Since 2018, UEA Research & Innovation Services has held an annual awards ceremony to recognise and reward UEA staff, students and recent graduates for their research, innovation and enterprise work.
The Innovation & Impact Awards shine a light on projects that have created significant impact beyond academia and have involved collaborations with partners such as industry, policy makers and NGOs. Previous winners include the Noirwich crime writing festival, the Microplastic Detection project, and student/graduate start-ups Catching a Fish in Norway, e-Surgery, Coral Eyewear and Safepoint.
This year, the UEA judging panel was joined by a guest judge for each category. Colleagues from partner organisations Archant, Barclays, Big C, Lotus, NHS Norfolk and Waveney, Norwich Theatre, and Norfolk County Council shared their knowledge and expertise, and will also announce the winners at the online ceremony on Thursday 17 June, 5-6pm.
This year’s event will include contributions from Karen Jones, UEA Chancellor, and Christie Watson, Professor of Medical and Health Humanities and author of The Courage to Care: A Call for Compassion.
If you would like to join the ceremony, email business@uea.ac.uk to register, and follow the Awards on X, formerly known as Twitter @UEAIIAWARDS for the latest information on the ceremony and finalists.
Innovation & Impact Awards Finalists 2021
Award for Student or Graduate Innovation and Enterprise
Guest Judge: Glen Webster, Barclays
- James Beavis, Muhammed Ozsoy (School of Pharmacy) for Squiish Ltd
- Josh Davies, Stuart Heyworth (School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies) for Beep
- Vyvyan Evans (School of Environmental Sciences) for Green Grub Solutions
Outstanding Social or Cultural Impact
Guest Judge: Stephen Crocker, Norwich Theatre
- Dr Andrew G Mayes (School of Chemistry) for Skeletons in the kitchen cupboard: Revealing Hidden Plastic in Tea Bags
- Prof Mika Brown, Prof Maria Gomez Bedoya, Katie Frost (School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies) for UEA Language Programme
- Dr Tom Roebuck, Dr Sophie Butler (School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing) for Unlocking the Archive: Transforming Historic Book Collections in the East of England
Outstanding Impact in Policy and Practice
Guest Judge: Fiona McDiarmid, Norfolk County Council
- Prof Andrew Fearne (Norwich Business School) for ‘Who Buys My Food?’ - From insight to action: Transforming small-scale food and drink businesses
- Dr Karen Milton (Norwich Medical School) for Developing the first global guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour for people with disability
- Dr Rupert Read (School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies) for Reinterpreting the Precautionary Principle and elaborating its consequences for government, media and civil society.
Outstanding Impact in Health, Wellbeing and Welfare
Guest Judge: Mel Pascale, Big C
- Prof Kevin Daniels, Prof Sara Connolly, Dr Helen Fitzhugh (Norwich Business School) for Developing evidence-based wellbeing approaches to help improve wellbeing and productivity across the Police Force for England and Wales.
- Prof Samuel Fountain (School of Biological Sciences) for Development of Gefapixant, a first-in-class therapy for chronic cough
- Prof Sally Hardy (School of Health Sciences) for A Centenary of Caring
Outstanding Commercialisation of Research
Guest Judge: Lorna Willis, Archant
- James Gardiner (Norwich Business School) for Studious Digital Education Ltd: The Ryze App
- Dr Amanda Hopes, Prof Thomas Mock (School of Environmental Sciences) for Precision genome engineering with OmicronCR
- Prof Jonathan Todd, Dr Ana Bermejo Martinez (School of Biological Sciences) for Bioacrylic acid production from Seaweed
Partnership of the Year
Guest Judge: Matt Windle, Lotus
- Dr Michael Grey, Dr Sarah Hanson, Ellen Boucher (School of Health Sciences), Prof Michael Hornberger (Norwich Medical School), for The SCORES Project
- Mark Hitchcock (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences) for UEA Health and Social Care Partners
- Dr Guy Peryer (School of Health Sciences) for Mobilising Compassionate Communities across East Anglia: a public health approach to palliative and end of life care
- Prof Wenjia Wang, Dr Ben Milner (School of Computing Sciences) for Developing AI Methods for Enhancing Seabed Mapping
Outstanding Contribution/Response to Covid-19
Guest Judge: Melanie Craig, NHS Norfolk and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group
- Dr Felix Naughton (School of Health Sciences) and Prof Caitlin Notley (Norwich Medical School) for The C-19 health behaviour and wellbeing daily tracker study
- Dr Lisa Taylor (School of Health Sciences) for Placement innovation to recover placement hours lost due to Covid-19 enabling health students’ course progression.
- Prof Aram Saeed and colleagues from across Schools of Biological Sciences, Engineering, Pharmacy, Faculty of Science Lab Technicians, Research & Innovation Services and external partners including Lotus Cars, for Rapid Regional Response to the Pandemic – Innovation and Collaboration
Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Achievement
Winner: Norwich Testing Initiative
- Colleagues across Norwich Medical School, School of Computing Sciences, UEA Health and Social Care Partners, IT and Computing Services, Earlham Institute and Anglia Innovation Partnership
The UEA judging panel for the 2021 Innovation & Impact Awards:
Prof Fiona Lettice, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation (Chair)
Helen Lewis, Director of Research & Innovation
Prof Laura Bowater, Director of Innovation
Dr Jon Carter, Head of Innovation
Julia Sheldrake, Head of Research
Julie Schofield, Head of Business Partnerships
Prof Claire Jowitt, Associate Dean for Research (HUM)
Dr Ben Little, Associate Dean for Innovation (HUM)
Prof Michael Hornberger, Associate Dean for Innovation (FMH)
Prof Brian Reid, Associate Dean for Innovation (SCI)
Prof Konstantinos Chalvatzis, Associate Dean for Innovation (SSF)
Prof Ted Turocy, Associate Dean for Research (SSF)
