UEA academics who help innovation thrive, recognised at awards
By: News Archive
Innovative initiatives led by professors, doctors and students at the University of East Anglia (UEA), which are making major impact in the wider world, were acknowledged during an awards ceremony last night (31 January).
UEA’s Innovation and Impact Awards, held at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich, celebrated those who have made outstanding contributions in their roles in higher education, and was hosted by UEA’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, Prof Fiona Lettice.
The awards celebrated staff, students and alumni who have shown a strong commitment to innovation and impact, and recognised collaborations between UEA, businesses and the wider community. Winners included those who have impacted health, technology and the environment.
Prof Lettice said: “I’d like to congratulate all our exceptional and inspirational finalists who are truly changing the world, responding to global challenges and helping to establish UEA and the region as a place where innovation thrives.
“Impact is important because we do fantastic research here and produce some significant findings, so it’s important they go on to make a difference to people. We’re not just creating knowledge, we’re also disseminating it.”
One such research project led by Dr Andrew Mayes scooped the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Accelerator Award. His work caused a media storm in 2018 after he developed a revolutionary method for detecting the presence of microplastics in bottled water.
“Research has to go out into the real world and as a practicing analytical chemist, developing a technique which is useful to people is putting concern about plastic waste on the map.” said Dr Mayes. “I hope this leads to a culture change across the world.”
Work to understand the cultural context within which forced marriage occurs, in order to stop future abuse of human rights, was also acknowledged. Dr Eylem Atakav from UEA’s School of Art, Media and American Studies created Growing Up Married, a documentary that follows four women from Turkey, as they recollect their memories and experiences of forced marriage as child brides. The researcher, who has since worked with Norfolk Constabulary, the NHS and the House of Lords, scooped the Outstanding Social or Cultural Impact award.
Dr Atakav said: “My project is about the visibility of women and their voice. The forced marriage and child brides film has raised other issues around sexuality, sex education and the concept of honor, and every time the film has been screened, it has led to at least one further disclosure.
“I’ve recently started thinking about using all the connections we’ve made to produce a film specifically about forced marriage in Norfolk. We think Norfolk is a place where these things don’t happen, but they do and we really need to shed light on the topic.”
One of the highlights of the night was the presentation of the award for Student or Graduate Innovation and Enterprise, which was won by Dr Oskar Wendowski and Dr Thuria Abduljhbar, two recent graduates who founded e-Surgery.com, a novel online GP and pharmacy service. Since launching in October 2018 e-Surgery has helped over 1,000 patients and dispensed over 700 prescriptions from their bespoke headquarters in Norwich.
Dr Wendowski, said: "It feels amazing to be a winner tonight and we’re really grateful for UEA and the Student Enterprise Service who have helped us so much.”
Winner of the Outstanding Impact in Policy and Practice Award was Dr Martin Scott from UEA’s School of International Development, with his research looking at the funding, production, content and effects of humanitarian journalism. His project is directly contributing to the sustainability and effectiveness of humanitarian journalism and helping to ensure that it is better funded. In doing so, it is also contributing to more effective humanitarian responses.
Dr Martin Scott spoke of his research saying: “Humanitarian news is so easily drowned out in our current news climate by Trump and Brexit, which are important issues, but so is the suffering of millions of people in crises around the world.”
Every finalist took home a trophy, and winners also received funding towards a promotional video for their project.
Related Articles
Nurses worldwide rely on intuition to triage patients
Nurses around the world use intuition to work out how sick a patient is before triaging for treatment according to new research from the University of East Anglia.
Read more
UEA nursing apprentice’s sky-high dive for Alzheimer's and Dementia awareness
On Sunday 24 September, University of East Anglia (UEA) nursing apprentice Francessca Turrell will be taking part in a charity skydive for Alzheimers Society, a UK care and research charity for people with dementia and their carers.
Read more
New book to focus on Norwich’s medieval logos
Logo Rewind: Trademarks of Medieval Norwich is a new book from UEA Publishing Project, in collaboration with CreativeUEA and featuring the work of Darren Leader, which will focus on the stories of Norwichs medieval merchants marks found in different locat
Read more