Alison Bailey receiving an award.

Daniel Fisher and Ozgu Karakulak receiving an award.

Alison Bailey and Alexander Pearson accepting an award.

This year the Business School was recognised with staff winning in four categories. The annual Sussex Awards, held on 6 May at the Attenborough Centre, celebrated the exceptional work of the staff, students and postgraduate researchers (PGRs) across the University.

The Sussex Awards aim to highlight excellence across Faculties and Divisions, with categories including sustainability, research, inclusivity, and community engagement.

This year’s awards featured 15 categories, with nominations open to students, staff and PGRs. Over 700 nominations were submitted and carefully reviewed by a panel of staff and students. Among the winners were five individuals from the Business School, whose achievements reflect the continued excellence and commitment to collaboration within the School.

Congratulations to our winners:

Alison Bailey- Winner of Community impact, Scholarship and Social Responsibility:
Alison partnered with Rewired Earth during the second-year Leadership Foundation module, where students tackled a sustainability challenge for a chance to win £1,000 and internships. They showcased their leadership skills by presenting at the House of Lords, with two Sussex teams emerging as winners.

Ozgu Karakulak and Daniel Fisher- Winners of Research and Innovation Culture:
Ozgu and Daniel were recognised for their leadership of Write Club, an initiative launched in 2022 to strengthen academic writing across two departments: Management and Strategy & Marketing. The club provides a structured, supportive space that helps academics at all career stages develop their writing skills, enhancing the quality and quantity research outputs.

Climate Fresk Team- Winners of Environmental Sustainability:
Team members: Alexandra Pearson, Alison Bailey and Claire Tymoshyshyn have introduced climate awareness into the curriculum by hosting Climate Fresk workshops. Over 500 students were trained to understand and address climate change, with over 20 inspired to become Climate Fresk facilitators.

Some of the School’s winners took the time to share how they felt receiving the award:

Alexandra Pearson- Member of the Climate Fresk Team, winners of Environmental Sustainability:

“It is a great honour for our Business School Climate Fresk team to receive this award. The team has worked hard over the past 18 months to achieve two aims: create a grassroot student-led movement of education and awareness of the causes and consequences of climate change, and to support the UNSDGs and Sulitest explored as content in a core 1st year module, embedding sustainability into the first year curriculum.

“Our aims resonate with the University of Sussex Business School’s commitment to social responsibility and sustainability.

“More than 300 students attended the 1st-year module workshops over the space of a week, our students had honest discussions on the causes and consequences of climate change, offering time to assess the contribution they want to make to tackle challenges of our time.

“It has been a collaboration between academic colleagues, the Professional Services, students and members of the local business community. We hope to be able to develop the two projects in the coming academic year and make climate awareness more mainstream within both the Business School curriculum and the Business School student community.”

Claire Tymoshyshyn- Member of the Climate Fresk Team, winners of Environmental Sustainability:

“Climate Fresk is a wonderful initiative to be part of. I feel that it is vital for students to have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of climate change and its far-reaching impacts, while also having the space to reflect and engage in meaningful dialogue with their peers.

“It has been especially rewarding to see several of our students become certified Climate Fresk Ambassadors, co-facilitating workshops both within the school and across the wider University. I’m confident that the knowledge and skills they’ve developed through this experience will be of lasting value.”

Daniel Fisher- Winner of the Research and Innovation Culture category:

“It’s wonderful to be recognised for work that sits outside one’s formal roles – of course, the activities we organise involves a community of University of Sussex faculty who are intensely research active. This award shines a light on our community and the good research we’re all doing.

“Research that has a positive impact on society, is interesting – it’s definitely not boring – and we’re a group of good people. In hard times, community is so important. So, thank you to the judges of the Sussex Awards for recognising all of us and the work we’re doing on behalf of the University of Sussex.”

Ozgu Karakulak- Winner of the Research and Innovation Culture category:

“It is a great honour to receive this award amongst so many great initiatives. I personally feel our voluntary efforts, conducted with passion and dedication, are being recognised, and this will push us forward to do more research and publish more. We also would like to thank our colleagues who are part of the Write Club – without them, write club would not exist.”

These reflections shared by the winners highlights the positive impact, recognition has on their hard work – a sentiment echoed by Vice-Chancellor, Sasha Roseneil: “the ceremony will recognise the collaboration that is really at the heart of what’s going on at Sussex”. The evening was a reminder of the value of community, collaboration, and the importance of celebrating the people who make Sussex thrive.