Oxford celebrates the inaugural Vice-Chancellor’s Innovation and Engagement Awards
The Vice-Chancellor's Innovation and Engagement Awards ceremony recognises and celebrates the wide range of ways in which research undertaken at the University of Oxford makes a positive difference to the economy, the environment, and society.
Highly Commended
These awards recognise work from across the University including the gardens, libraries and museums and represent partnerships locally, nationally and internationally. The judging panel felt that the following should all be highly commended for their important contributions to maternal health, inclusive and representative museums, fairness in the gig economy, and the Covid-19 response:
• LanguageScreen
• The Radical Hope and Critical Change Programme
• ONS COVID-19 Infection Survey
• ‘after birth’: engaging with maternal mental health through theatre
• Fairwork: Holding digital Labour Platforms Accountable
Covid-19 response winners
Covid-19 was an extraordinary situation which required extraordinary responses. It is testament to the breadth and depth of Oxford’s research base and partnerships which allowed our researchers to contribute to so many facets of the Covid response. The judging panel felt that the following projects should receive particular recognition for their global reach and positive impact on millions of lives.
• COVID-19 Parenting Emergency Response
• The RECOVERY Trial of COVID-19 Treatments
• Quick Cash-based Poverty Relief during Covid-19
• The Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine: a vaccine for the world
Winners
Oxford researchers have been responding to many other challenges through their innovation and engagement with a wide variety of partners. The following projects are responses to issues including mental health, race and belonging, access to justice, and the climate crisis. The judging panel felt that they all represent examples of excellent research practice and culture from across different disciplines and career stages.
• The Difu Simo Mental Health Awareness Campaign
• Teaching Race, Belonging, Empire and Migration (TRACTION)
• LEAP Public Engagement – Meat Your Persona and Meat the Future
• Supporting Online Justice – Enhancing Accessibility, Participation and Procedural Fairness
Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Louise Richardson DBE said: ‘This year’s awards are both inspirational and unusual in that they include submissions that have, quite literally, saved millions of lives around the world. They also demonstrate that innovation doesn’t necessarily involve creating something new, but can be just as effective when it involves thinking in new ways about established techniques or therapeutics.
‘I would like to thank all those who have submitted proposals to this year’s awards as well as everyone who participates in the University’s work on Innovation and Engagement.’
You can also watch the discussion chaired by Pro-Vice Chancellor for Innovation, Professor Chas Bountra, between the panel of guest experts
• Alice Frost, Director of Knowledge Exchange at Research England
• Sir John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford
• Professor Trevor McMillan, Vice-Chancellor of Keele University and Research England KE Champion
and see what they had to say about “How can universities help solve the challenges the world is facing?”
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