2019 Vice Chancellors Awards for Research Impact and Engagement
Collaboration Award
Dr Emily Mitchell (Department of Earth Sciences)
For bringing the story of Earth’s earliest complex life to wide audiences through a major museum exhibition and public events, helping people engage directly with research on ancient fossils.
Helen Strudwick (The Fitzwilliam Museum)
For opening up new understanding of ancient Egyptian coffin‑making through exhibitions, pop‑up museums for underserved communities, and digital resources that share cutting‑edge research with the public.
Open-Seneca Team (Christoph Franck, Charles Christensen, Lorena Gordillo Dagallier, Sebastian Horstmann, Raphaël Jacquat, Peter Pihlman Pedersen)
For creating a global, low‑cost air‑quality sensor network powered by citizen science, giving communities the tools to monitor pollution, raise awareness, and influence environmental decision‑making.
Early Career Award
Dr Saumya Saxena (Faculty of History)
For their role advising the twenty-first Law Commission of India on reform of family law and working with the Verma Commission on amendments to law relating to rape in India.
Dr Jessica Miller (Department of Sociology)
For transforming how UK policing understands and responds to trauma through working with more than 18,000 police staff, influencing national policy and operational practice.
Dr Matthew Agarwala (Bennett Institute for Public Policy)
For developing approaches for valuing natural resources that are now used by the United Nations and other international bodies, helping shift global economic thinking toward sustainability.
Dr Zoë Fritz (School of Clinical Medicine)
For leading work that has replaced outdated emergency‑care forms with the ReSPECT process, improving communication and decision‑making for patients and clinicians across the UK.
Established Researcher and Academic Champion
Professor Nicholas Thomas (Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology)
For co‑curating the landmark Oceania exhibition, bringing contemporary perspectives on the region’s art and culture to major public audiences through collaborative research.
Professor Vincent Gnanapragasam (School of Clinical Medicine)
For developing PREDICT Prostate, the first individualized prognostic tool accessible to both clinicians and patients to help make unbiased informed decisions about the value of treatment for newly diagnosed prostate cancer.
Professor David Trippett (Faculty of Music)
For meticulously reconstructing a long-lost opera by 19th-century composer Franz Liszt and bringing it to life through international performances, broadcasts and recordings.
Professional Services
Oliver Francis (Centre for Diet and Activity Research, and the MRC Epidemiology Unit)
For transforming communication and impact strategies across the major public‑health research units CEDAR and MRC Epidemiology, creating innovative ways to share findings and strengthen engagement.
Naomi Chapman (Scott Polar Research Institute)
For co‑creating tactile polar maps with an artist, enabling hundreds of young people and visually impaired audiences to explore Arctic and Antarctic research through touch.
2018 awards
2018 Vice-Chancellor’s Impact Awards
Professor Marc Weller (Faculty of Law) Making and sustaining international peace
For decade of research on self‑determination and conflict to build a practical toolkit that helps real‑world peace negotiators understand what has worked in past agreements. His work has directly shaped high‑level negotiations in places such as Myanmar, Syria, Catalonia, Kosovo, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia.
Professor Marko Hyvönen (Department of Biochemistry) Production of growth factors for stem cell research
For developing ways to produce essential stem‑cell‑related proteins at far higher quality and lower cost than previously, enabling better research worldwide and leading to a successful spin‑out company.
Dr Ryan Williams (Centre of Islamic Studies) Re-imagining Citizenship
For challenging policymakers to rethink how religion, identity and social inclusion intersect, influencing European guidelines on prison radicalisation, contributing to the Lammy Review, and shaping educational programmes in high‑security prisons.
Professor Florin Udrea (Department of Engineering) Cambridge CMOS Sensors
For creating micro ultra‑efficient environmental sensors that can fit into everyday devices like phones and smart‑home systems and for a resulting spin‑out company.
Professor Julia Gog (Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics) Harnessing mathematics to help control influenza
For producing a large‑scale population data to model how flu spreads across the UK, helping improve predictions of outbreaks and supporting better planning for both seasonal flu and potential pandemics.
Professor Tim Cox (Department of Medicine) Innovative Treatments for Lysosomal diseases
For advancing new treatments for rare and devastating lysosomal diseases, improving patient outcomes and identifying a promising gene‑therapy approach for Tay‑Sachs disease now being accelerated through a spin‑out company.
2018 Vice-Chancellor’s Public Engagement with Research Awards
Dr Sophie Seita (Faculty of English)
For creating a multimedia performance project that re‑imagines Enlightenment texts for modern audiences, blending art and research and sharing it through public festivals and installations.
Dr Anna Spathis and Professor Stephen Barclay (Department of Public Health and Primary Care)
For their work with young people with cancer to co‑design a treatment for severe fatigue, ensuring the approach genuinely reflects their needs and experiences.
Charlotte Payne (Department of Zoology)
For this collaboration with communities in Burkina Faso to explore sustainable use of edible caterpillars, sharing the project’s methods and findings with audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
Ragnhild Dale (Scott Polar Research Institute)
For their role in staging a public mock trial based on a landmark environmental lawsuit in Norway, bringing expert testimony and legal debate directly to the communities most affected by Arctic oil exploration.
2017 awards
Vice-Chancellor’s impact awards 2017
Overall winner: Dr Alexander Patto (Department of Physics) WaterScope
For creating a low‑cost, rapid water‑testing tool that communities can use themselves, helping improve water safety in regions with limited resources. The open‑source microscope has inspired global educational use and local manufacturing initiatives that turn recycled materials into scientific equipment.
Professor Elroy Dimson (Judge Business School) ‘Active Ownership’: Engaging with investee companies on environmental and social issues
For providing clear evidence showing how investors can influence companies on environmental and social issues, helping shift investment practice toward more responsible, long‑term decision‑making.
Professor Nick Morrell (Department of Medicine) From genetics to new treatments in idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension
For identifying how genetic factors shape a rare and life‑threatening lung condition, leading to routine genetic testing and new treatment pathways now being developed through a spin‑out company.
Professor Lawrence Sherman, Peter Neyroud, Dr Barak Ariel, Dr Cristobal Weinborn and Eleanor Neyroud (Institute of Criminology) Cambridge Crime Harm Index
For developing a new tool to measure the real impact of crime, allowing police and policymakers to focus resources where harm is greatest. Their approach has influenced national statistics and policing strategies.
Vice-Chancellor’s Public Engagement with Research Awards 2017
Professor Catherine Barnard (Faculty of Law)
For supporting the public to understand the key issues surrounding the EU referendum by producing accessible explanations and engaging directly with communities across the UK, becoming a widely trusted voice on EU law and Brexit.
Dr Elisa Laurenti (Wellcome/MRC Stem Cell Institute and Department of Haematology)
For developing activities with interactive robotics to help thousands of people explore how stem cells develop, sparking conversations about the science, ethics and medical potential of stem cell research.
Dr Nai-Chieh Liu (Department of Veterinary Medicine)
For developing a non-invasive respiratory function test for short skulled dog breeds and working directly with dog owners and breeders to raise awareness of their breathing problems. This has resulted in new health testing schemes adopted by national breed organisations.
Dr Neil Stott and Belinda Bell (Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation, Judge Business School)
For establishing Cambridge Social Ventures to support people who want to launch socially driven businesses, reaching hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs and ensuring that opportunities are accessible to people from diverse backgrounds.
Amalia Thomas (Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics)
For designing hands‑on exhibits based on her research on photoelasticity that let school pupils see how forces act on materials, using light and colour to make abstract physical concepts intuitive and engaging.
Dr Frank Waldron-Lynch, Jane Kennet and Katerina Anselmiova (Department of Medicine and Department of Clinical Biochemistry)
For developing a long‑term PPIE programme that enables people with Type 1 Diabetes to be involved in every stage of research, from support groups to clinical studies, ensuring the science remains closely connected to patient needs.
2016 awards
2016 Impact Award winners
This year’s winners were:
Dr Mari Jones (Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages)
For research to protect and revitalise Jèrriais, the endangered language of Jersey, helping it gain visibility in media, education, and cultural life.
Professor Gilly Carr (Department of Archaeology and Anthropology)
For increasing awareness and recognising Channel Islanders persecuted during the German occupation and creating new ways for communities to remember and teach this history.
Professor Steve Jackson (Wellcome Trust/CRUK Gurdon Institute)
For developing Olaparib, a breakthrough treatment that changed how certain cancers are managed and opened new possibilities for targeted therapies.
Professor John Clarkson and Dr Nathan Crilly (Department of Engineering)
For transforming thinking about how everyday products and environments should be created by showing that designing for diverse abilitaies leads to better design for everyone.
Dr Nita Forouhi and Dr Fumiaki Imamura (MRC Epidemiology Unit)
For deepening global understanding of how sugars, fats, and dietary patterns affect health, influencing public guidance and improving how people interpret nutrition information.
2016 Public Engagement with Research winners
Dr Becky Inkster (Department of Psychiatry)
For connecting mental health research with creative culture by using hip hop lyrics to spark conversations among teenagers, helping them reflect on their own wellbeing.
Dr Paolo Bombelli (Department of Biochemistry)
For bringing the science of plant‑powered electricity to thousands of people worldwide, using hands‑on demonstrations and educational tools that make emerging green technologies accessible.
Dr Ruth Armstrong and Dr Amy Ludlow (Institute of Criminology and Faculty of Law)
For pioneering a new approach to prison education by creating a learning model where people in prison help shape the teaching itself, leading to stronger learning outcomes, positive institutional feedback, and expansion across many sites.
Dr Hazel Wilkinson (Department of English)
For opening up eighteenth‑century reading culture to the public by creating an online platform that lets people experience historical texts on the exact dates they were originally written or published, inspiring new engagement and research.
Dr Paul Coxon (Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy)
For sharing his passion for solar research with school pupils and members of the public often overlooked by traditional public engagement activity and in spaces not normally used, including bingo halls, working men's clubs and steam fairs.
Dr Ian Hosking and Professor Bill Nicholl (Department of Engineering and Faculty of Education)
For bringing real design challenges into classrooms through their hands‑on DOT boxes, empowering students to create practical solutions and influencing national curriculum changes that now embed engineering design in UK education.