Daniela Valenzuela, winner of Rothwell prize, holding their dissertation

Aphra Murray, winner of Oldham prize, with Prof Gabriella Cagliesi

Business School graduates celebrating at the event

Guests, students and staff at the prizegiving ceremony and dinner

The annual prizegiving dinner for Business School postgraduate students took place on 25 January at the Double Tree, by Hilton Hotels in Brighton.

The event acknowledges and celebrates the exceptional academic achievements of the School’s graduating students, and was held on the day of the Business School graduation ceremonies.

Professor Gabriella Cagliesi welcomed just over 120 guests to the event, hosted by the Business School. As well as prize winners, other guests included friends and family, course directors, professional services and senior management staff, and members of the School’s advisory board.

Monica Massucci presented the ‘Roy Rothwell Prize for Excellent Dissertation in SPRU’ to Daniela Valenzuela, MSc Strategic Innovation Management, for her dissertation titled:  “A Case Study using OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 model to query an intergovernmental organisation’s database”.

The Rothwell Prize is awarded in honour of Professor Roy Rothwell and his exceptional contribution to teaching in the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) between 1977 and 1994. He was a pioneering researcher in the field of innovation management.

The Oldham Prize, in honour of Geoffrey Oldham, co-founder and Director of SPRU (1982-1993), was awarded by Gabriella Cagliesi to Science and Technology Policy student Aphra Murray, for their dissertation titled: “Catalysts of Change? Investigating the role of intermediation in community energy development in Sussex”.

Faculty awarded a total of 41 prizes to Business School graduating students throughout the evening, in categories including Best Student and Best Dissertation/Research Project.

Accounting and Finance graduate Tor Sanderson said:

“The prize-giving dinner was a lovely way to end my graduation and formally conclude my time at Sussex; a great opportunity to celebrate the students and thank the wonderful lecturers that made it all possible.”

Strategy and Marketing graduate Sarasjuntorn Angkinun added:

"It was a great honour to receive the award for the Best Dissertation/Research Project across all Strategy and Marketing courses. I felt elated to share this moment with my professors, family, and friends. The night was truly splendid, marking the culmination of my academic journey with a sense of pride and gratitude. I extend my thanks to the University of Sussex Business School for organizing the event and recognizing students' achievements until the very end."

Mirela Barbu, Course Director for MSc Management commented:

“Learning about the fantastic accomplishments of our award winners reminds me how lucky we are to be involved in the education of young, motivated and bright people.” 

Postgraduate Prize Winners 2024

Best Student for:

Accounting and Finance

• MSc Sustainable Finance and Accounting: Mary Morrison
• MSc Financial Risk and Investment Analysis: (Joint winners) Tor Arjuna Jerome Sanderson and Ulrik Brunner
• MSc Management and Finance: Michael James Tasker
• MSc Accounting and Finance: Nneoma Obiageli Nwoha

Management

• MSc Occupational and Organisational Psychology: Danielle Sarah Markham
• MSc Management: Matthew Healey
• MSc Global Supply Chain and Logistics Management: Khaled Bibi
• MSc Human Resource Management: Callum Musk

Strategy and Marketing

• MSc International Marketing (ODL): Maëlle Mangold
• MSc Marketing and Consumer Psychology: Léna Stoz
• MSc Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Odwin Natalino

Economics

• MSc Development Economics: Helena Lowcock

Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU)

• MSc Sustainable Development (ODL): Stephen Bryne

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

• MBA Master of Business Administration: (Joint winners) Joshua Allwood and Ema Effiong

Best Dissertation/Research Project winners per department:

• Management: Syed Ashar Alam
• Strategy and Marketing: (Joint winners) Sarasjuntorn Angkinun, Eve Sarah Dickie, Donia Nobey and Dieu Linh Nguyen
• Strategy and Marketing (ODL): Maëlle Mangold
• Accounting and Finance: Hynd Hareth Al Marsumi

Consultancy Project Award – Best Team:

• Javiera Valenzuela Etchepare, Claire Tee Jiajia and Helena Pedro, for the project titled "Action plan to improve the use of a value-based segmentation model" for the company "Aviatrix"
• Matthew Healey, Baris Okuyucu and Funto Olonishwua, for the project titled "Brownfield sites market characterisation study" for the company "Cleannovation"

Rothwell Prize for Excellent Dissertation:

• MSc Strategic Innovation Management student: Daniela Valenzuela, for “A Case Study using OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 model to query an intergovernmental organisation’s database”

Oldham Prize for Excellent Dissertation:

• MSc Science and Technology Policy student: Aphra Murray, for “Catalysts of Change? Investigating the role of intermediation in community energy development in Sussex"

Congratulations to all prize winners.