Winners from the Education Awards 2024

Last Thursday 18 April we celebrated the sixth annual Sussex Education Awards. The event, co-hosted by Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost, Professor Michael Luck, and the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Students, Professor Kate O’Riordan, was held at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts.

This annual celebration recognises members of staff – both academics and those in Professional Services – who truly embody the spirit and values of the University.

After the nominations closed in March, a judging panel, made up of staff and students, reviewed over 600 nominations that students and staff submitted this year and chose the winners in each of the five categories. The winners were announced last Thursday during the ceremony.

Professor Michael Luck spoke about the importance of this annual ceremony to celebrate the hard work, intellect, and unwavering commitment to excellence that staff offer to our students. He highlighted the thousands of interactions, big and small, that our students have with staff during their time at Sussex, all of which help to create world-ready citizens and change makers.

The beginning of the ceremony saw the screening of a short film about six inspiring tutors at Sussex, entitled For a Better World. Created as a result of a grant from the Education and Innovation Fund, the film gives an insight into these teachers’ dedication and innovation as they seek to encourage students to strive for a better world.

The ceremony finished with a heartfelt video created by two student Digital Media Creators, which featured several Sussex students and alumni describing what Sussex staff mean to them.

After the ceremony, the winners, nominees and attendees moved to the café and outside area to enjoy drinks and canapés.

Kate O’Riordan and Michael Luck presented 31 awards in the categories: Teaching to Disrupt, World Readiness, Better World, Learning Together, and Inclusive Sussex.

The Teaching to Disrupt award recognises academic staff who dare to be different in their approach to teaching. The winners are:

• Dyuti Ailawadi (Global Studies)
• David M. Berry (Media, Arts and Humanities)
• Elizabeth Mills (Global Studies)
• Lucila Newell (Global Studies)
• Nat Arias (Global Studies)
• Pablo Iglesias-Rodriguez (Law Politics and Sociology)
• Warrick Roseboom (Engineering and Informatics)

The World Readiness award is a category that recognises those who help prepare and empower students for life after graduation. The winners are:

• Carole Becker (Mathematical and Physical Sciences)
• Luis Ponce Cuspinera, Helena Joyce, Luke Mitchell (Engineering and Informatics) Kathryn Mountford, Luke Mitchell (Careers and Entrepreneurship) Graziana Di Pede (Business)
• Kaz Field (Careers and Entrepreneurship) Mark Paget, Ruth Murrell-Lagnado, Mark Bagley, Greig Joilin - (Careers and Entrepreneurship Life Sciences Curriculum Development Team)
• Paul McConnell (Media Arts and Humanities)
• Helen Power-Hosking, Rebecca Nash (Estates and Facilities) Mirela Barbu (Business)

The Better World Award is for staff who are actively engaged in efforts to make a positive impact in the local community – and wider world – in creative and entrepreneurial ways. The winners are:

• Atusa Saeipour (Psychology)
• Chris Baker, Becki Cook, Anna Farlow, Jamie Smith (Chemistry Technical staff, Life Sciences)
• Janine Thorogood, Student Experience

The Learning Together award celebrates collaborations between staff and students working together on a research project or on redesigning the curriculum. The winners are:

• Adnan Quisar, Amy Cho, Anton Vasiljevs, Charlotte Richardson, Dexter Shepherd, George Smith, Guy Abdelmalek, Hugo Abbott, Jen Coney Critchley, Jude Birch, Layton Burchell, Max De La Nourgerede, Mei Happs, Paula Seidler, Tom Shoesmith, Tori Nevins, Tom Harwood, Val Knight
  (The Informatics Peer Assisted Learning team, Engineering and Informatics)
• Doran Amos, Apichaya Luathairattanametha, Kiran Lalli, Milly Rose-Wheatley, Nik Mylona, Soliana Markos, Sophie Thorne
  (Life Sciences)
• Elif Ucurum, Sasha Ritchie, Marah Rustom, Tobi Ojofeitimi, Aung Kaung Myat, Mark Labib, PJ Morrill, Jun Zhao, Harry Tautz, Yusif Al-Doujaily, Mark Rippingham, Max Goldbloom, Kate Howland, Nauris Kalnins
  (Engineering and Design Mentors, Engineering and Informatics)
• Rebecca Prentice, Amy Breij, Lizzie Burtenshaw, Aisha Campbell, Nyah Chin, Ellie Cockcroft, Jules Deluchi, Mia Diaz, Maisie Farnham, Netta Hakak, Zoe Khurshid-Madsen, Sam Lack, Oskar Leith, Yan Luo, Laurie May-Miller, Dan Mckeever, Flora Meredith, Emma Newman, Isabella Rhys-Jones Hernandez, Caius Royle, Hannah Skwarska, Elphie Taylor, Anna van den Bos, Rach Vowden, Bertie Walker, Samantha Wing
  (Global Studies)

The Inclusive Sussex Award recognises those members of staff who put into practice at least one of our five core values of kindness, integrity, inclusion, collaboration and courage, within the context of teaching and learning at Sussex. The winners are:

• Amanda Griffiths (Counselling Wellbeing and Residential Life)
• Ayomikun Idowu (Business School)
• Ambra Moroncini (Media, Arts and Humanities)
• Emily Baker (Media, Arts and Humanities)
• Joanne Chee (Student Advice and Guidance)
• James Van Yperen, Konstantinos Koumatos, Michael Taylor, Antoine Dahlqvist (Mathematical and Physical Sciences)
• Karis Jade Petty (Global Studies)
• Rosie Jones (Student Experience)
• Sarah Ison (Student Experience)
• Xiangming Tao (Tommy) (Business School)
• Karen Okuefuna-Budd (Education and Social Work)

In addition to these winners, it was with great sadness that we presented an award in the Inclusive Sussex category for a member of staff who passed away earlier this year. That member of staff was Victoria Marrache who worked in the Student Advice and Guidance team.

Victoria approached students with incredible patience, empathy and kindness, making all students feel genuinely valued.

She supported students in way that was attuned to their needs and honoured their stories, encouraging them and aiding them through difficulties which truly transformed their lives.

Victoria’s exceptional qualities and the application of these in her role at Sussex will have a lasting impact on all who knew her.

Victoria’s partner joined the ceremony and accepted the award on her behalf.

The event was a true reflection of how important each one of our staff members are to the student experience here at Sussex.

Professor Michael Luck said:

“Tonight was amazing - it was a fantastic celebration of the achievements of our staff at Sussex and what they’ve done for our students and their educational journeys.”

Professor Kate O’Riordan said:

“This was my first time hosting the awards as the PVC for Education and Students, so that was exciting because celebrating education at Sussex is all about my role, but is also personally important to me. I’ve been at Sussex a long time and I’ve done a lot of teaching here, so it’s great to be able to celebrate the community, the staff and the students.

“The award categories are all amazing, but the two that spoke to me the most are the Better World category – particularly the awards that reflected LGBTQ+ inclusion, running the University’s food bank and also doing outreach with the local schools. Also, the Inclusive Sussex Award shows an amazing array of activity and themes across that.”

Take a look at the photos from the event from University photographer, Stuart Robinson.

 We also have a highlights video created by one of our student Digital Media Creators, Manasi Barmecha: