Innovation and dedication in societal engagement were celebrated as part of the annual Staff Awards at Imperial on 3 July.

Innovation and dedication in societal engagement were celebrated as part of the annual staff awards at Imperial on 3 July.

The President’s Awards for Excellence in Societal Engagement recognise staff members who have demonstrated an outstanding contribution to deliver inspiring engagement activities or supported the development of a culture of societal engagement at Imperial. 

From individuals co-producing research with communities, hoping to inspiring future generations, toand teams exploring how to build empathy and connection, this year’s recipients demonstrated an ambitious range of engagement. 

Professor Maggie Dallman, Associate Provost (Societal Engagement) said:

"Our Societal Engagement Award winners have shown what’s possible when we listen, collaborate, and build lasting relationships with our audiences.They are strengthening a culture of engagement, one where different voices are not just welcomed but truly valued. This dedication is what makes Imperial a world-leading university." 

Widening access to science 

Whilst many awardees had been told in advance of the celebrations, the recipient of the President’s Medal for Excellence in Societal Engagement is kept under wraps until the event. The 2025 medal winner was announced as Simon Foster from the Faculty of Natural Sciences. The space scientist and Outreach Manager speaks to thousands of schoolchildren and public audiences about the wonders of science each year.

A longstanding member of Imperial’s engagement community and a fantastic champion and supporter of this work, Simon delivers talks and workshops at schools, youth groups, science clubs, national organisations such as the Royal Meteorological Society and Institute of Physics, festivals and charities. His inspiring ethos of widening access to science for disadvantaged groups was cited as a key reason for his nomination. 

 Leading the way

The Leadership Award went to Anna Lawrence-Jones (pictured) of the Department of Surgery and Cancer. As Public Involvement Lead for the Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI), Anna is credited with going above and beyond her role to ‘shift the culture’ of societal engagement at the Institute.

 
Writing in support of her nomination, IGHI Co-Director Professor the Lord Ara Darzi said: “Research and innovation can only solve problems in healthcare when solutions are deeply rooted in people's needs and values. Anna makes sure that people are at the core of everything we do across the Institute of Global Health Innovation, the North West London Patient Safety Research Collaboration, The Fleming Initiative, and across our many national collaborations.” 

Designing outreach for global impact 

Ben Howard, Research Associate in the Department of Civil Engineering took the Individual Achievement Award. Working in partnership with local communities in Tamale, Ghana, Ben led the design and delivery of a large programme of engagement activities on climate change adaptation.

During seven visits to Tamale, totalling six months, Ben delivered innovative engagement activities that directly reached over 1000 people and indirectly thousands more. He established a team of partners including citizens, schools, universities, governments, chiefs, and NGOs in an innovative co-production of knowledge approach. 

Engaging through storytelling with empathy 

One in ten people experience chronic cough, which can last for decades and have a debilitating impact. Participatory public engagement project Let’s Talk About Cough creates empathy and understanding about chronic cough by sharing stories in creative ways, including via Story Exchange. This innovative online programme of creative workshops brings together diverse individuals with lived experience of chronic cough and researchers working to understand and treat chronic cough in an exchange of stories 
Let’s Talk About Cough took the Team Achievement Award. 

Listen to the audio experience One in Ten on the Let's Talk About Cough website.

Successful partnerships for meaningful involvement

The Partnership Award recognises those who collaborate with us from outside our Imperial community to make engagement happen. This year, the award was given to The Marylebone Project, led by Centre Manager Miriam Kennedy and Deputy Manager Semhar Rota (pictured), which supports women in Westminster to overcome homelessness. They partnered with the Institute of Global Health Innovation on an 18 month project exploring approaches to meaningfully involve women experiencing homelessness in research. 

 
Exceptional individuals share Student Award

 
Two PhD students shared the Student Individual Award this year for their ambitious and dedicated work in societal engagement.

Life Sciences PhD student Mahika K. Dixit has led, developed, and contributed to a wide range of creative public engagement projects designed to engage local communities with nature and climate change during her time at Imperial. These include the Butterfly Wing Carnival at this year’s Great Exhibition Road Festival, as well as making Animal Paper Plate Masks, 'A Day in the Rainforest' at the Science Cabaret, Story Lounge, Music of the Earth and Paint Lab in previous years. 

Sarindi Aryasinghe, from the Department of Public Health, shared the award for her research on the use of co-production within an integrated care system to address ethnic inequities in maternity care. With funding from Imperial’s Societal Engagement Seed Fund, Sarindi’s work explored the alignment of health professionals' and community perspectives on improving maternity care for Black, African, Caribbean, and mixed-Black heritage families within North West London. 
 

Tackling underrepresentation

The Student Team Award went to the Women in Mechanical Engineering society, who developed a schools’ outreach programme aiming to inspire girls of all ages and backgrounds. Women are significantly underrepresented in engineering and the pace of change is still slow, despite progress in other STEM areas.

Led by chair, Lucy Di (pictured), an undergraduate on the Mechanical Engineering course, the committee built the programme from scratch and have already visited twelve schools in just twelve weeks. 

Feeling inspired?

If you’re inspired by any of the stories of this year’s award winners, please get in touch with the team. We can help you plan, fund and develop your engagement projects from start to finish. Visit our webpages, sign up to the Societal Engagement newsletter or email us for more information, advice and resources.