is constantly redefining what a PhD can be.

Professor Hurley challenges the traditional academic norms of the PhD through creative methodologies and interdisciplinary approaches, resulting in uniquely structured projects that require significantly more involvement on her part than the conventional PhD format.

She treats the PhD as a literary genre – something to be evolved, questioned and disrupted – and has successfully supervised 14 PhDs to completion, with a further 12 under supervision.

Professor Hurley is bound by a mission to “subvert the PhD from the inside”. This has led to pioneering work in decolonising research, with Professor Hurley supporting students to incorporate indigenous knowledge, non-standard English and experimental formats into their theses. She has helped students from under-represented backgrounds to achieve extraordinary outcomes.

Professor Alastair Owens, School of Geography, Queen Mary University of London

Alastair Owens has made a distinctive contribution to doctoral provision at Queen Mary University of London by securing numerous UK Research and Innovation-funded collaborative studentships – where projects are conceived with and co-supervised by non-academic organisations.

Through competitive bids to Arts and Humanities Research Council and Economic and Social Research Council schemes, he has won funding for 15 collaborative doctoral awards (CDAs) (10 as principal investigator, five as co-investigator: probably more than any humanities scholar in the UK, worth more than £1.3 million in UKRI funding to Queen Mary), including two new CDAs starting in October 2025.

These form the bulk of the PhDs he has supervised: 15 to successful completion, five in progress, two to commence in the autumn. Professor Owens has become expert at supporting students in balancing the need to research and write a thesis with opportunities for gaining professional experience and development in non-academic settings, securing research impact, and engaging with the public.

When Michael Sweet joined the University of Derby in 2013, he brought a deep passion for mentoring the next generation of scientists.

He has supervised nine PhDs and three MPhils to completion, with 15 more under way. His former students now lead in global conservation, consultancy, research and aquaria, co-founding initiatives such as the Coral Spawning Lab and the Olive Ridley Project.

But it’s not just about academic outcomes. Professor Sweet invests personally in every student – broadening their skills, building confidence and opening doors through his global network. He has created an international postgraduate exchange programme with partners from Brazil to Saudi Arabia, and helped launch a £20,000 SeaLife Trust scholarship to support innovative marine biology projects.

Now, with the launch of a new fellowship on the horizon, he’s scaling that impact even further – driving bold, cross-disciplinary research that doesn’t just shape careers, but helps shape the future of our planet.

Autistic students are more likely to drop out of university than any other group. To help combat this, the autism team at De Montfort University has introduced new initiatives to help support autistic students through their studies and build their social skills.

The introduction of a therapy dog, Cara, who was used in more than 60 sessions in the academic year, has been particularly popular in helping students calm down when they’re anxious.

Tailored student support starts before term begins as the team hosts “New to DMU”, a two-day residential that gives autistic students a taste of university life in a safe and supported environment. That support was extended to include all-day drop-in sessions for the first two weeks of term to help students settle into their new surroundings.

With the support of the autism team, the dropout rate in 2023-24 for autistic students was just 6 per cent.

Science and Engineering Faculty; St John Ambulance

Student mental health and suicide prevention are critical issues in UK higher education, with almost 30,000 students reporting mental health problems in 2023. In response, Manchester Metropolitan University partnered with St John Ambulance to launch a sector-first, peer-to-peer training initiative focused on proactive support.

Three certified courses are offered through the award-winning Rise programme: a student well-being course for new students, a mental health training certificate for advanced students, and a suicide prevention training course. The training is freely available and designed to be inclusive and accessible.

In the pilot year, 700 students received accreditation, with a further 884 trained the following year. The programme now includes academic departments and professional services. By 2025-26, all student-facing peer support roles will receive suicide prevention training.

This initiative reflects Manchester Met’s commitment to ensuring that no student feels alone, and that we all have a role in supporting one another.

Tahmina Hussain

Tahmina Hussain has hugely improved student outcomes for employability since she arrived at the University of Salford by developing a programme of support that has become a model for widening placement access.

To support student employability and respond to national workforce shortages, she launched several innovative initiatives to better prepare biomedical science students for clinical placements and for Health and Care Professions Council registration.

A significant barrier identified through research and employer collaboration was the mismatch between academic preparation and NHS laboratory expectations. In response, Ms Hussain developed the Portfolio Club, an extracurricular programme that introduces students to the IBMS Registration Training Portfolio early, equipping them with placement-relevant knowledge and skills. This initiative directly enhanced employability as 100 per cent of students in the 2022-24 cohorts secured NHS placements, with a 250 per cent increase in participation by 2024-25 and a 91 per cent success rate in securing future placements.

Hannah Seale (faculty foundation coordinator in the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science); Darryl Morgan (head of learning, teaching and student experience (HoLTSE) in the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science)

In 2023-24, the foundation year for STEM in the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science (FCES) was reimagined to embed equity, belonging and student-centred support.

Each student was assigned a dedicated personal tutor, and a series of themed engagement weeks provided academic, pastoral and well-being interventions throughout the year. Support activities were designed to be inclusive, proactive and accessible – bringing key services together in informal, welcoming environments that encouraged engagement and reduced stigma.

These events enabled students to access practical advice, build peer connections and re-engage with their learning. Attendance at these sessions was high, particularly among those who had disengaged or missed key assessments. Overall pass rates rose from 51 per cent to 59 per cent; in engineering and built environment, where the intervention was concentrated, the pass rate increased by 23 per cent. Discontinuations fell, and retention increased.

This initiative demonstrates how thoughtful, embedded support transforms outcomes.

James Donovan (lead mediator, Warwick Mediation, Registrar’s Business Group)

Warwick Mediation is a multi-award-winning, sector-leading peer mediation service that supports student well-being through informal conflict resolution. Established by Jane Bryan, the service offers free, confidential and impartial support to students and provides accredited mediation training recognised by the Civil Mediation Council.

Students gain valuable skills in empathy, conflict management and problem-solving, enhancing both personal growth and employability. The project includes a “Mediation Representative” training pathway and a free online Introduction to Mediation course, also open to students beyond Warwick.

In collaboration with Warwick’s Doctoral College, the service developed tailored resources for postgraduate researchers and supervisors, promoting stronger academic relationships.

Warwick Mediation is shaping sector practice. Professor Bryan chairs the academic forum of the Civil Mediation Council and shares insights at national and international conferences. This innovative initiative builds a more connected and resilient student community while equipping students with life-changing skills for study, work and beyond.

Developed by Zurria Qureshi (mentoring manager) and multiple academic colleagues across the university (including Naseem Joban, Huseyin Dagdeviren, Tamas Kiss and Anees Ikramullah); group mentoring programmes delivered by Mariia Kogan, Silvya Jyothi and Maria Benedetto Mozo, with support from the wider Future Ready Mentoring team

Future Ready Mentoring at the University of Westminster offers students and recent graduates the opportunity to learn from industry professionals and enhance their employability through long- or short-term one-to-one career mentoring.

With the demand for mentoring growing extensively over the recent years, in-curriculum group mentoring was introduced as an innovative way to bring alumni into the classroom and scale to provide mentoring to hundreds more students annually.

In 2023-24, a total of 2,470 mentoring relationships were supported through Future Ready Mentoring, with 1,286 students taking part in group mentoring alone – a huge increase from the 632 in 2022-23 and 433 in the pilot of 2021-22. There were 124 mentors who supported group mentoring delivery, providing 2,382 hours of mentoring to 1,213 students who benefited from mentoring for the first time.

This unique form of mentoring has allowed us to successfully collaborate with academics, engage more mentors with in-person activity and support hundreds of students.

Jiteen Ahmed, head of technical services in health and life sciences at Aston University

Jiteen Ahmed, head of technical services in health and life sciences at Aston University, has made an essential and lasting contribution to institutional success, and his leadership has been both transformational and nationally significant.

He led the redevelopment of a pharmacy lab, from funding bid to delivery, creating an inclusive, sustainable, technically outstanding space, now shortlisted for two Constructing Excellence Awards.

His leadership is a testament to the vibrant and cohesive research culture across various activities, including a £1.5 million Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council grant (co-applicant), granted patent and joint authorship of research articles. He works across departments (estates, finance and digital) to align technical services with academic and student needs, fostering a collaborative, high-performing environment.

He has restructured Aston’s technical workforce to create clear career pathways, driving visibility, opportunity and efficiency. A national advocate, he serves on the Midlands Innovation TALENT Commission and chairs the Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium.

At Aston, he was elected to senate to represent professional services, amplifying technician voices in decision-making.

Helena Brown – lead technician for Sorby Environmental Fluid Dynamics Laboratory

Helena Brown is a dedicated technical specialist in particle sizing at the University of Leeds who works with diverse community groups to improve environmental practices. Uniquely, her exceptional technical expertise is matched by her passion for, and achievements in, improving outreach and widening participation.

As co-lead for equality and inclusion in the School of Earth and Environment, Ms Brown initiated and delivered successful programmes, including The School Fieldwork Fund, which continues to benefit students from disadvantaged backgrounds. She leads outreach with disadvantaged school children, encouraging engagement with further education and STEM careers. Ms Brown collaborated with colleagues on groundbreaking projects to promote and encourage safer LGBTQ+ fieldwork, resulting in co-authorship of a Nature Geoscience article.

As an active member of the technical community on school-, faculty-, institutional- and now national-level committees, Ms Brown represents technicians’ interests in Technician Commitment activities and in directing scalable, impactful change in equality, diversity and inclusion, outreach and widening participation across the broader sector.

Phil Chaplain

Phil Chaplain, senior technician at Robert Gordon University, designed and built a £100,000 bespoke flow-loop for testing the BSC Turbo Separator, an innovative device set to transform offshore oil operations by separating oil from produced water at unprecedented efficiency. His commitment ensured that the complex system was delivered ahead of schedule, enabling successful performance testing with major industry partners.

Beyond his technical achievement, Mr Chaplain supported data analysis, developed safety protocols and played a key role in showcasing the technology to global stakeholders. He also recently built a geothermal cooling system to support RGU’s international research in Kenya aimed at improving housing conditions for low-income communities.

As a respected leader, Mr Chaplain champions collaboration between technicians, researchers and students. He sits on institutional research committees and the REF 2029 panel, driving strategic decisions and lab innovations. Currently, he is leading efforts to establish a dedicated Hydrogen Laboratory, further strengthening RGU’s research infrastructure.

Dr Alex Laude (director of scientific facilities, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University)

Alex Laude has served as director of faculty research facilities, where he transformed our approach to multi-user equipment funding by developing a triage methodology centred on research technical professionals (RTPs). His model, grounded in technical expertise and knowledge of the UK Research and Innovation funding landscape, has been widely adopted across faculties.

A champion of RTP inclusion, Dr Laude empowers technical staff to co-develop funding bids, resulting in RTPs leading 80 per cent of recent proposals and securing £3.6 million across two major bids. His collaborative model has led to £6 million in total equipment investment with a high success rate (eight of 11 bids funded).

Dr Laude’s leadership not only strengthens research sustainability but also ensures that RTPs are recognised as key contributors. His impact has led to invitations to review panels for Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Medical Research Council funding.

Linda Lightley (scientific officer in fashion)

Linda Lightley, scientific officer at Northumbria University’s School of Design, has been instrumental in establishing the BioDesign Lab – one of the UK’s few facilities dedicated to sustainable material innovation. Retraining from a fashion background, she independently developed the lab, enabling safe, hands-on research with biological materials such as mycelium and bacterial cellulose.

Ms Lightley played a key technical role in the £100,000 Bio-Couture project, helping develop a life-cycle assessment framework for bio-based fashion materials. Her rapid problem-solving and technical expertise have driven research momentum and success.

She fosters collaboration across departments and mentors students in real-world innovation, including leading teams in the international BioDesign Challenge. She also champions technician representation in faculty discussions on sustainability and innovation strategy.

Ms Lightley’s entrepreneurial leadership, cross-disciplinary impact and commitment to student development embody the Technician Commitment. Her work has significantly advanced experimental sustainable design in the north-east.

John Nicolson

John Nicolson has been a driving force behind the development, recognition and empowerment of technicians at the University of Cambridge and across the UK higher education sector. As technician development adviser in HR, he has led national initiatives on professional registration, mentoring, career frameworks and workforce planning.

Mr Nicolson’s work has supported strategic change, increased technician visibility and built a strong culture of collaboration. He co-founded a cross-institutional mentoring scheme, contributed to national succession planning and role-mapping tools, and co-authored an international publication connecting UK and Argentinian technicians.

Respected for his inclusive leadership and sector-wide influence, Mr Nicolson was awarded a Professional Services Recognition Award in 2023. Although modest in style, he has had a long-term impact that has opened doors for countless others – making him an outstanding advocate for the technical community.

Joe Rees-Jones (research technician in the School of Physics, Engineering and Technology, University of York)

Joe Rees-Jones is research technician in the School of Physics, Engineering and Technology at the University of York. His specialist skills and knowledge of immersive technologies underpin a plethora of activities to deliver new approaches, techniques and experiences across research, teaching and creative practice.

Dr Rees-Jones’ technical expertise, diligence and down-to-earth approach enable the highest quality teaching, research and knowledge transfer. This is reflected in the creative outputs of the students, researchers and businesses that flourish under his guidance and support.

It is also reflected in the university’s immersive technology research and development facilities, which have been meticulously designed as spaces to accelerate research excellence and innovation in creative practice.

Kate Robinson has demonstrated exceptional commitment and leadership in ruminant science throughout her lifelong agricultural career.

From farm beginnings to a key role at a leading UK agricultural university, she has significantly improved animal welfare, data accuracy and operational efficiency. Under her leadership, her team won the prestigious RABDF/NMR Gold Cup – an unprecedented university achievement.

Ms Robinson fosters a collaborative, inclusive environment, mentoring students and fellow technicians, many of whom have secured permanent roles. She has introduced innovations that reduce animal stress and streamline husbandry and data management, reflecting her deep expertise.

Beyond her daily work, Ms Robinson actively supports the Technician Commitment, encouraging professional development and strengthening the technician community at Harper Adams University’s Future Farm.

She effectively represents technician perspectives in strategic decision-making, bridging gaps between technical, academic and leadership teams. Her technical skill, leadership and dedication to teaching, research and community make her an outstanding candidate for this award.

Professor Irene Tuffrey-Wijne and Dr Becky Anderson-Kittow (joint project leads); Dr Andrea Bruun and Sarah Gibson (joint project managers); Richard Keagan-Bull, Amanda Cresswell, Leon Jordan and David Jeffrey (research assistants with a learning disability); and Jo Giles (support research assistant for the researchers with a learning disability)

There are about 1 million people with learning disabilities in England. They are often excluded from conversations about death and dying. This can lead to severe distress, complex grief disorders and a lack of person-centred end-of-life care.

To address this, a team of researchers with learning disabilities at Kingston University led a project to develop a toolkit of resources that enables people with learning disabilities to be involved in death conversations and end-of-life care planning.

More than 200 people were actively involved in co-creating the resources, including 36 people with learning disabilities, families, care staff, managers, doctors and nurses. To encourage engagement, the team held webinars throughout the project, co-presented by people with learning disabilities and attended by more than 6,000 people.

The toolkit is now widely used by learning disability services. Marie Curie, the UK’s leading end-of-life charity, has funded the toolkit as a print and deliver service later this year.

Mapping Black London (MBL) combined traditional archival research with innovative data visualisation and spatial mapping to uncover forgotten stories of Black Londoners from the 16th century onwards. This £250,000 project, funded by Northeastern University, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the British Academy, addressed the inaccurate post-war narrative of multiracial British history that negatively impacts Black Britons’ sense of belonging.

The multigenerational, transatlantic research team overcame fragmented source materials using modern technology, creating the first interactive map of 3,000 Black Londoners and revealing previously unknown information about figures such as Charles Ignatius Sancho through innovative StoryMaps.

The research achieved extraordinary public impact: 160,000 exhibition visitors at Unforgotten Lives, 24,900 website views and community workshops. Research even informed Paterson Joseph’s novel and acclaimed one-man play about Charles Sancho. The project has secured further funding for curriculum development, creating collaborative networks with The Black Curriculum and exam boards to re-centre Black experiences within “mainstream” British history.

The Post Office scandal is one of the largest miscarriages of justice in modern English history. Current estimates suggest that as many as 1,000 victims were wrongly prosecuted; many more lost their livelihoods, and thousands had money taken from them.

University of Exeter researchers are probing the devastating impact on those involved and are working to focus attention on the systemic and widespread professional failings and misconduct of lawyers and Post Office executives.

This has ensured that professional misconduct by lawyers is a primary focus of the ongoing public inquiry, and has aided sub-postmasters in their search for compensation and justice.

Dr Guillem Colom-Montero

Dr Guillem Colom-Montero’s research into tourism and local communities in Spain and Scotland has uncovered that, despite having radically different tourism histories, the two countries are experiencing similar impacts from growth in the industry.

Through his academic work and public engagement activities, Dr Colom-Montero has established himself as a leading authority on overtourism and its social, cultural and economic tensions. By adopting a people-centred, place-based perspective, his work has enhanced understanding of the everyday experiences of local groups in overcrowded destinations, reframing academic and public debates to highlight the need for a reimagined approach.

Dr Colom-Montero has become a regular contributor offering expertise about overtourism in highly influential radio and TV programmes. His research, engagement and impact highlights the societal relevance of modern languages and cultures research and the role it has in helping us understand the world we are living in and the changes we need to make.

Dr Sarah Inskip

The Tobacco, Health and History Project, led by Sarah Inskip at the University of Leicester, is a pioneering interdisciplinary study uncovering the long-term health impacts of tobacco use in historical populations.

Despite tobacco’s early global reach, little was known about its consumption patterns before the 20th century. Funded by a UK Research and Innovation Futures Leaders Fellowship, the project analysed 1,000 archaeological human skeletal remains (15th to 19th century) from England and the Netherlands, integrating metabolomics, palaeopathology, historical archaeology and dentistry. A key breakthrough was the development of a metabolomic approach in collaboration with Leicester’s van Geest Multi-OMICs Lab, proving that archaeological bone retains usable small molecules (Scientific Reports).

Findings revealed unexpectedly high tobacco use among women (Science Advances) and linked tobacco consumption to socio-economic status and disease patterns. By bridging humanities and STEM, the Tobacco, Health and History Project reshapes historical narratives and offers invaluable insights into tobacco’s enduring health consequences.

Dr David Frayne; Professor Daiga Kamerade

The University of Salford has been at the forefront of research on the four-day working week – a bold policy to reduce weekly working hours without any loss in pay. Our research is helping to demonstrate the exciting potential of this policy, deepening understanding of its impacts and unearthing best practice.

Between them, David Frayne and Daiga Kamerade have co-led research on the world’s largest private sector pilot, on a groundbreaking government-commissioned public sector pilot, and on a UK-first pilot of the four-day week in a local authority.

It is hard to overstate the public and political impacts of these projects. Staff participating in the pilots overwhelmingly want the four-day week to continue, and most organisations involved are maintaining their four-day week policies.

Our researchers have engaged widely with businesses, unions and international media, have addressed politicians across the UK and have informed the design of a prospective Welsh national pilot.

The UK leads Europe in fast fashion waste, discarding more than 200,000 tonnes of textiles annually. In response, the Kingston-based sustainable fashion brand KAPDAA partnered with Kingston University on AI4Fibres, led by Vasilis Argyriou, to develop AI-driven textile recycling solutions.

Between September 2023 and 2024, Professor Argyriou secured £3 million from Innovate UK for three major projects: AI4Fibres, Portable AiFibres and ReFibres. The initiative has been praised nationally for its portability and its accuracy in sorting blended materials, including recognition at the 2023 AI Safety Summit.

Pilots processed more than 10 tonnes of waste, achieving 92 per cent sorting accuracy and the capacity to handle 30 tonnes weekly. The technology enables transformation of waste into products such as loft insulation and carpet underlay.

Key innovations include rapid robotic sorting, UV sterilisation, long-fibre extraction and material-binding, supporting up to 16 fabric types, including challenging blends – paving the way for sustainable textile reuse.

The E-MOTIVE team, led by Professor Arri Coomarasamy

E-MOTIVE, a global trial led by the University of Birmingham, has transformed maternal healthcare, improving the detection and treatment of post-partum haemorrhage (PPH) – the leading cause of maternal death worldwide.

Coordinated by the Birmingham Clinical Trials Unit across Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania, the trial showed a 60 per cent reduction in severe PPH and significant increases in diagnosis and treatment rates. Despite challenges such as medicine availability, the intervention proved to be a cost-effective, scalable solution to making childbirth safer.

The research, led by Arri Coomarasamy, has quickly gained international recognition and adoption. E-MOTIVE recommendations have been included in global road maps for PPH, endorsed by international professional bodies for maternal health practitioners and adopted into national guidelines in several countries.

With continued international collaboration for implementation and support from the World Health Organization and the Gates Foundation, E-MOTIVE is projected to save up to 20,000 lives annually.

The PROFILE trial team

Crohn’s disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory condition that can have a profound health and socio-economic impact on patients, typically affecting educational achievement, relationships and employment.

PROFILE was a clinical trial for patients with newly diagnosed Crohn’s disease that investigated whether offering early biologic therapy from the point of diagnosis improved outcomes. The results were dramatic, proving that early effective therapy was highly efficacious and the safer treatment strategy for patients.

Colleagues and patients around the world have highlighted how these findings have helped to raise the bar and have given hope as to what can be achieved for those newly diagnosed with Crohn’s disease.

Given the impact of the findings and the patient benefits, the PROFILE team has been awarded several awards, including a research impact award from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO) investigator-initiated study of the year award.

Dr Noemi Procopio (principal investigator, Forens-OMICS, and senior research fellow in forensic science)

The Forens-OMICS project is pioneering the use of cutting-edge “-omics” technologies – proteomics, metabolomics and microbial DNA profiling – to revolutionise how forensic scientists estimate time since death and identify human remains.

By analysing biomolecular changes in bones and soft tissues, the project delivers more accurate, reproducible and court-admissible methods, particularly for skeletonised or decomposed cases.

Collaborations with international animal and human taphonomy facilities, including ones in North Dakota and Texas, have enabled significant improvement in the accuracy of time-since-death estimations.

This work led to real-world applications, including microbiome-based evidence being accepted in an Italian murder case and a UK police-supported project on using the microbiome for individual identification.

The project is also influencing international policy through a study funded by the National Institute of Justice on how bone treatment affects molecular preservation.

Professor Weizi (Vicky) Li (University of Reading); Nicholas Berin Chan (University of Reading); Eghosa Bazuaye (Royal Berkshire Hospital); Toluwanimi Akinola (Royal Berkshire Hospital); Kiki Kontra (Royal Berkshire Hospital)

“Did not attend” (DNA) appointments pose a significant challenge for the NHS, with 11.8 million missed hospital appointments in 2024 costing nearly £1.9 billion and exacerbating waiting lists. Patients in deprived neighbourhoods are twice as likely to miss appointments because of barriers such as transport difficulties and work commitments, widening health inequalities.

To tackle this, Weizi Li's team co-developed the first explainable AI decision-support system in the NHS with Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust (RBFT). Trained on more than 500,000 appointments across 80-plus specialties, the AI predicts non-attendance risk with 92 per cent accuracy and highlights individual risk factors such as deprivation level and mental health issues. Staff then call high-risk patients, using AI-generated insights to guide conversations and deliver targeted support based on each patient’s needs.

Operational across all RBFT sites and departments since 2023, the system supports 694,199 annual appointments and has reduced high-risk non-attendance by 40 per cent, delivering an estimated £250,000 in cost savings.

Dr Massoud Zolgharni

Project UNITY, funded by the British Heart Foundation, is a collaboration between the University of West London, Imperial College London, 22 NHS trusts and the British Society of Echocardiography. It aims to enhance echocardiography, a key cardiac diagnostic tool, by integrating AI to address challenges such as image variability and subjective interpretation.

UWL’s Intelligent Sensing and Vision Lab developed deep learning models for echocardiography, achieving over 95 per cent accuracy in automated view classification and clinician-level cardiac timing detection.

The project has created a rich training resource with more than 200,000 annotated cases and has led to significant societal and clinical benefits, including quicker, more consistent scans and reduced diagnostic variability.

Project UNITY has also spurred new research initiatives and industry engagement, making AI in healthcare more accessible to the public.

2023-24 was a transformational year for the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology. It saw the institute successfully complete phase one of its ambitions since its founding in 2017 and launch its five-year strategic plan 2023-28.

The institute demonstrated its commitment to excellence through becoming the first provider to successfully complete the new degree-awarding powers process, with the Office for Students describing this as breaking new ground. Meanwhile, Ofsted awarded the institute “outstanding” in all areas, for its flagship degree apprenticeship, commenting “…training provided to apprentices is of the highest standard and helps to create world-class engineers”.

And there was so much more, from hosting academic conferences, launching new programmes, winning awards for safeguarding its learners, and removing barriers to prospective students through an engineering club and virtual work experience to achieve its access and participation aspirations.

This year, Falmouth University launched three transformative initiatives that are enhancing resilience, driving innovation and delivering on the bold ambitions of our new strategy.

Guided by a strong vision and supported by determined leadership, Falmouth is responding to sector-wide challenges with clarity and purpose, leveraging our strengths in creativity and digital technology to benefit our student community and our region, delivering on our commitment to becoming the university for creativity and technology and establishing Cornwall as the “Country of Creative Learning”.

Our Centre for Blended Realities is pioneering new disciplines at the intersection of creativity and immersive technologies; the Academy of Continuing Education is expanding access to high-quality learning; while Launchpad Futures is throwing open the doors of Falmouth’s excellence and expertise to local businesses in support of the regional economy.

Together, these initiatives are laying the foundations for long-term impact in education, research, knowledge exchange and civic contribution.

In 1901, a bequest from Thomas Harper Adams founded a college to serve the farming community. Today, Harper Adams University is the UK’s premier higher education institution serving the agri-food and animal well-being industries.

It supplies the largest cohort of graduates in the sector. It produces internationally excellent research and has dynamic relationships with more than 1,000 employers.

While remaining true to its roots, Harper Adams has extended its reach locally, globally and in the subjects it teaches. In 2023-24, it started work on a new digital skills hub in Telford to encourage local talent and support the local economy. It launched, through the School of Sustainable Food and Farming, multiple education and knowledge exchange programmes.

Internationally, Harper Adams celebrated 20 years of partnership with a Chinese provider, welcomed a fresh cohort of sustainable agriculture scholars from across Africa and was granted official observer status at the COP28 climate change conference.

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine is the world’s oldest school of tropical medicine, and still one of only a handful of expert institutions globally dedicated to research and education in this life-saving area.

2023-24 marked our 125th anniversary, our tenth year as an independent higher education institution and a year of significant research, education and policy milestones improving the health of the world’s most disadvantaged communities.

This year saw our research portfolio grow to close to £750 million, the establishment of a new international collaboration to prevent death and disability from tropical snakebite, and the development of foundational principles in research collaborations to tackle global health inequities.

In Liverpool, LSTM led a multimillion-pound campus redevelopment to enhance our global education offer, and contributed to Liverpool’s health innovation ambitions through a huge investment in the regional life sciences sector.

James Newby (president and chief executive officer). While all staff have some involvement with external engagement, Peter Metcalfe (associate professor), Jen Newton and Ben Ricketts deserve particular mention for their work with employer partners

New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE) is redefining specialist engineering education through a unique, accelerated curriculum, a bold admissions policy and strong industry partnerships.

In 2023-24, its first cohort graduated and secured high-quality roles with leading employers such as BAE Systems and Balfour Beatty – proof of NMITE’s work-ready focus.

Drawing from global best practices, NMITE combines team-based learning, integrated theory and skills training, and studio-based delivery. Every module is driven by real-world industry challenges, with companies shaping project briefs. A dedicated partnership advisory group and formal industry agreements ensure continuous input and relevance.

NMITE’s innovative model not only delivers technically proficient, adaptable graduates but also influences national and international education discourse. Through collaboration, thought leadership and a scalable, challenge-led approach, NMITE is helping to reshape engineering education and regional development for the 21st century.

Norland’s consistent achievement of the highest accolades, innovative educational offerings, outstanding graduate outcomes, and impactful research and outreach activities demonstrate its exceptional performance and steadfast commitment to excellence, innovation and impact during the 2023-24 academic year.

From its rigorous academic programmes and cutting-edge initiatives to its community engagement and global influence, Norland exemplifies what it means to be a specialist institution of the highest calibre and to establish itself as a beacon of excellence in specialist higher education globally.

In 2023-24, Norland did not merely educate; it transformed lives, shaped futures and set new standards for excellence and innovation.

DCU Futures, in collaboration with DCU Academic Systems Unit, Symplicity and DCU Teaching Enhancement Unit

Working with academic systems partners Symplicity, Dublin City University launched a pioneering skills platform, myskills.dcu.ie, in 2024. Myskills pulls together years of work under the Higher Education Authority’s Futures Project to develop and embed a transversal skills framework into undergraduate programmes.

The formal assessment of skills at module level is fed into Myskills, where students can also evidence their extracurricular skill development. The platform allows students to capture and detail experiences that have formed their skill progression.

Myskills has transformed DCU graduates’ ability to speak to their academic and skills development through using their tangible skills report as evidence. Finally, prospective employers have a report that demonstrates the students’ skill development, complementing the traditional academic transcript. Currently, students on 15 programmes are utilising Myskills; this number will rise to 26 in academic year 2025-26, a process that will continue until all undergraduate programmes have transversal skills at their core.

Lesley McIvor (Solent University’s contract and project manager), in partnership with Sodexo

Solent University, Southampton is pioneering digital innovation in higher education through its use of the Everyday App, developed in partnership with Sodexo, a food services and facilities company.

Launched in June 2021 and enhanced significantly in 2023, the app enables staff and students to order food via phone or kiosk, with over 11,000 users and more than 135,000 transactions, generating a £741,000 turnover. The university has been recognised as a Sodexo Centre of Digital Innovation for using the app to reduce food waste by 48 per cent, boost sustainability and enhance inclusivity.

It has also integrated the app into its contextual offer scholarship scheme, providing eligible students with £500 in dining credits to help combat food insecurity and the rising cost of living. In 2024-25, 98 scholarships were awarded, totalling £49,000, with plans to increase this to 150 in 2025-26.

The app also supports dietary needs, ensuring a dining experience that supports student well-being and academic success.

Dr Chris Macdonald (founder)

Speech anxiety affects 80 per cent of university students, and it impacts well-being, academic attainment and career progression.

To address this, we built a first-of-its-kind online platform that transforms users into skilled and confident public speakers. Tailored course material develops core skills, and virtual reality training environments accelerate learning and build confidence.

Multiple world-firsts were achieved to make the platform uniquely accessible and effective. As revealed in the academic journal Frontiers, the platform has been clinically proven to increase levels of confidence after a single 30-minute session (the paper is in the top 1 per cent of research outputs).

The open-access platform and its accompanying research have been widely praised in more than 100 media outlets – including the BBC, The Guardian and The Times. The platform has hosted over 100,000 practice presentations – and its growth is accelerating.

In short, the positive impact has expanded far beyond our institution, and it continues to transform lives.

Faculty of Science, Business and Enterprise

The University of Chester has embarked on an ambitious strategy to become a global university, where educational excellence transforms lives. To support this endeavour, the Faculty of Science, Business and Enterprise pioneered two interlinked digital initiatives: the International Citizen Student Show and the Micro MBA (master of business administration). These projects have transformed our connection with prospective students, alumni and partners – delivering flexible, high-impact content across borders and time zones.

The combination of interactive live shows and modular online learning is transferable to other subjects and institutions, offering a simple but compelling blueprint to support internationalisation efforts through innovative, learner-centred digital engagement.

Marie Storrar; Dr Tod Van Gunten

This initiative reimagines the traditional academic poster, addressing opportunities to engage non-specialist audiences. By embedding interactive data visualisations using Flourish, we transform dense research into an exploratory experience, directly enhancing the university’s vital knowledge transfer function.

This innovative application of existing technology empowers users – from policymakers to members of the public – to actively investigate findings, personalising the data to their own needs. This saves time, deepens comprehension and boosts the real-world impact of academic research.

The resulting model is highly scalable and offers a replicable blueprint for any institution in the sector seeking to amplify the reach and resonance of its academic work.

Launched in the 2023-24 academic year at the University of Leeds, HELIX is a pioneering hub for digital innovation, established to transform the ways staff and students create, collaborate and co-design across disciplines.

HELIX represents a £3.2 million investment over five years to drive the future of education and enterprise, blending cutting-edge digital technology with an ethos of openness and accessibility.

Across a 1,000m₂ footprint, our digitally enabled infrastructure – including an immersive XR classroom with 80-plus Meta Quest headsets, podcast and film studios, a state-of-the-art maker space, and the UK’s only Omnideck 360° VR treadmill – has catalysed experimentation and cross-disciplinary work from the arts and humanities and business to engineering and medicine.

Liverpool John Moores University

The Roma Education Aspiration Project (REAP) was launched to tackle the educational marginalisation of Roma. Led by Liverpool John Moores University and supported by government funding, REAP celebrates Roma identity and raises aspirations through a community-led, university-supported model.

Key achievements include signing the Gypsies, Travellers, Roma, Showmen and Boaters (GTRSB) Pledge, building a cross-sector support network, and putting GTRSB voices at the centre of decision-making. Following in the university’s footsteps, several other local institutions have now signed the GTRSB Pledge.

The university’s proactive, community-centred model offers a blueprint for systemic change in widening participation, embedding equity, voice and partnership into outreach strategies, ensuring that no community is left behind.

The access development team

In 2023, Sheffield Hallam University achieved its objective to increase the proportion of Black British students to 6 per cent. As a regionally focused institution in a location where Black British people account for only 2.5 per cent of the population, this is a significant achievement in widening participation.

The university’s cohort is now 6.9 per cent Black British, an increase of 33 per cent since the development of the university’s Black British Pathway Programme (BBPP).

The BBPP incorporates innovative methods to support Black British student recruitment and access, prioritising feelings of belonging and mattering.

Success has been achieved through co-creation with current students, who take part in interactive sessions, developing policies to encourage and support incoming cohorts.

This approach is truly innovative and a model for the sector. Through this programme, Sheffield Hallam has improved access for Black British students into higher education and tangibly enriched the diversity of the university.

Dr Patrick Murphy and undergraduate students (Annabel, Jodie, Meryem, Neel, Marcus, Emma, Jas, Mayana, Joel, Josie, Lucy and Maisie)

Inclusive science education research projects focusing on promoting equality, diversity and inclusion, widening participation and social justice have been co-designed with undergraduate students, working in partnership with a range of external stakeholders including schoolchildren, teachers and health professionals from local, national and international schools, charities, science, educational, community and health organisations.

The project results have been published in peer-reviewed journal articles. Several learning resources have been produced for schoolteachers and schoolchildren, including a resource showcasing diverse scientists as role models.

Student feedback on this mode of research project has been very positive; students particularly enjoyed working with community stakeholders and producing creative, innovative and impactful real-world outputs. Demand for this mode of research project has been high, and training has been delivered for other universities to offer this mode of project to their students.

The project outputs have improved schoolchildren’s sense of belonging and their aspirations to access university and to pursue a STEM career.

The University of Greenwich is a national leader in supporting care-experienced students, welcoming one of the highest intakes in England.

Recognising the unique challenges these students face, the university created Greenwich Friends, a peer mentoring programme offering tailored, pre-arrival and ongoing support.

Trained student mentors – many with lived experience – provide guidance on everything from student finance to well-being, helping new students navigate university life with confidence and connection. Students engaged in the programme had a withdrawal rate of just 2.5 per cent, compared with 11 per cent among non-participants.

Mentoring begins months before enrolment and continues throughout the academic year, fostering belonging and reducing isolation. With about 200 care-experienced students in its community, Greenwich ensures that they are not only welcomed but also empowered to succeed.

This high-impact, human-centred approach reflects the university’s broader commitment to equity, inclusion and student success.

Laide Bissessar; Rachel Hughes

The Student Opportunity Fund, developed by the University of Hertfordshire’s widening access and student success team, addresses a critical gap in student support.

While traditional bursaries cover living costs, the Student Opportunity Fund enables under-represented students – including care leavers, estranged students, refugees and young carers – to access enriching, high-impact experiences that build cultural and social capital.

Launched in 2023-24 via the Blackbullion platform, the Student Opportunity Fund offers up to £2,000 annually, empowering students to define their own success – whether through attending international conferences, developing creative projects or launching entrepreneurial ventures.

In its first year, nearly £35,000 was awarded to 28 students, with 71.43 per cent continuing their studies and 71.3 per cent of graduates achieving first-class degrees. Supported students report having increased confidence, expanded networks and higher aspirations.

The Student Opportunity Fund is not just financial aid – it’s a reimagining of equity in higher education. Its student-led, flexible model is distinct from sector norms and offers a scalable blueprint for institutions seeking to remove barriers and unlock potential.

Dr Ali Struthers (director of widening participation, Warwick Law School)

School Tasking is a creative legal outreach programme that uses the format of Channel 4’s Taskmaster comedy game show to inspire Year 5 pupils from widening participation backgrounds. Led by university law students, sessions introduce children to legal thinking through fun, interactive classroom tasks.

Created by Ali Struthers in 2021, School Tasking has grown into one of the UK’s largest widening participation collaborations. In 2024-25, more than 3,500 pupils from 31 universities took part, with a Champion of Champions final hosted by Taskmaster creator Alex Horne.

Evaluation shows that pupils’ understanding of law improved from 87 per cent to 94 per cent, with average programme ratings of 4.3 out of 5 stars. Participants also gained legal vocabulary and increased awareness of higher education.

School Tasking is joyful, scalable and genuinely innovative – combining popular culture and academic outreach to widen access to law and university. It’s not just memorable – it’s transformational.