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This year’s winners of the FoNS Annual Prizes for Excellence were announced yesterday at the Faculty’s Summer Celebration event.

The annual prizes for excellence recognise outstanding contributions to education, student support, equality and diversity, outreach, and health and safety within the Faculty, and honour staff and ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ who have gone above and beyond in their departments.

The celebration event saw winners named across each of the six categories of the Faculty’s annual staff awards.

The Jan de Abela-Borg Prize in Health & Safety

The Prize is given in recognition of excellence in promoting and implementing safe practices across the Faculty. It is named in memory of Jan de Abela-Borg, Faculty Safety Manager, who sadly passed away in 2014. 

This year it was awarded to Gregor Ekart, from the Department of Chemistry, who was nominated for exceptional initiative, expertise, and improvements to hazardous waster safety, compliance and efficiency that have benefitted colleagues, contractors and the department.

Highly commended in this category were Colin Campbell and Pamela Sachs Nique, from the Department of Life Sciences.

The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Prize

The EDI prize recognises those who have developed a project or initiative that significantly contributes to the enhancement of equality, diversity and inclusion across the Faculty.  

This year it was awarded to James Wilton-Ely from the Department Chemistry, for outstanding leadership in EDI, including high-impact, externally-funded initiatives that lead to more inclusive chemistry curricula and widen access to research for ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ of Black heritage.

Highly commended in this category were Olivia Adu-Bofour and Samuel Brzezicki, both from the Department of Mathematics.

The Outstanding Individual Contribution Prize

The Outstanding Individual Contribution Prize is awarded to an individual who has made a significant contribution to promoting improvements or making a positive difference to the Faculty community. 

This year it was awarded to Farheen Khan, from the Department of Chemistry, for their leadership in improving nitrogen safety, compliance, and efficiency, delivering substantial benefits to the Department. 

Highly commended in this category was Saida Mahamed, from the Department of Chemistry.

The Outstanding Team Prize

The Outstanding Team Prize recognises teams who invest time and energy into delivering outcomes and achieving goals through collaboration and sharing of knowledge. They could be a project team, a service delivery team or any other group of colleagues that are working together to demonstrate excellence. 

This year it was awarded to Lisa Haigh, Farheen Khan and Trevor Ferris, for their achievements, vision, impact and unwavering commitment, exemplifying excellence in environmental practice and collaborative leadership. 

Highly commended in this category were the Faculty of Natural Sciences Emergency Period Care Provision team, comprising of Emma Pallett; Cristebel Groves; Amelia Barron; Clara Bradberry; Mery Fajardo; Sai Nathan; Kasia Kmieckowiak; Morena Mills; Emma Mattin; and Kate Grimwood.

The Unsung Hero Prize

The Unsung Hero Prize is to recognise staff who go out of their way to make a positive difference to the Faculty community, who embody Imperial Values in their work and in the way they engage with everybody they encounter.  

This year it was awarded to Pail Beasley, from the Department of Life Sciences, for being the essential technical backbone of Silwood Park, whose reliability, skill and good humour keep the Department’s research running smoothly every day.

The Inspirational Leadership Prize

The Inspirational Leadership prize is to recognise staff who effectively lead and inspire individuals and/or teams to reach their full potential.  This year it was awarded to Ioanna Papatsouma, from the Department of Mathematics, for their outstanding leadership in teaching and student partnership in statistics education, and for guiding, mentoring and bettering junior colleagues from the learning and teaching family.

Highly commended in this category were Rebecca Middleton, from the Faculty Education Team, and Almut Veraart, from the Department of Mathematics.

The celebration event also featured interactive research demonstrations and activities from staff and PhD ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ across the Faculty, as well as an exhibition of the shortlisted images from the FoNS Research Image Competition. See the shortlist and winner here.

Find out more about the Prizes for Excellence here.