Summer 2021

Award Winners Summer 2021

• the Rising Star Award which highlights colleagues for specific initiative within a new or developed role.
• the Award for Citizenship and Community for helping contribute to the life of the department through good citizenship or community building.

Colleague Appreciation Award

This award is given in recognition of staff who make a particular effort and go out of their way to help and support others. 

Tom Pike

Tom receives this award for his contributions to staff representation in the role of Vice President for the Imperial branch of the University and College Union.

The award acknowledges the significant investment of time and energy Tom puts into working for better terms and conditions, and an improved working environment for others.

“He has been a tireless defender of employee's rights, especially over pensions, but also restructuring and strike activity, and has also been at the forefront of holding senior administration accountable. His principled and professional approach to these activities is an exemplar of Imperial Expectations.”

Faye Gosling

Faye’s award shines a light on a vital part of our department’s operations which she carries out in a team of one, while also providing training, and going above and beyond to ensure staff can manage finance tasks. Faye is highly supportive of colleagues and is a valued member of our Operations Team.

Her nomination highlights her contributions as “immeasurable.. without her, very little would happen and we would like her to know we appreciate her for all that she does."

"Faye has been amazingly supportive since I started with the department and considering she works alone for the management of EEE's finances, it’s amazing she has any spare time. All the while working from home and being a mum. I know Faye works long hours with challenging deadlines and yet still attends meetings with a smile and contributes greatly to the operation of the building.”

Esther Perea

Esther is recognised for her dedication to supporting students in her role as Senior Tutor. As we continue to deliver the majority of teaching remotely, the Senior Tutor’s load has been great. Colleagues have not only commented how much time she gives to dozens of students in need alongside her teaching load, but also how she helps tutors to deliver better pastoral care especially in these difficult circumstances.

"Being a senior tutor is a thankless job. Esther’s work can go unnoticed in the department — but for the students she helps, she is the most important person at Imperial College. This year, I had to refer a few of my tutees to her as they were struggling with online education. Esther not only provided them with support but also trained me to better deal with these issues on my own in the future.”

Teamwork / Collaboration Award

The winners of this award are the second year project developers, leaders and technical delivery team:

May Tang

Amine Halimi

Vic Boddy

Adam Bouchaala

Phil Clemow

Ed Stott

David Thomas

Zohaib Akhtar

Esther Perea

This year’s second year group project was developed in response to the challenge of creating a brand new project that could test the students and develop their collaborative working despite being separated and off campus.

The development side of the team createda very exciting project that challenged our students in a way that we have never done before, and they did this completely remotely. The project they designed is complex and consists of many different modules developed by the individual student group members from both the EEE and EIE streams, and brought together to create a working rover.

“The development team met every week, once or twice at least, to report on their progress and plan on the next steps. I have always been amazed by the passion and effort that these people put into the project. It is amazing that they managed to come up with such an inspiring project while not being able to meet.”

The award equally recognises the tremendous efforts of the project delivery team, who worked incredibly hard to make this project a success. The workload involved in creating the kit, and the speed and efficiency with which it was achieved could easily go unnoticed by staff and students, but for this project alone they built several hundred PCBs in house in three days. Outsourcing this work would have cost the department several thousand pounds and taken more than three times longer.

"We would not have been able to conduct the second-year project if they had not gone out of their way to build all the components needed for the project. Our brilliant technical team was able to assemble all PCBs for free in just three days. May, Vic and Amine are a brilliant team and they complement each other very well. I feel lucky to be working with these people."

Rising Star Award

This new award celebrates staff who have begun their career or changed role in the Department in the last two years. It recognises an individual who has created or grasped an opportunity to substantially develop and grow in their role.

Kate Farrar

Kate is Education Support Officer with special responsibility for exams. She joined us last year during the pandemic during the most challenging time, as we were moving all our assessment online for the first time. The Rising Star Award recognises how during her first year in this role Kate has become a vital part of the Education Team and the Department, putting in huge efforts to make sure that the online processes run smoothly.

“Kate very quickly took the responsibility of arranging all assessments which were successfully conducted online. She has been excellent in communication with other people in the Department. She has taken up so many responsibilities in one year, that it is hard to believe that she has been in this job for a very small time. She is now training new members of staff. We definitely need more people like her in the department.”

Award for Citizenship and Community

The second of our new awards recognises an individual who has been a good citizen within the Department, and/or made an exceptional contribution benefitting the Department or wider college community.

Jane Horrell

As our Communications Officer, Jane’s role in the department has become especially significant in the past 15 months, as we have adapted to a more online pandemic life — and particularly in the area of community and culture.

"Jane actively champions a positive culture and sense of community within the department. The launch of a department newsletter has improved a sense of togetherness, celebrating successes, and keeping staff across the department updated. Jane works tirelessly 'behind the scenes' to enhance webpage content and internal videos/presentations for multiple users across the department. She actively cares about the core values within the department pushing discussions forward for change and increased opportunities for inclusivity. This is alongside exceptional work engaging the department in initiatives such International Women in Engineering Day. Her work in communications and media has focussed upon promoting an active community with the Department Life webpages, especially needed during a time when working in isolation or away from the department."

Inspiration Award

Our final award celebrates a colleague who has inspired others throughout the year, either through the activities they have carried out at work or outside of Department life.

Zohaib Akhtar

Zohaib receives this award for his outstanding efforts as Laboratory Systems Senior Teaching Fellow. Recognising not only his skills and knowledge which have greatly helped the Department’s transition to online teaching and learning, but also his dedication and his ability to inspire others.

“A large part of the success of the department in moving to remote delivery is due to Zohaib. Since summer 2020 Zohaib worked tirelessly to help and train the teaching staff in the use of Microsoft Teams. He created a library of instructional videos and organised and held a very useful Q&A workshop where he helped to solve many issues. He also personally “tutored” some members of staff who were having a particular hard time using Teams for their module. Time and time again he volunteered to help his colleagues, from an IT task to marking. He provided fundamental contributions in the organisation and remote delivery of the Control experiment. His exceptional dedication to help others has been a source of inspiration throughout this difficult year.”

“Zohaib works the hardest of any colleague I know. He is patient and great at showing staff how to do things. We worked very closely on the exams this year, and we could not have done any of it without him. He really cares, and puts one hundred percent in, and his work ethic is inspirational.”