Engaged for Impact Awards 2022

The Engaged for Impact awards recognise that the road to research impact is often a long one and there are many engagement steps on the way that are worthy of celebration. We want to celebrate that rocky road, not the achieved impact as nobody needs another mini-REF. We value research impact in all its forms, whether introducing new ideas, changing how we do things, or building people’s capacity to engage and benefit from our research.

Aims of the Engaged for Impact awards:

• Recognise and reward teams and individuals who are committed to engagement for impact as part of their research  
• Celebrate collaborative ways of working  
• Promote and share innovative and high-quality research engagement approaches   
• Share challenges and successes to foster learning and inspire other researchers and professional staff   

These awards will aim to shine a light on all those involved in contributing to the success, whatever their role.  Different types of engagement (e.g. policy, public, patient, business) with research do not always sit neatly apart but often combine to achieve change. For that reason, public, policy, and business engagement with research could form part of the story in any of the award categories. Similarly, improving equality, diversity and inclusion as part of research endeavours is integral to the way we work at Leeds and so cuts across all the categories – this could equally be about improving inclusion of underrepresented researchers in engagement practices, including underrepresented groups in research methodologies, as well as empowering others in the wider community.   

We value research impact in all its forms, whether introducing new ideas, changing how we do things, or building people’s capacity to engage and benefit from our research. As such, the awards seek to encourage and reward engagement with research leading to all forms of impact and every category is as important as the others.   

Building partnerships and networks

This award recognises the importance of partnerships and networks to bring about change. It seeks to recognise the development of sustained collaborations with external organisations. The focus is on developing shared objectives and linking engagement activities across organisational boundaries towards a common impact goal.

Winning project: Building networks with supermarkets to assess healthy and sustainable consumer diets.

Team members: Dr Michelle Morris, Dr Victoria Jenneson, Dr Stephen Clark, Diogo Ann Onuselogu, Alexandra Dalton, Francesca Pontin, Hannah Skeggs, Becky Shute, Paul Evans and Dr Emily Ennis.

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Runners-up: IPEN – networking across the world to enhance democratic engagement.

Team members: Professor Cristina Leston-Bandeira, Zoe Backhouse, Nick Caley, Derek Dignam, Dr Sarah Moulds, Dr Nicole Nisbett, Temitayo Odeyemi, Dr Naomi Paxton, Alex Prior and Elise Uberoi.

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Finding a better way

This award recognises all the ways in which new thinking and acting, new products and knowledge, lead to creating and galvanising change and innovation.

Winning project: Spreading the research, not the virus – Novel methodologies for the assessment of COVID-19 aerosol risk and mitigation in dental environments.

Team members: Jon Vernon, Professor David Wood, Professor Brian Nattress, Emma Black, Professor Deirdre Devine, Dr Louise Fletcher, Paula Lancaste and Tom Dennis.

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Runners-up: Building an online nutrient profile model calculator for implementation of HFSS legislation.

Team members: Dr Victoria Jenneson, Dr Michelle Morris and Rosalind Martin.

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Caring for the future 

This award recognises research impact that’s likely to build over time, leading to a fairer, safer and more equitable world and healthier environment.

Winning project: Understanding and improving the carbon footprint of school meals in Leeds.

Team members: Dr Emily Ennis, Alexandra Dalton, Dr Michelle Morris, Mel Green, Kevin Mackay, Polly Cook, Ellie Salvidge and Gillian Banks.

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Runners-up: Strengthening health systems and capacities for global health security.

Team members: Professor Garrett Wallace Brown, Dr Gemma Bridge, Natalie Rhodes, Elena Barbaud, Dr Blagovesta Tacheva, Jessica Martini, Jay Patel, Simrit Bhandal, Rebecca Hakim, Sadia Zaman, Atirolaoluwa Obileye, Jimyong Um, Helen Bailey, Luc Tsachoua Choupe, Marc Ho and Nimral Kandel.

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Widening perspectives

This award recognises activities where multiple views from different knowledge holders (including seldom-heard voices) are brought together to inform, reframe or change public debate, and to inspire learning and sense-making that leads to empowerment.

Winning project: Act Early – Holme Wood community-engaged data science to improve societal outcomes.

Team members: Dr Faisal Mushtaq, Mallory Morehead, Hayley Irving, Katherine Hiley, Dr Katy Shire, Chris Brown, Lauren Batty, Dave Lynch, Pete Eyres, Kathryn Loftus, Professor Mark Mon-Williams and Christian Bunting.

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Runners-up: Inspiring and empowering young people through arts and science.

Team members: Dr Briony Thomas, Dr Morgan Herod, Dr Indira Banner, Dr Shamaila Anwar, Kacper Dobras, Ahlam Abumughli, Dinuo Liao, Batley Multi Academy Trust, Upper Batley High School, Batley Girls’ High School, Field Lane Junior Nursery and Infant School and Batley Grammar School.

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Making a positive difference to society

This award recognises engagement that leads, or may lead, to positive changes to society. It also includes engagement that prevents harm for groups within society. Working with communities and groups, this could involve activities that enable this positive difference to happen.

Winning project: Banning LGBTIQ+ ‘conversion therapy’ – Engaging with policymakers and LGBTIQ+ organisations to change UK law.

Team members: Dr Ilias Trispiotis, Craig Purshouse and Elliot Ross.

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Runners-up: Transforming the culture underpinning disabled children’s services: focussing on family support needs not parental failings.

Team members: Professor Luke Clements, Dr Ana Laura Aiello, Beverley Hitchcock, David Laurence, Priya Bahri, Louise Arnold and Lucy Fullard.