The winners of the Alliance Awards 2024 have been announced this evening, during a ceremony hosted by University of West London at their Ealing campus.
The Alliance Awards celebrates excellence in higher education and recognise achievements across all parts of Alliance universities.
Representing 16 of the UK’s leading professional and technical universities, University Alliance founded the Awards to celebrate the innovation, commitment and excellence that exists across their membership.
The winners were selected from over 130 nominations, and their work spans the breadth of university life. They included an individual who has dedicated their professional life to building nursing and critical care in LMIC countries, an outstanding student’s union going above and beyond to support disadvantaged students and the wider community, and an interfaith network bringing together local faith leaders and cultivating stronger interfaith dialogue within the university and beyond.
The full list of winners are:
The Alliance Award
Inter Faith Network, Middlesex University
The Braveheart Award, sponsored by UCAS
Nanna Blomquist, Senior Environment and Sustainability Adviser, University of Hertfordshire
The Innovation Award, sponsored by Duolingo
Ben Bushell, Senior Lecturer, University of West London
The Professionals Award
Future Students Team, University of South Wales
The Star Award
RGU:Union, Robert Gordon University
The DTA Alumni Award
Dr. Pablo Duro, Senior Medical Writer, Bionical Emas, Manchester Metropolitan University
The TechnologyOne Lifetime Achievement Award
Professor Joy Notter, Professor of Community Health Care Studies, Birmingham City University
More information about the finalists can be found here.
The ceremony was attended by over 150 guests, including shortlisted nominees, University Alliance colleagues and senior stakeholders from across higher education, partnered industries and government.
The evening included performances from the University of West London’s own Music and Performing Arts students, and even gave guests the opportunity to test out a flight simulator. There were keynote speeches from the University Alliance Chair, Professor Jane Harrington, and UWL’s Deputy Vice Chancellor Sara Raybould.
The seven award categories include five core awards, with each one representing a University Alliance core value: integrity, professionalism, innovation, collaboration and fun.
The additional two categories – Lifetime Achievement Award and DTA Alumni Award, celebrate those who have dedicated a lifetime of service to higher education, and a DTA alumnus who has demonstrated their commitment to one or more of the UA principles respectively.
University Alliance CEO Vanessa Wilson said:
“I’m not exaggerating when I say that our annual Awards ceremony just gets better every year, both with regards to the evening itself and the calibre of our amazing nominees. It’s such a privilege to be able to celebrate the amazing individuals and teams that work so hard across our member universities and provide them with the recognition they deserve.
I want to give huge thanks to our hosts this year, the University of West London, who have helped pull off another incredible awards ceremony – with all the bells and whistles you’d expect of a red carpet event! And thanks as always to our sponsors for allowing us to continue delivering a stellar event year after year.”
