Prof Sally Hardy awarded Skellern Lifetime Achievement Award
By: Communications
Professor Sally Hardy, who is Director of the Norfolk Initiative for Coastal and Rural Health Inequalities and from UEA’s School of Health Sciences, has been awarded a national lifetime achievement award for her services to mental health nursing.
Prof Hardy was nominated by peers for the 2025 Skellern Lifetime Achievement Award for her services to mental health nursing.
In addition to being a founding member of the Skellern Awards, Prof Hardy now joins an illustrious list of award winners who have been recognised for their contribution to mental health experiences, stretching back to 1982.
She is also currently leading a £3.9m innovation at UEA called the Norfolk Initiative for Coastal and rural Health Equalities (NICHE), working to enhance integrated care and associated workforce advancements.
The Skellern Lifetime Achievement Award is named after Eileen Skellern, who championed mental health nursing, service improvements, and patient and person-centred leadership. Following her death in 1980, a lecture series was founded in her name to continue to celebrate advancements and personal achievements in the profession of nursing.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is one of two Skellern award categories, alongside the Skellen Lecture. Nomination and voting takes place among peers – made up of mental health nursing academics, researchers, commissioners and practitioners – who have several choices each year from which to place their vote.
A colleague recently praised Prof Hardy's humility, stating: “There is something in [her] nature that stays with me. I emulate [her] leadership style a lot in encouraging others to shine.”
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