Professor John Colvin and PhD student Cathy Gwandu collect whitefly specimens in cassava field in central Malawi (image credit: University of Greenwich)
Four Alliance universities were recognised last night in the Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for outstanding excellence and innovation in higher and further education.
Cardiff Metropolitan University, the University of Greenwich, the University of Huddersfield and Nottingham Trent University all received the prestigious honour at a ceremony in St James’ Palace in London.
The Prize comprises 21 awards. They are part of the UK’s national honours systems and are considered to be one of the UK’s highest accolades to a UK academic institution.
Maddalaine Ansell, Chief Executive of University Alliance, said:
“Alliance universities make a real difference to people’s lives both in the UK and around the world. I am delighted that the Queen’s Anniversary Prize has recognised the excellence, innovation and impact of their work.
“The range of universities receiving these prestigious awards reflects the diversity of our higher education system. This is a real strength for the UK – and should be nurtured through a TEF that recognises different kinds of excellence in teaching, maintaining the dual support system and continuing to fund excellence wherever it is found.”
Professor Paul Evans’ X-ray imaging research has pioneered new methods for the detection of concealed weapons and explosives (image credit: Nottingham Trent University)
The four Alliance universities who received Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education are:
Cardiff Metropolitan University was honoured for its work in 3D digital scanning technologies and advanced manufacturing for use in maxillofacial reconstructive surgery to treat disease or following trauma. This pioneering work enables the rapid production of devices for use in surgical procedures. It has produced direct benefit through making prosthetics for individual patients and major advances in surgical training as a result of improved accuracy in the use of simulation on surgery training and other educational applications. We featured this work in our Real World Impact project earlier this year, read more here.
The Natural Resources Institute (NRI) at the University of Greenwich was honoured for its work on cassava, a tropical root crop, which is a staple food in sub-Saharan Africa. NRI’s innovative research and development at every step in cassava’s journey ‘from farm to fork’ has improved crop production and the incomes of rural farming communities. The NRI’s research also featured in our Real World Impact project, read more here.
The University of Huddersfield was honoured for its work in promoting, producing and presenting contemporary music to an international audience. The university has brought new music to new audiences and developed generations of creative artists. It also created the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival – the largest international platform for new and experimental music in the UK which has a global reputation.
Innovative 3D digital scanning technologies and advanced manufacturing research at Cardiff Met is used in maxillofacial reconstructive surgery to treat disease or following trauma (image credit: Cardiff Metropolitan University)
Nottingham Trent University was honoured for its world-class research. Researchers developed a new method of X-ray imaging, using a single X-ray source to produce ‘divergent beams’ capable of capturing different views of an object under inspection. This has improved weapons and explosives detection in luggage – improving safety and security for travellers. Food microbiology work has lowered the risk of severe infections among new born babies from consuming bacterially-contaminated powdered infant milk formula. And food authenticity research has been at the forefront of assisting the Government to reduce food fraud, specifically through the detection of undeclared offal and added blood in meat products. We also explored this work in our Real World Impact project, read the case study here.
The Queen’s Anniversary Prizes are awarded every two years to universities and colleges who submit work judged to show excellence, innovation, impact and benefit for the institution itself and for people and society generally in the wider world.
