Categories - Professional Services Awards

Category 1: Community

This colleague is a hero who has gone above and beyond when it comes to putting our people first, helping to create an effective community environment for colleagues, students or alumni, where individuals can thrive and feel fulfilled.

Nominees will have contributed to this by championing inclusiveness, cohesive working, the provision of appropriate resources, or the personal development of others.

Examples

• setting up a new social network at the university
• championing inclusivity (by identifying solutions to help a colleague with a specific need, for example)
• developing an effective resource for their team to help them work more effectively.

Category 2: Excellence

This colleague is a hero who has gone above and beyond when it comes to aspiring to the highest standards, contributing to academic excellence via professional means to help transform lives.

This could be through creating an environment where staff and students can excel – by continuous improvement to University culture, or by enhancing understanding of data to improve academic planning and working practices. It could also be through work with government, businesses or charities to improve learning and career development opportunities or to enrich the impact of research.

Examples

• helping to improve research facilities that added to successful findings or outcomes
• developing a professional behaviour framework for colleagues across the University
• creating a relationship with a business that has enabled work opportunities, placements or apprenticeships
• contributing to the lobbying of government around funding policy.

Category 3: Sustainability

This colleague is a hero who has gone above and beyond when it comes to managing our resources effectively to provide long term sustainability of our operations and environmental strategy.

Nominees will have shown an appreciation for the need to ensure that we approach problems or tasks in a way that provides resilience for the future. This could be in terms of how we go about day-to-day operations, change management, resource management or income generation.

Examples

• contributing to substantial long terms cost savings for the University
• facilitating the effective operation of an environmental initiative.

Category 4: Engaged University

This colleague is a hero who has gone above and beyond when it comes to making an impact beyond our campuses. For example, having a positive role in the social, cultural, environmental, or economic life of local communities.

Nominees will have worked to help the University connect with the world through teaching, research and active engagement, or by encouraging a welcoming and outward-looking approach

This could be through work on public engagement and consultation, through promoting respect and celebration of the communities we operate in, or through helping to instil an honest attitude towards acknowledging and resolving our negative impacts.

Examples

• working on the project to develop the National Climate Education Action Plan
• helping to make available and promote the climate stripes to the wider world
• setting up a local volunteering scheme to help colleagues get involved in community work
• helping to bring about the initiative to enable Afghan women to access online learning facilities
• being involved in the development of a partnership with the NHS.