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Explore our high-profile work through media engagement, as well as opportunities to study and work with us in Materials Physics
Media engagement
Celebrating our community: see the Sussex Awards 2025 shortlist
Posted on behalf of: Internal Communications
Last updated: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
See the shortlist for the first ever Sussex Awards, which celebrate the brilliant work of our staff, students and postgraduate researcher (PGR) community across our Faculties and Divisions.
Almost 700 nominations were submitted for the new awards, and each of these has been through a judging process to produce the shortlist below.
Winners will be announced at the Sussex Ceremony on Tuesday 6 May at the Attenborough Centre. The winners of this year’s Adam Weiler Impact Awards will also be presented with their awards on the night.
Check out the full Sussex Awards shortlist and their achievements for this year:
Tim Cane and Tilly Ambrose (School of Global Studies) for ensuring a visually impaired student is able to enjoy a fully inclusive, safe and educationally rich learning experience alongside his peers
Emily Danvers (School of Education and Social Work) for her outstanding commitment to fostering accessibility, equality, and diversity in higher education
Polona Osojnik (School of Media, Arts and Humanities) for going above and beyond and helping so many MAH students get back on track as they faced personal and academic challenges
Alex Stuart (School of Life Sciences) for being an exceptional promoter of widening participation and outreach, and a leader in inclusive teaching practices within Life Sciences over the last three years
Global Studies Neurodivergent Working Group for being a collective of students and staff working together dedicated to fostering inclusivity within the School and the wider University.
Education for Employability and World Readiness
Tom Godfrey (School of Law, Politics and Sociology) for his focus on helping students plan for the future with advice on post-university life through tailoring his teaching to employability
Xiangming (Tommy) Tao (Business School) for empowering students with the confidence, skills, and experiences needed to thrive beyond the classroom.
George Siantonas and Mirela Barbu (Business School), and Sarah Coleman and Emily Huns (Student Experience) for outstanding achievements in implementing the Consultancy Project, an alternative to the traditional dissertation in the MSc Management course
Julia Hartviksen and Suchitra Richards (School of Global Studies), and Jessica Eustace (Student Experience) for going above and beyond to revitalise employability at the School of Global Studies.
Community Impact, Scholarship and Social Responsibility
Alison Bailey (Business School) for taking a collaborative approach to improving sustainability for inclusion in modules at Sussex
Max Cooper (Brighton and Sussex Business School) for inspiring students and giving them the tools to succeed in the General Practice rotation
Perpetua Kirby and the Forest Food Garden team (School of Education and Social Work) for running an inspirational project in good pedagogy through meaningful collaboration
Simon Overton (School of Global Studies), Wendy Garnham and Heather Taylor (School of Psychology), and Sarah Watson (Student Experience) for making a real impact on the Sussex community by opening up conversations about education through the Learning Matters podcast.
Collaborative Learning and Innovation
Mature Students Learning Community Connectors for exceptional leadership in co-creating a supportive and inclusive environment for mature students at Sussex through the Mature Students Learning Community
Faculty Wellbeing Consultants Rich Green and Rebecca Goff (Student Experience) for their enthusiasm, dedication and resilience, making a positive impact and fostering collaboration
Engineering and Product Design Mentors (School of Engineering and Informatics) for a student-led initiative which creates a welcoming, peer-focused environment where all students feel supported and empowered to learn
StreetLaw team (School of Law, Politics and Sociology) which makes a significant difference to our students who gain so much from participating: being world ready, transferable skills, empowerment and courage.
Research and Innovation Excellence
Brains on Board team (School of Engineering and Informatics and School of Life Sciences) for advancing the frontiers of insect-inspired neuromorphic AI
Michelle Lefevre (School of Education and Social Work) for outstanding leadership of the Innovate Project on youth safeguarding policy and practice
Elaine Sharland (School of Education and Social Work) for an outstanding career contribution to social work research, theory, and research leadership at an international level
Stephen Wilkins (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences) for outstanding contributions to analysing cutting-edge data from NASA and the European Space Agency’s James Webb Space Telescope.
Open Research
Rhiannon Armitage (School of Psychology) for deep commitment to open research, implementing open science practices that enhance knowledge equity and accessibility
Kate Shaw (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences) for democratising access to physics research through ATLAS Open Data
Andre Maia Chagas (School of Life Sciences) for creating and disseminating open hardware, advancing research and training others
Reny Baykova (School of Psychology) for improving and certifying the reproducibility of to-be-published psychology research papers.
Research and Innovation Culture
Faculty of Social Sciences team for embracing the creation of the new Faculty of Social Sciences and standardising processes and communications across the three Schools
Ozgu Karakulak and Daniel Fisher (Business School) for their leadership of the Write Club which enhances the quality and quantity of research outputs in a structured yet supportive environment
Nick Souter and Ana Rozman for making an outstanding contribution to fostering a supportive, inclusive, and collaborative research culture amongst early career researchers at the University
Soapbox Science Team (School of Life Sciences) for creating a transformative public engagement initiative that directly contributes to a more inclusive and collaborative research culture at Sussex.
Research and Innovation Impact
James Price (Brighton and Sussex Medical School) for leading transformative research and innovation in infection prevention and control, shaping national and international policies and improving patient safety across healthcare systems
Anna Franklin and Alice Skelton (School of Psychology) for their groundbreaking research on infants’ perception of colour, scenes and images which has had a multitude of impacts
Materials Physics Group (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences) for their work in collaboration with their industrial partner, developing nanomaterial technologies that deliver measurable benefits across multiple industries
Tam Cane (School of Education and Social Work) for research and development of an anti-racist framework for decision-making and transitioning children which has been widely adopted nationally.
Postgraduate Researcher Support
Joe Upton (Sussex Researcher School) for his attentiveness, responsiveness, engagement and creativity that make his work managing CHASE opportunities so successful
Natalia Slutskaya (Business School) for her collegial and citizen-focused approach, working with compassion and understanding to increase wellbeing and community for PhD students
Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine team for delivering a fantastic service to administer and support over 400 PhD students across the Faculty
Guy Edwards (School of Global Studies), Charlotte Austwick (School of Psychology) and Josh Francis (School of Global Studies) for their programme of outputs and events celebrating neurodiversity for Sussex postgraduate researchers which has fostered and created positive cultural change
David Berry (School of Media, Arts and Humanities) for invaluable encouragement and support as a PhD supervisor, challenging students to consider new ways of thinking and experimentation.
Global Engagement
Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium (TIP-C) team for strengthening ties and promoting initiatives through their work with TIP-C’s Latin American and Caribbean Transformative Innovation Hub, as well as for the planning and execution of TIP-C’s Engagement Week in 2024
Internationalisation at Home team for their truly collaborative and interdisciplinary effort across PS and Faculty supporting our international reputation and profile through innovative programme delivery, in collaboration with our Global Partners
Ian Wakeman (School of Engineering and Informatics) and the ZJSU team for collaborative efforts which have been instrumental in the success of our transnational education programme at the Sussex Artificial Intelligence Institute, Zhejiang Gongshang University (ZJSU), working closely with their Chinese counterparts and our wonderful academics in Engineering and Informatics to ensure the smooth delivery and operation of this impactful initiative
Centre for Global Health Research (Brighton and Sussex Medical School) for fostering research, training and interventions that benefit the health and wellbeing of citizens of Official Development Assistance countries, leading to sustainable, equitable research and knowledge exchange partnerships.
Civic Engagement
Kamran Matin (School of Global Studies) for significant public engagement in the media, prestigious presentations, and community-level initiatives regarding the Middle East, Iran and Kurdistan
Stephen Wilkins and the Sussex Universe team for playing a transformative role in making science accessible to the wider community, leading initiatives that inspire, educate, and connect people with the University’s research and expertise
Mark Puttock-Brown (School of Engineering and Informatics) for his unwavering support and development of the apprenticeships programme at Sussex, from design and development to the civic engagement critical for their success
Alison Bailey (Business School) for an innovative collaboration with Rewired Earth, focused on solving local sustainability challenges and developing employability skills.
Inclusive Sussex
Sussex Women's Leadership Academy team for developing a new programme developed to help empower early-career researchers and in particular women researchers - inclusive of all women and minority genders – to become the next generation of leaders at Sussex
Chris Derbyshire (Communications, Engagement and Advancement) for tireless work supporting access and participation for Gypsy, Roma, Traveller, Showman, Boater (GRTSB) young people at Sussex and within the wider community
University of Sanctuary team for their enormous efforts to improve the support available for students from refugee backgrounds and in the asylum process, through a variety of activities
Disability Advice team for consistently striving not only to recognise difference, but promote and champion it across the institution, through collaboration, being person-centred and working for consistent improvement.
Contribution to Campus Life
Janine Thorogood (Chaplaincy, Student Experience) for the exceptional support she provides to staff and students through the Chaplaincy and for being a delight to work with
Chinmayee Kadam (Student Experience) for making the University a more positive and enriching place for staff and students, and ensuring that wellbeing is inclusive and accessible to all students
Chay Burt (Brighton and Sussex Medical School) for making life better for the University men’s football team, both on and off the pitch.
Environmental Sustainability
Alison Bailey (Business School) for outstanding leadership of sustainability initiatives, including the Rewired Earth collaboration, the Climate Fresk and TASK programmes
Kevin Clark (School of Life Sciences) for empowering students to pursue ecologically minded citizen science research that drives real change
Climate Fresk team (Business School) for their work on introducing climate awareness onto the curriculum, and introducing and running Climate Fresk workshops giving understanding of climate change and its impacts.
Institutional Improvement and Transformation
Tina Lehmbeck (Research and Innovation Services) for her incredible, inclusive, collaborative development and implementation of WorkTribe, the new University Research Management system
APP Research and Evaluation team (Strategic Planning and Performance) for embedding an evaluation and evidence-based culture for the Access and Participation Plan, and the Research Cultures Project
Lily Murphy and Joseph Luna (Business School) for overhauling the Business School’s attendance monitoring systems meaning hundreds of vulnerable students have received appropriate support from the School
Research Platforms team (IT and Sussex Projects) for proactively and collaboratively delivering the Research Computing Modernisation project last year, whilst providing tremendous support to researchers.
Nanosheet-stabilised Emulsions: A Route Towards Single-droplet Devices
Our work on nanosheet-stabilised emulsions demonstrates that 2D materials (including graphene and molybdenum disulfide) confer emulsion stability and network conductivity at volume fractions as low as 10⁻⁵. Emulsions can be deposited as inks for functional thin films which preserve droplet structure and eliminate the notorious coffee ring effect, highlighting the potential for printed single-droplet devices.
Did you know that nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels in Brighton are among the highest in the UK? NO2 is an air pollutant that originates from combustion engines and industrial processes. Long-term exposure to NO2 can cause respiratory issues, which can be particularly severe and even life-threatening for babies and asthma sufferers. We have developed a laser deposited carbon aerogel gas sensor with exceptional selectivity towards NO2.
Using a combination of graphene and silver nanowires we have developed an optically transparent, flexible touchscreen technology, eliminating the need for glass smartphone screens. Current touchscreen technology requires rare-earth alloys which are extracted by mining, making them unsustainable and expensive. This graphene technology would significantly reduce the cost of smartphone screens while improving their durability and flexibility.
We have developed highly sensitive breathing monitors out of a simple mixture of oil, water and graphene. These are a cheap, non-intrusive alternative to the current technology, with potential to alert parents of any change to their child’s breathing via their smartphone, potentially preventing seizures and cot death, which sadly affect hundreds of families each year.
To usher in the next industrial revolution based on nanotechnologies, there’s a high demand for nanoscientists. As a graduate, you’ll be ready for industry roles in fields such as:
telecommunications
aviation
textile development
energy services
material batch processing
business management
You’ll also be well equipped to take a research degree in physics, chemistry, biology or engineering.
