We are delighted to announce that two academics from across our biology departments were named winners at last week's MPLS Impact Awards ceremony. The annual MPLS Impact Awards aim to foster and raise awareness of impact by rewarding it at a local level, and preparing the ground for the impact case studies that will be needed for REF 2021, and future similar exercises.
Dr Lindsay Turnbull was awarded The Social Impact Award for her work on the Aldabra Clean Up Project, in collaboration with The Queen's College. Of her award, Lindsay said: "It is great for the Aldabra Clean-Up Project to be recognised in this way. Thanks again to everyone involved. I’m planning to share the prize with DPhil student April Burt who led the Oxford team. The Seychelles Government have signed up to further international commitments to reduce maritime pollution, as a direct consequence of this project, so we’re delighted that this project led to real political change."
Over in the Department of Zoology, Dr Cedric Tan was awarded The Public Engagement with Research Impact Award. He said: "Winning this award has inspired me to continue innovating and assessing my public engagement activities. Very often we forget to assess the impacts of our outreach activities and I believe that assessment is important to listen and collaborate with the public. Thank you to my collaborators Amy Hong, Ran Peleg, Jennifer Spencer who have contributed substantially to these public engagement activities. The University’s Public Engagement with Research Seed Fund and Knowledge Exchange Seed Fund have supported these outreach activities and I would like to thank these funding schemes."