Application Endorsements 2024

"I want to express my strongest support for Dr Alexander Booth's application for the Queen Mary Research and Innovation Early Career Award. Dr Booth has been a Post Doctoral Research Assistant (PDRA) in the Faculty of Science and Engineering since April 1st 2021. He has made exceptional contributions to the Particle Physics Research Centre and leading personal contributions to the 250-person strong international NOvA experiment.

Dr Booth's leadership positions within NOvA allow him to proudly represent Queen Mary to the international community. From the 1st November 2021 until May 2023 Dr Booth co-led the NOvA Production group, supervising a team of 6 people to coordinate a 150-multistep project to enable the experiment to analyse its data. Since May 2023, Dr Booth has been promoted by the experiment to an even more prominent leadership position; he is now co-leading the NOvA Reconstruction and Deep Learning group. He oversees 20 physicists scattered all over the globe to develop 10 projects ranging from classical reconstruction algorithms to the forefront of machine learning.

These leadership positions allow Dr Booth and Queen Mary to be at the forefront of the next particle physics discoveries."

"As leader of the ECR network, Dr Mishra has provided a rich programme of training activities aimed at increasing research productivity (the sessions on grant-writing and monograph proposals were well-attended, and the writing retreats offered opportunities for colleagues to make progress towards their research goals within a supportive, friendly environment). These activities, which Dr Mishra has planned and delivered with impressive initiative, have measurably increased the inclusivity of the School, with ECRs, including those on fixed-term contracts, now reporting that they feel better integrated, supported, and enabled to achieve their research ambitions. As her co-lead for these workshops, Dr Rehana Ahmed, states, The impact of these workshops will be to build vital skills and opportunities for ECRs, enabling them to progress their research careers at QMUL or elsewhere. Ananya's work in this area is exemplary and contributes very effectively to the School's and University's ambitions to be highly inclusive.' Her commitment to EDI, and to amplifying minoritised voices has the School's and University's ambitions to be highly inclusive. Her commitment to EDI, and to amplifying minoritised voices has already effected real change within academic networks and the experiences of students at all levels (including PGRs) in the School. A research network on stemologies of the Global South contributes to the university's strategic goals for both EDI and interdisciplinary research."

"Colm has made an extraordinary impact as an early career scholar in SPIR. His recent monograph, Futures of Socialism, reshaped how historians conceptualise and interpret the emergence of 'New' Labour as a political formation, reflected in the very significant number of highly positive reviews of the book. Colm has continued to publish work in prestigious historical journals, reinforcing the extent of his scholarly contribution. It is highly unusual to have such a degree of and macroeconomic prudence in British economic policy, drawing together an exceptional array of practitioners including advisers to the current shadow intellectual influence so early in a career. Calm has also made an outstanding contribution to the work of Queen Mary's Mile End Institute (MEI), helping to convene several major conferences on the future of political history and the questions facing the British centre-left, serving willingly as a discussant at events, and macroeconomic prudence in British economic policy, drawing together an exceptional array of practitioners including advisers to the current shadow cabinet, civil servants, political commentators, and think-tank researchers. At the same time, Colm is a wonderful colleague highly valued by others whilevely contributing to the work of his School and Faculty."

"Dr Nieto-Isabel's activities as an ECR have been based on research excellence, a quality we expect from our IHSS Lecturers, and indeed in one who is also a holder of a Marie Curie Fellowship. But what is truly remarkable is her collaborative and inclusive approach to all her initiatives, and her ability to generate activities that interest and energise colleagues. This is true of her promotion of the digital initiative across HSS, but also of the international networks she has helped create: The Other Sister and Blurred Boundaries. Each of these enterprises is located at the forefront of research - on marginalised women, marginalised faith communities in the past - while being inclusive of unheard scholars needing support and inspiration. For these unique qualities of innovative research excellence and ethical clarity Delfi is sought out as an advisor on international projects, and as partner in interdisciplinary initiatives. While she is deeply embedded in the School and its research culture - not least as co-coordinator of our Time and Temporality cluster - she has already left her mark on the Faculty too, and this within 1 B months of joining QM. The Award will no doubt encourage her to continued leadership."

"Dimitrios' research work stands out for its innovation and high impact. His contributions are instrumental in advancing behaviour recognition technology and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. His work addresses critical gaps in literature and has tangible impact on various domains, making him a deserving candidate for the award.His contributions extend to various sectors including customer service (understanding customer's emotional state), self-driving vehicles, medical diagnostics (identifying symptoms and treatment of dementia/depression/mental states; monitoring patients' reactions to treatment), personalised education (he submitted a grant on this), virtual assistants, and more.One notable aspect of his work is the development of in-the-wild, large-scale databases with multiple affective states, addressing a critical gap in literature. These databases are invaluable for creating effective behaviour recognition systems applicable in real-life-scenarios.Moreover, Dimitrios has developed novel, fair, explainable and top-performing systems. This achievement is underscored by the fact that international companies and research groups utilise his research outputs, indicating their practical relevance and impact. Additionally, Dimitrios's cross-disciplinary collaboration in medical domain demonstrates his inclusive and collaborative approach. By working with medical-experts, hospitals/NHS-trusts and companies, he made significant strides in understanding rare diseases, enhancing oral care, improving diagnostics for neurodegenerative disorders and patient stratification."

"Elly is a key member of my lab, our wider centre, and across FMD, as demonstrated through her high impact first author publication and 5 co-authored publications that demonstrate her ability to collaborate. She is a great scientist to work with and is highly valued by the other members of the centre, and her collaborators. She is now developing her own research ideas that combine her interest in aging with tissue microenvironments, and last year was awarded a 6month grant to gather preliminary data that she is now using to apply for larger grants and attaining an independent research position.

Impressively Elly doesn't just excel in her research position, but also goes above and beyond through her roles as Director of the London Post-doc
network, and representative on our post-doc forum here at Barts. I strongly recommend her application for this early career researcher award."

"Layli Uddin is an exceptional scholar, regardless of where she sits in her career stage; the fact that she is still only at the beginning is so exciting, because we are going to witness someone just continue to evolve and grow. This traverses her research, her grant capture and her impact within and beyond academia. Her work on Islamic Socialism is cutting edge and original, demonstrated by high-impact journal publications and immense praise by senior scholars in her field. She is constantly sought after for public talks, including as a key note at one of the most prestigious international conferences on South Asian politics next November. She has won three competitive international grants in the last 4 years and is changing how South Asian communities take ownership of their own stories through her work with community archives, local authorities and grassroots organisations in the UK and Bangladesh. I also want commend the ethos with which she does this work, centring and collaborating with early career, global south and women of colour scholars. An award of this nature should spotlight both research outputs and the ethics with which a scholar does their work. This is Layli. I highly endorse her nomination."

"It gives me great pleasure to write this letter in support of Loic Rolas's nomination for an ECR Staff Award. As background, after successfully obtaining his PhD in Paris, Loic made a strategic move to QMUL in 2016, continuing his research and training at the Centre for Microvascular Research within my team.

In the light of Lok's exceptional academic achievements in 2023, his consistent impressive track record since joining QMUL, and his genuine good citizenship, I am delighted to recommend Loic for an Outstanding ECR Award."

"It's a pleasure to endorse Mina's application. Mina's research premised on service marketing, its inflections of value co-creation, digital marketing strategies, and the integration of ethical Artificial Intelligence (Al) on marketing-led operations reflects an endeavour to produce sustainable solutions to the domain of Marketing. Aligning with the SDG goals of the School and QMUL 2030 strategy, Mina's work bridges other disciplinary boundaries including information systems and sociology. Publishing in leading journals, active in conferences and involved in international collaborations, her cumulative research is foregrounded in enabling sustainable resolutions to global challenges including the reduction of plastic usage. With active collaborations in China and awarded the Marketing Scientist Award in 2023, Mina is poised to further enhance research innovations through methodological and empirical innovations as she progresses on the pathway of research leadership."

"

I am delighted to write in support of Dr Nadine Lavan's application for an Early Career Research Award. Dr Lavan is an outstanding early-career scientist, whose research has already made a transformative impact on her field. She joined the Department of Psychology in September 2020 to commence her Henry Wellcome Fellowship on the perceptual and neural representations of identity and person characteristics from human voices. She has to date produced an astonishing volume of high-quality papers in journals including Nature Communications, Psychological Science, and Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. In the relatively short span of her early career, Dr Lavan has published 47 original articles, including 31 as first author, sole author, or senior author.

One of Dr Lavan's most impressive qualities is that only 7 years post-PhD, she is already an internationally-recognised authority on voice perception. Her original research articles have provided key evidence on the quality and nature of mental representations of voices using a variety of innovative behavioural and neuroimaging paradigms and analysis methods, while her theoretical papers have examined key issues in the study of person perception. The quality and academic impact of her work has been recognised with several prizes (Clifford T Morgan prize for Best Article, British Psychological Society Doctoral Award in 2018, APA Rising Star recognition in 2023, Experimental Psychology Society Prize in 2023).

Dr Lavan has also proven to be a collaborative and engaged member of the academic community. She actively participates in conferences, workshops and discussions, fostering meaningful collaborations with other researchers in the School and beyond. I have no doubt that Dr Lavan possesses the potential for continued significant contributions and this prize would recognise her accomplishments to date and yet to come.

"

"I enthusiastically recommend Nick Ballou for this award.

As part of Nick's doctoral supervision team since he joined the IGGI Centre for Doctoral Training in October 2019, I have proudly watched Nick distinguish himself as the single strongest junior researcher I've encountered in my career, with academic output and impact surpassing even some early lecturers at good universities in his field.

His contributions span varied domains: through his impactful thesis work and other publications, engagement with the research community (e.g., organizing a workshop and guest editing a special issue on Self-Determination Theory at CHI 2022), and initiatives to make open science and reproducibility approachable throughout our lab group and department (e.g., founding the local ReproducibiliTeajournal club and leading workshops in QMUL's professional development program).

Nick is diligent, conscientious, and self-directed in his work. He has shown resilience in light of major setbacks (such as a company shutting access to the major data pipeline during his most ambitious thesis study) and has developed the interpersonal skills to progress large-scale collaborative projects in the face of time-starved senior leadership.

In short, as a supervisor and collaborator, I couldn't ask for more or better and wholeheartedly support his nomination."

"In my opinion, Dr Planas is one of the top early-career chemists in the UK in any sub-discipline. I have followed Dr Planas' work closely, and his career is truly redefining the boundaries of main group organometallic chemistry. Dr Planas has recently secured several competitive grants, which demonstrates the potential of his research, tackling key priority areas of UKRI. In addition, although Dr Planas is still an early-career researcher, he has proven his supervisory skills by hosting two Marie Curie Fellows and a Newton Fellow, rapidly growing his team. Dr Planas has also impacted others at QMUL by promoting international internships for undergraduates, improving employability of graduate students, and enhancing sustainability practices. Regarding the latter, Dr Planas is currently leading the implementation of electronic laboratory notebooks in SPCS, thus introducing innovative and inclusive solutions that will impact both research and teaching. His teaching and pastoral activities have always been positively evaluated by students, which resulted in Dr Planas' popularity regarding undergraduate and master project selection. He also aided undergraduates to secure industrial placements, and as their tutor, he looked after students learning and well-being during their internships. Overall, I truly believe there is no better candidate to the ECR award."

"I am writing to express my strong endorsement of SaeJune Park, and I can confirm that SaeJune is an exemplary ECR with a rising trajectory not only in terms of research activities but also impact which spreads widely to environmental and societal ones. SaeJune has already demonstrated clear leadership skills with the establishment of a new terahertz lab for basic research, environmental monitoring, and healthcare applications where his solutions are creating original approaches with significant impact. His research has already attracted international esteem evidenced by invitations to deliver talks at leading conferences and institutes. His contributions are reaching global impact evident by his collaboration work with world-leading institutes in the UK, South Korea, Norway and many others including knowledge transfer and exchange work with Indonesia. Moreover, SaeJune is extremely collegiate and is leading along to his research, specific training programmes and safety courses for all staff within his school ensuring research can take place in a safe environment and efficiently. In summary, SaeJune is a truly deserving ECR colleague of this award, and he is an extremely talented and dedicated young researcher who has an outstanding track record and great potential. I emphatically support his candidacy for the ECR award."

"This statement is to offer my support for Swati Arora's nomination to the ECR award. Swati is a highly impressive early career researcher whose research in post/de colonial performance has generated significant impact institutionally, nationally and globally, undertaking research with collaborators across Asia, Africa and Europe. The breadth of her international networks and the ambition of her work is hugely significant for her stage in career.

Swati's collegiality is evident in how she makes major contributions to innovative and cutting edge interdisciplinary projects, such as her project on Hydrofeminism and establishes innovative new research networks across the world. Her research leadership skills are already shaping our discipline - from innovating new research clusters with numerous disciplines at Queen Mary, to her leadership of major inclusivity initiatives by establishing new research awards for scholars of colour at the national Theatre Studies conference, to innovating important international research networks.

Swati's work is always underpinned by the wider QM mission to support social justice and inclusion and she demonstrates this in the focus of her research and the excellent citizenship she demonstrates in her work on the SED EDI committee. The impact her publications have had on teaching and pedagogic practices across the world as well research is notable. I have no hesitation in endorsing Swati's statement and supporting her application for this award."

"Sweedal has consistently surpassed my expectations, since she first came to work on APPLE-Tree as a research assistant at UCL in June 2022. She TUPE'd across with the team to QM, and she and the team won the WIPH team building award for their work moving three rapidly recruiting trials across Universities without any untoward impacts on recruitment or retention. She led the team of researchers who carried out our recent mixed methods analysis, which they did alongside their trials work - showing her academic intellect and leadership skills. I am delighted that we have been able to regrade/ promote her to project manager very recently, reflecting the level and quality of work she delivers. Her Lancet abstract presentation was impressive, and the IJGP paper will be accepted shortly no doubt as requested changes were minor. I wholeheartedly support this nomination, and hope this is the start of a rewarding academic career."

"I am writing to express my strong endorsement to Dr. Yuanwei Liu's nomination for the QMUL ECR award 2024. Throughout his fast-track career Yuanwei has distinguished himself with his admirable work ethic. He has impressive research skills both in wireless communications, signal processing, and machine learning. He has excellent track record and receives prestigious fellowships and recognitions from IEEE, AAIA, and Web of Science. His research has significant impact on academia and industries, evidenced by the obtained fundings, well-recognised research,, wide range collaborations, and leaderships in many public engagement and knowledge exchange activities. Moreover, Yuanwei is enthusiastic in developing others and prompting an open and inclusive research environment. This is evidenced by the best paper awards, young research awards, and scholarships received by his team members. Yuanwei is also actively involved in providing support in grant application and research support for junior staff in QMUL. He organised seminar and workshop provide a good platform for our students and research staffs to exchange their ideas and find fancy topics. In summary, Yuanwei is an extremely talented and dedicated young researcher who has an outstanding track record and great potential. I emphatically support his candidacy for the ECR award."

"In my experience working with the nominee, his dedication to fostering an inclusive and collaborative research culture has been evident. Through his innovative approaches and inclusive leadership, they have effectively brought together diverse perspectives and expertise to tackle complex challenges in the empirical corporate social responsibility areas. The 11 ABS3/4 publications within 3.5 years have not only enriched the research environment/profile at Queen Mary but have also had a positive impact beyond our institution. The collaborative efforts have led to meaningful partnerships, knowledge exchange, and societal impact, benefiting both academic and non-academic communities. Their innovative practices have inspired others to adopt inclusive approaches, driving positive change and preventing potential harm associated with exclusionary practices.

Also, acknowledging the importance of service to the academic community, the candidate has actively served as a reviewer for 9 learned journals (21 times), including Financial Times SO Journals, in the past two years. Contributing expertise to the peer-review process ensures the quality and rigor of research within the discipline, reinforcing the candidate's commitment to the development of accounting scholarship. I believe his transformative

leadership and impact-driven initiatives make them a deserving candidate for this award."

"I am writing this letter in strong support of Zahra Sharifonnasabi's nomination for Early Career Researcher Award. Zahra is a rising star in the field of marketing, and her research has demonstrably transcended disciplinary boundaries, sparking crucial conversations that extend far beyond the marketing field.

Zahra's directed research initiative, focusing on human mobility and its intersection with identity, consumption, and work, has yielded ground-breaking results. Her co-authored paper, ""Transnational Market Navigation: Living and Consuming Across Borders"" (Journal of Consumer Research, ABS 4*), stands as a testament to her impactful scholarship. Additionally, her contributions to ""How Globalization Affects Consumers: Insights from 30 Years of CCT Globalization Research"" (Marketing Theory, ABS 3) showcase her comprehensive understanding of the field and her ability to synthesize complex concepts.

More importantly, Zahra's infiuence extends beyond academic publications. Her invited chapter, ""Global Mobilities,"" in Consumer Culture Theory (Sage) demonstrates her dedication to disseminating knowledge to future generations of marketing researchers. Furthermore, her research has garnered significant attention in expert media beyond marketing. Her insights on the challenges faced by mobile professionals in the UK, has sparked important dialogues in FT, exemplifying the importance of her research context. She has also initiated a conversation on https://phys.org/news/2023-08-struggling-stay-impact-visa-fees.html that represents her ability to translate complex research into accessible narratives with real-world implications. Finally, I would like to point to her influential role in shaping and fostering our research environment and culture in SBM by co-directing the MINDS research group.

In conclusion, Zahra Sharifonnasabi embodies the ideal of an impactful young researcher. Her work has demonstrably resonated with academics, practitioners (marketers and HR professionals), and policymakers. I wholeheartedly endorse her nomination for this award and believe she is truly deserving of recognition."

"I am pleased to endorse this application, 'Diverse Pasts and Inclusive Futures in East London' for the Research and Innovation Award. Working across disciplines and with a variety of partners, from students and academic colleagues to community groups and charities, the projects have succeeded in creating meaningful outcomes for the communities they engage with. This approach aligns perfectly with the criteria of fostering an open and inclusive research culture, contributing to shared goals, and working towards research impact on local, national, and international scales.

The success of these projects, as evidenced by improved community outcomes, policy influences, and the creation of new cultural resources, showcases the significant impact that engaged, collaborative, and co-designed research can have. The projects' focus on addressing equalities, involving marginalised groups, and developing new partnerships, are prime examples of innovative and impactful research.

I strongly support this application for the Research and Innovation Award. The team's dedication to creating a more inclusive and understanding
community through their research is not only commendable but also an inspiring model for how academic work can intersect with and benefit society."

"The work of the N₂0: Know The Risks team is an outstanding example of innovation, collaboration and impact at both local and national level. The impact spans culture, community, civic and policy influences and I cannot imagine a team more deserving of this award. They have published a landmark case series identifying the nature and scale of harm from recreational use of nitrous oxide. They have developed collaborations with local community groups, schools, councils and the police, and the diverse and inclusive team is drawn from researchers from the CPN at QMUL, clinical staff at Barts Health NHS Trust, medical students and community members in East London. The project has prevented substantial harms through its engaging and innovative approach to educating young people. At a national level, the project has simultaneously generated new national guidelines endorsed by the Association of British Neurologists, garnered wide media coverage, and led to new government legislation intended to control the recreational use of nitrous oxide."

"The Cabinet Cultures project has delivered high-quality and lasting civic impact through its work with the Garden Museum (through a successful temporary exhibition and events leading to the creation of a permanent installation), on social media (leading to thousands of new engagements), and in the physical environment at QMUL (with new plant cabinets now installed in staff spaces). The project addresses pressing social issues: the human response to climate breakdown; the mental health crisis, especially among young people; and the negativity frequently encountered on social media. In response, it proposes and shares a new set of practices focussed on rebuilding human engagements with plants, improving the lived environment, and projecting positive and creative content through social media channels. The project has built important new partnerships with the museum and heritage sector (the Garden Museum), an artist (Sarah Gardner), and a content creator (Emma Angold). Cabinet Cultures has also fostered a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach which reaches across the humanities, social and natural sciences. The project has already achieved a considerable amount with only a modest budget, and will now build further partnerships and impact activities which will share knowledge, change attitudes to nature, improve
human health, and contribute to the creative sector."

"Climate change is the biggest health challenge facing the world in the 21st century. It is vital that higher education includes leaders, conducting research and advocacy to prevent the health harms that will otherwise occur. Heather and Natasha have led important research and engagement activities that have driven and informed policy changes and built a foundation which the University can take advantage of to become a leader in this area. Heather and Natasha's work has engaged with academics from across the University, and linked to other academic institutions and non-academic partners. They worked to establish information on who across the University does work on climate change, starting a network that will strengthen QM's opportunity to conduct impactful interdisciplinary research in this area. They have worked with UN agencies and civil society organisations. Heather led the COP accreditation process for QM, allowing QMUL to attend and engage in this high-level global event, to build and monitor progress to address climate change. By representing QM at COP, and reporting widely across LinkedIn, X and other platforms, Heather has made the work QM does in this area visible. I whole-heartedly support the statements made in Part A and Part Band support this application."

"The work being carried out by the Radionuclides for Health UK team led by Barts Cancer lnstitute/QMUL has already had impressive short and medium­ term impacts and has huge potential for long-term health and economic impacts. There is clear evidence of the work influencing government policy with
£6M funding being made available by DESNZ to investigate and stimulate radionuclide supply in the UK and, for the first time, proposing a new research reactor for medical radionuclide production in the Nuclear Roadmap. These are signals that the government is listening and it's impressive to see Radionuclides for Health UK and QMUL mentioned in a government publication. R4HUK's goal of bringing novel alpha-emitting radionuclides from UK nuclear waste into clinical use in the NHS is groundbreaking and will enable our clinicians to offer UK cancer patients novel radioactive therapy clinical trials. This leadership has brought researchers together and true collegiality has been demonstrated by freely sharing expertise and radioactive materials to further the aims of patient impact. Without these initiatives to secure a supply of radionuclides, our patients would be at the end of the queue while other countries forge ahead. This unusual and exciting initiative is fully deserving of the award."

"I fully support Dr Papafitsoros' work for a ""Culture, Civic, Community and Policy - Research Impact Award"". His projects on sea turtle conservation in Greece are characterised by extensive public awareness and science dissemination combined with a clear and well-defined path to policy impact. Dr Papafitsoros' established collaboration at a both scientific and conservation level with the sea turtle NGOs ARCHELON and MEDASSET can already be regarded as impactful, having a clear benefit to these organisations. I believe that winning this award will greatly increase the visibility of his activities and most importantly highlight the positive role that mathematical modelling and artificial intelligence can have for the good of wildlife conservation. His scientific, impact and dissemination activities are perfectly aligned with three out of six Strategic Research Themes of the Faculty of Science and Engineering of QMUL: (i) Environment, biodiversity and genomics, (ii) Al & data modelling, (iii) Fundamental discovery science. He is also very active in strengthening the collaboration and synergies between the School of Mathematical Sciences and other schools of the faculty, e.g. with press releases, joint seminars and grant proposals, participation in science showcase events as well as in panel discussions towards student recruitment. In all these activities, his impactful work with sea turtles plays a central role"

"I endorse this application for the QMUL Research Impact Award. The nominee produced a first-of-its-kind Photovoice study using an emerging method in a setting where conducting research is fraught with barriers, including the threat of violence. Despite facing challenges that interrupted the research in addition to effectively overcoming language barriers, the nominee and team completed the study with adolescents engaging from design to dissemination. Their approach embraced adolescents' role as experts, enhancing local research capacity, which was evident whilst disseminating their research to an audience they did not know.

Furthermore, the nominee has demonstrated exemplary leadership skills in navigating bureaucratic hurdles, ensuring proficient project and financial management, and exhibiting a steadfast commitment to collaboration and safeguarding. These attributes were notably evident in her adept handling of sensitive ethical issues, which she escalated to the supervision team to ensure adolescent safeguarding.

Through their efforts, the project refined the Photovoice method by learning from methodological limitations. In turn, the team was able to promote equity and inclusion among adolescents typically excluded from mental health research. The photo exhibition provided a powerful platform for adolescents to share their experiences and achievements, illuminating their experiences and communities and contributing to broader conversations beyond academia."

"As a fellow member of the Organisation Studies Research Group and the department of People & Organisation at the School of Business and Management, I have had close familiarity with Dr Perrotta's research and her wider contribution to Queen Mary over a number of years. Dr Perrotta's work has been outstanding for the way it has combined academic scholarly excellence, sustained collaboration with a diverse range of partners and stakeholders, engagement with practical problems in the field of reproductive medicine, and a track record of developing innovative solutions to organisational problems. While Dr Perrotta's statement gives account of her leadership of an international research team, I would also like to add the important role she has played as a source of advice to colleagues and research students, helping to spread good practice, not only through personal mentoring and doctoral supervision, but also through dedicated research seminars, supporting others to enhance the impact of their research practice and its potential value both within and beyond the academic domain. Not only has she secured prestigious grants for her ground-breaking work, but used the knowledge she gained through this process to spearhead our School's approach to applying for and utilising research."

"This was a model example of civic engagement. It did exactly what universities should do - applying the skills and expertise which they have but which are often lacking in outside groups to help tackle real world problems. Intellectually, this was an extremely impressive study of well-being in London, based on detailed analysis. But it is the process by which the work was undertaken and its dissemination that are most praiseworthy.

It was a model of collaboration, both working in partnership with a thinktank based outside of academia and with more than 100 practitioners, including representatives from the GLA and local councils. It produced an easy-to-understand report, identifying the key policy interventions required to improve well­ being among a range of social groups, with especial attention paid to the disabled. The research was carried out by a joint team involving academics from QMUL and staff from the think tank, with communications and events team colleagues involved from the beginning in order to maximise the potential
dissemination and value of the work. It has already made an impact within councils in London, and I suspect its effect will grow over time."

"The research of the TLC team has had a profound impact on the way Computer Science is taught. They have been instrumental in widening the appeal of the subject nationally (reaching an astonishing number of teachers and students) and internationally (a contribution formally acknowledged by EPSRC). Their work takes a deep understanding of the fundamentals of computer science, combines it with a deep understanding of educational psychology and sociology, and turns it into innovative, accessible activities and materials that reach entirely new constituencies: magic tricks, chocolate computers, paper hats. Importantly, these innovations are not ad hoe, they have evolved hand-in-hand with the group's innovations in educational theory e.g. semantic waves. An additional strength of the research underpinning these innovations is that it has been consistently developed and tested in collaboration with practitioners. This ensures that it successfully addresses a diverse range of perspectives, abilities and needs. It is worth emphasising that this is not discipline specific - the ideas and principles can be applied to any field of study.

This is an outstanding, world-leading group and I believe we should do more to recognise and promote their activities."

"I have known Paul Heritage and the PPP team since 2017, when we began to work together in order to incorporate arts-based methodologies into our mental health research projects at the Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry (Wolfson Institute: FMD). I have been impressed by the way in which they see the arts as a resource which communities and individuals can use to build their resilience, resistance and recovery. Their innovative work has directly influenced the way in which we construct and deliver research projects/programmes, producing new collaborations in Brazil, India, Pakistan, Colombia, Peru, Argentina and the East End of London. Because of their experience and expertise in collaborating with indigenous research partners, we were able to develop a multi-year research programme on non-communicable diseases in Colombia, Bolivia and Guatemala (funded by NIHR) which has a strong focus on indigenous knowledge and community cultural practices. I have seen at first hand the benefit of their close and inclusive work with young people, people with autism, indigenous people and researchers from non-traditional backgrounds. PPP has enabled many of us working at QMUL to produce research in partnership with communities and expand the ways in which we create and share our research."

"This statement is to offer my support for Boyle and Stitches in Time's nomination to the Impact: Culture, Civic, Community and Policy Award. Shane is a highly impressive early career researcher whose research has underpinned this important and innovative impact project with local communities to respond to regeneration in Tower Hamlets. This project, underpinned by Shane's research on the political economies of theatre and performance, made an important intervention, giving a platform to local voices to express responses and approaches to local regeneration and did so through innovative creative methodologies such as textile work and an exhibition. The project had a transformative impact on the participants and the audiences who experienced their work in the exhibition.

This project supported the Department of Drama's civic commitments by cementing a partnership with Stitches in Time and by demonstrating the value of performance research for collective community action locally. Shane's research is always underpinned by the wider QM mission to support social justice and inclusion and he demonstrates this in the excellent citizenship he demonstrates through sustaining long term meaningful local partnerships and constellating local concerns and interests through a carefully designed creative intervention.

I have no hesitation in endorsing this statement and supporting his application for this award."

"Steven Eastwood's previous film practice research focused on palliative care. The dual project ISLAND/ The Interval and the Instant, and their application in the training of doctors and nurses, was a high scoring impact case study for REF 2021. His work deeply engages with ethics, inclusion, visibility, accessibility, collaboration. His current research, supported by Wellcome, turns to autism, with the objective of developing progressive models for both filrn creation and film form reflective and inclusive of neurodiverse experience. He has worked with an array of collaborators across the academic, arts, and charitable sectors, and especially with a collective of neurodiverse artists, to produce and disseminate a feature film and gallery artwork, and to devise and share an instrumental co-creation model. This has great application for a number of users, and as a suite of outputs has the makings of a compelling ICS."

"This statement is to offer my support for Boyle and Stitches in Time's nomination to the Impact: Culture, Civic, Community and Policy Award. Shane is a highly impressive early career researcher whose research has underpinned this important and innovative impact project with local communities to respond to regeneration in Tower Hamlets. This project, underpinned by Shane's research on the political economies of theatre and performance, made an important intervention, giving a platform to local voices to express responses and approaches to local regeneration and did so through innovative creative methodologies such as textile work and an exhibition. The project had a transformative impact on the participants and the audiences who experienced their work in the exhibition.

This project supported the Department of Drama's civic commitments by cementing a partnership with Stitches in Time and by demonstrating the value of performance research for collective community action locally. Shane's research is always underpinned by the wider QM mission to support social justice and inclusion and he demonstrates this in the excellent citizenship he demonstrates through sustaining long term meaningful local partnerships and constellating local concerns and interests through a carefully designed creative intervention.

I have no hesitation in endorsing this statement and supporting his application for this award."

"Sharma's team is providing training materials for HR teams across the country to help understand and eliminate language-based bias. The demand for this EDI training from external partners has been overwhelming, and it became clear that particularly corporate and government clients were treating the training as a core contribution to their EDI goals. Accent Bias Britain is one of the first commercial consultancies in the Humanities at QMUL and helps to respond to this demand from a range of corporate clients, law firms, charities and the arts, and government sectors across the UK. The consultancy is at the frontier of finding commercial solutions to achieving social justice goals of academic research within our Faculty. It works around common constraints on funding, staffing, and time and enables the team to sustain and extend this crucial external and public service. Sharma and the team have received sustained recognition for the impact of their work in the media, corporate world, government, and social mobility organisations. Sharma has been a key contributor to her school and faculty's collaborative development of impact activity. The Research and Innovations Awards are now an opportunity for QMUL to recognise this unique and important work."

"I am delighted to endorse Dr Hamit Soyel with the project Dragonfly Al for this prestigious award. Dragonfly Al's remarkable disruption of the market is evident through its substantial investment and growing customer base including Mars, GSK, Nestle, Danone, SC Johnson, and Coca-Cola. What sets Dragonfly Al apart is it innovative utilisation of cutting edge Al technology developed by Dr Hamit Soyel and team which has pioneered attention as one of the key metrics for brands these days. The significance of this technological breakthrough cannot be overstated. It has not only propelled Dragonfly Al to the forefront of technology but also set a new standard for the industry as a whole.

This revolutionary approach has enabled Dr Hamit Soyel to achieve unparalleled success facilitating a spinout that has an £2.4 million revenue, doubled its sales in one your and won the Growing Business of the Year Award. They sold over 80 plus licences and the team has gown to 34. The exceptional efforts of Dr Hamit Soyel and his team were instrumental in bringing this groundbreaking technology to market resulting in a significant economic impact that resonates across industries. Dragonfly Al is a leader in the attention economy."

"Josh has been for many years now the face of research impact in EECS. Josh held the role of Impact Lead for EECS in the period leading up to REF 2021, and in that role he encouraged and supported his colleagues to produce the best REF Impact rating in EECS' history Uoint 1st in impact for Computer Science and Informatics in REF 2021). I'm not sure I can imagine better evidence of working inclusively and collaboratively! QMUL clearly agrees, and has now appointed Josh as Entrepreneur-in-Residence for Science and Engineering, in which role he continues to inspire and assist others.
What is particularly impressive is that during this time, he has led his own research group to become such a hotbed of innovation and impact. Four spinouts in the last ten years is a remarkable achievement! All have begun in PhD research in the group, have grown it successfully to a genuinely competitive level out in the commercial world, and are having a real impact on their users: LandR, for example, have really changed the face of music production by making it so directly accessible to the public. In the context of this team award, though, it's particularly valuable achievement, as it's one which directly evidences not only his own personal drive to make a difference, but the way in which he has successfully developed a culture of connecting high-quality research to real-world impact.

These commercial activities not only continue within the group - and I'm sure we'll see more new kinds of impact continue to emerge - but also have an ongoing, visible effect throughout the wider EECS research community (for example, via visits from investors such as Tandemlaunch scouting for new opportunities, via Josh's leading of events for entrepeneurs, and via their continuing relationship and engagement with QMlnnovation)."

"Lei takes on some significant scientific challenges in his research, but he is focussed on impact from the conception of the projects. As these projects are maturing, multiple possible commercial pathways are opening up in the form of spin-out and licensing opportunities. His spin-out, Pryfibre, is the most mature of these and has the potential to change how optical fibre imaging is processed, how the fibres are designed, and improve the outcomes of patients. Whilst this impact is developing rapidly through Pryfibre Ltd., he already has a pipeline of further patented research and Innovate UK projects in quite different fields, with applications from lasing to farming. This impact pipeline is impressive, but I'm always excited about what his next project might be."

"I wholeheartedly endorse the nomination for Raluca Gaina and Diego Perez, co-founders of Tabletop R&D. Their innovative spin-out, bridging Artificial Intelligence and tabletop game design, has not only demonstrated a great success within its first 6 months but has also made significant contributions to both industry and academia.

Tabletop R&D's commitment to a bootstrapping model, securing clients, and engaging in impactful collaborations speaks to their entrepreneurial prowess. Their disruptive Al testing services address a critical need in the tabletop games industry, offering unique solutions that surpass traditional play­ testing practices. The potential for Tabletop R&D to revolutionize game design is evident, especially with their future plans to transition to a licensing model.
Moreover, Raluca and Diego's dedication to an open and inclusive research culture is commendable. Their active participation in public-facing events, representation at industry fairs, and collaborations with industry leaders have not only advanced their venture but have also created opportunities for knowledge transfer and research partnerships for our PhD students.

I am pleased to endorse Raluca and Diego's application, recognizing their impactful contributions to both Queen Mary and the wider academic and business communities."

"I am really pleased to endorse the Chilterns Chalk Stream Project for the Research and Innovation Awards due to its exceptional impact through its innovative approach to commercial partnerships, community engagement academic collaboration. The partnerships exemplify how targeted research and investment can address significant environmental challenges, like improving water quality. This project has successfully leveraged over £52k from the private sector, demonstrating the effectiveness of blending scientific rigor with practical application.

The project has engaged local communities and policymakers, enhanced environmental monitoring and contributing to national debates. Its innovative approach to involving citizen scientists and students in research activities underscores a commitment to inclusivity and skill development. These efforts align closely with the award's criteria for innovation, impact, and collaboration.

The projects achievements in enhancing environmental monitoring, engaging with diverse stakeholders, and contributing to societal well-being are commendable. I believe this project is a deserving recipient of the Research and Innovation Awards, and I am really supportive of this application."

"SequenceServer is headed by Professor Wurm who realised the need for a simple, scalable DNA and protein sequence analysis platform. To enable his vision, he built a team to develop and run open-source software that underpins SequenceServer and which now supports leading-edge genomics research for industry and academia. The SequenceServer team currently comprises 8 part time staff and one full time employee, headed by Professor Wurm. Many of the team members were employed from his own PhD student base, providing them with valuable work experience.   

SequencerServer now has a userbase that includes hundreds of private-sector organisations worldwide. It has growing popularity as can be seen in the statistics that Professor Wurm has kindly supplied to me, and which include (April 2024)  > 150,000 downloads and >250 citations, numbers that grow weekly. I know that the software has elevated Queen Mary’s international profile amongst geneticists and proteomicists working in many biological disciplines.  

To enable the software's reach the team founded ‘Pragmatic Genomics’ in 2021, a company which started trading in late 2022. To develop Pragmatic Genomics, Professor Wurm won support from Innovate UK (£50k), HEIF (£89k) and Amazon Cloud (£20k). This support provided the finance needed to ensure a cloud-based service that enables subscribers to run their DNA and protein sequence data analyses easily and with the highest standards of reliability and security. 

Pragmatic Genomics now has hundreds of users from numerous customer organisations, ranging from conservation bodies to pharmaceutical companies. This is now generating a 5-figure annual recurring revenue. The business is cashflow positive and ideally positioned for its next steps of expansion. "

"Dr Birkvad and Dr Stoffel's work towards the establishment of a transfeminist research agenda in IR is ground-breaking and truly deserving recognition from QMUL. I would like to recommend this team for three main reasons. Firstly, the nominees are leading the development of a new, interdisciplinary field of research and theorising, which has already shaped further publications in leading journals. Their original intellectual outputs have been accompanied by public events gathering international interest proving their high potential to re-shape research and public agendas about gender and sexuality globally. This demonstrates the ability of the nominees to work creatively and collaboratively, to draw on emerging conversations across disciplines, to coordinate and re­ energise existing debates and activate international networks. Secondly, the nominees completed their doctorates only last year. Their achievements are outstanding for their career stage and surely this needs to be recognised and celebrated as an important milestone. Thirdly, the nominees have demonstrated the rare ability to foster a truly open and inclusive research culture, which transcends academic boundaries. Their work aims to platform voices and experiences that are often silenced and/or marginalised especially in the current climate, which embodies QMUL commitment to the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion."

"Dr. Qi has identified a genuine need in the community of gravitational wave science for quantum computing based tools for data analysis and parameter estimation. She has actively identified partners with the required expertise in quantum computing and forged an international collaboration. I am delighted that this collaboration has now come to fruition. It has set up QMUL as a player in the field of data science using quantum computers. This first and very promising step in a substantial research programme fully aligns with the S&E Faculty themes and, more generally, with the universities research highways."

"The project focusing on the development of the Small and Medium Enterprise Privacy Starter Pack (SPSP) has had a significant impact both at Queen Mary and beyond. First of all, it increased Interdisciplinary collaboration, bringing together experts from various disciplines within Queen Mary University and other Universities, fostering collaboration between researchers in psychology, computer science, and other relevant fields. This cross-disciplinary approach has enriched the research culture within the university, promoting knowledge sharing and innovative problem-solving. Secondly, it enhanced reputation, by successfully securing funding from the ESRC and delivering tangible outcomes in the form of the SME Privacy Starter Pack, the project has elevated Queen Mary's reputation as a hub for impactful research addressing real-world challenges. Also, researchers involved in the project have gained valuable experience in interdisciplinary teamwork, project management, and engagement with external stakeholders.

Beyond Queen Mary the SME Privacy Starter Pack serves as a valuable resource for small and medium enterprises, empowering them to navigate complex privacy issues effectively. In addition, through collaborations with partner organisations the project's impact extends beyond Queen Mary to a national scale. By disseminating the SPSP and its associated resources, the project contributes to strengthening cybersecurity practices among SMEs across the country. Finally, the project's focus on vulnerable groups, such as elderly owners and sole traders, demonstrates a commitment to inclusivity and equity."

"Screen and Knight's contributions to the field of organ-on-a-chip technologies have been transformative, not only for Queen Mary but also for the broader scientific community and beyond. Their leadership in running the UK Organ-on-a-chip Technologies Network has significantly shaped the landscape of this field.

At Queen Mary, their establishment of the Centre for Predictive in-vitro Models has facilitated innovative interdisciplinary research and collaboration across the university. As co-directors they have elevated Queen Mary's standing in this field and attracted significant industrial funding, such as the establishment of the Queen Mary+Emulate Organs-on-chips Centre. This has been pivotal in securing over £1SM in funding from various prestigious bodies.

Furthermore, the recent successes in securing EPSRC funding for an Accelerating the Medicines Revolution grant and the establishment of a EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Organ-on-a-chip Technology highlights their ongoing influence and leadership in the field at national and international levels. These achievements, supported by a broad coalition of 40 industry partners, promises to advance organ-on-a-chip technology and demonstrate their ability to work innovatively, inclusively, and collaboratively.

Screen and Knight are also active in public engagement related to organ-chip technology: Screen featured in the BBC TV's Operation Ouch; they have led an interactive at the Science Museum (Lates); featured in the Centre of the Cell and contributed to QM's Festival of Communities. The team believes that engaging young minds in scientific discourse improves understanding of science, medicine and MedTech, and helps make STEM careers accessible and exciting. Their dedication in making knowledge accessible showcases their efforts in inclusivity. Being a woman in STEM, Screen also actively inspires and encourage young female scientists to pursue their interests in STEM topics.

In conclusion, my endorsement of Screen and Knight for the 2024 Research and Innovation Awards is based on their outstanding contributions to the field and an acknowledgement of the extensive, collaborative community they have built. Their work has created a lasting impact on the Queen Mary community and beyond, fostering an inclusive, innovative, and collaborative research culture. This is why I firmly believe they should win this award."

"The applicant has shown a very high dedication to supervision of UG and PG students over the years and in his role as PhD tutor he was a driving force to create a fostering and inclusive culture within the CTP. His success and achievement with supervising Haitian Xie is truly exceptional: writing just one paper during a Euromaster project would be seen as unusual, but a master student co-authoring 4 papers in renowned journals with a team of world­ leading experts is without precedent. The applicant mentored the student in an exemplary fashion, involved him in research like a postdoc or advanced PhD student, and he pushed him to achieve his full potential. The student even gave talks at international conferences and he received PhD offers from world leading institutions including Harvard (which he accepted). The applicant has set a new standard for what can be achieved in MSc supervision. He has set a shining example and become a role model for the CTP and indeed the SPCS and QMUL how to embed research excellence in student supervision. I therefore support the applicant's application in the strongest form possible."

"As a British Pakistani academic GP and mother of two - I balance many roles and identities and Professor Swinglehurst has been a consistent source of support, inspiration and encouragement over many years in light of these. She has a capacity for generosity and kindness towards those she has responsibility for that is incredibly rare. She truly cares about the work but also the lives of those she supervises. There are many barriers to women from underserved minority communities such as myself from having successful careers in clinical academia. Professor Swinglehurst's support has been absolutely instrumental for me to have reached where I am today- I simply would not be here without her. I could not imagine anyone more worthy of this award."

"I sincerely wish to nominate Dr. Eirini Marouli for the award because I cannot imagine anyone who is more suitable than her. Not only did she oversee my dissertation, but my main reason for nominating her is her kindness and wisdom.

This made her the top choice of supervisor among our student's group. When my classmates and I chose the subject matter for our dissertations, not only did we consider the list of possible subjects but also the corresponding mentor.

I would like to quote some of the students from our group regarding the lecturers, or mentors. Student A: ""I chose Eirini as my supervisor because she has been super hands on, responsive and literally given guidance on so much."" These quotes provide solid evidence of her noble personality, and without doubt she is very popular among students.

No matter what background we are from, she is always very attentive in class with student questions and never refuses calls for help and guidance. The stress of dissertation writing can be overbearing, but when it comes to a foreign online distance learner like me, the stress can be two-fold. Dr. Eirini is like a ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds, or the light from a lighthouse when you are out at sea. She could always explain complex randomization trials, in a simple, clear and understandable fashion. She invited me to her online meetings, read my poorly written dissertation drafts carefully, and gave me much precious advice. She even helped me to revise the dissertation after my graduation and encouraged me to submit it to a journal! She has done so much more than me and my fellow students ever expected.

As a teaching staff in Mackay Memorial Hospital and MacKay Medical College, in Taiwan, I know the extra assistance she gave us should not be taken for granted. I am in awe of her passion as an educator. Teaching students needs great energy and knowledge, but teaching foreign students requires even more. This effort and student feedback has almost zero impact on her own research work, so she has nothing to gain by doing this, but job satisfaction, and I admire her for that.

I sincerely hope she wins the award and personally think I will be forever in her debt. Thank you!"

"Dr Viles is a highly professional, encouraging and supportive PhD supervisor who has successfully guided 14 PhD students from diverse backgrounds through to completion. All of his PhD students have completed on time, and all have achieved first author publications from their PhD studies. His recently-graduated student Yao Tian is first author on several outstanding high-impact publications. Dr Viles' current student Anum Khursheed is a fine example of the success of his flexible and inclusive approach to PhD supervision: she is an overseas student and also a single parent - her childcare responsibilities mean that she can only be in the lab for 3 days per week. Furthermore, her arrival in the country was delayed for 5 months after her registration due to the covid situation. Dr Viles worked with her to produce a plan for her PhD studies that could succeed despite these obstacles. Anum is on track to complete her PhD on time, her project has been highly successful and she already has a first-author publication from her studies. All of Dr Viles' PhD students have benefited from his multidisciplinary network of collaborations."

"I am delighted to endorse Kimberly Hutchings. Kim was the reason I applied to do my doctorate in SPIR, where she acted as my supervisor from 2019- 2023. I received Leverhulme Trust funding, which was only available due to her successful bid for their doctoral scholarship program two years prior. Of her supervisees at the time, three of us received permanent lectureships within a few months of completing our PhD.

Multiple professors encouraged me to apply with for a PhD with Kim. Her reputation as a supervisor preceded her: not only has she made her mark in International Relations and Political Theory through her pathbreaking scholarship, but also through supervising, examining, and mentoring many of the leading scholars in the discipline today, including several faculty members in SPIR.

It is obvious that Kim is passionate about supervision and teaching. This is not only reflected in her intellectual support, but also in her responsiveness, approachability, dependability, and generosity. Indeed, many other PhD candidates in the School would seek out Kim's advice for scholarly and non­ scholarly matters. She is recognized both at QM and other institutions for having built the infrastructural and cultural environment that cultivated multiple generations of scholars in our field."

"Mathieu's innovative research is described in some detail in the accompanying application. I would like to emphasise how truly impressive the two MIDI First Prizes won by his PhD students are. MIDI is the industry body that oversees all aspects of how digital musical instruments communicate. Their opinion carries real industrial weight. And thanks to winning those prizes, the two students were invited (with their novel instruments) to NAMM, the National Association of Music Merchants, a trade show that attracts over 100,000 attendees in the USA. The research that led to these two very different instruments (one entirely physical and the other entirely virtual, existing in Augmented Reality space) is among the most impactful I have seen come from the Centre for Digital Music in over 20 years."

"I wholeheartedly support Dr Nick Tsitsianis for the Research Supervisor Award. Having had the privilege of witnessing their dedication and commitment firsthand, I can attest to it.

Nick has consistently gone above and beyond their role as a research supervisor. His unwavering support and guidance has been instrumental in guiding numerous students to successful completions of their PhDs, a testament to his expertise, mentorship, and commitment to excellence. I have witnessed Nick's hard work and dedication and Nick has not only facilitated academic achievements to PhD students but has also instilled confidence, resilience, and a passion for research.

Nick extends his support to MSc dissertation supervision, demonstrating a remarkable dedication to nurturing talent at all levels of academic pursuit. His approachability, encouragement, and willingness to invest time and effort in each student's success are truly commendable. The feedback from students under Nick's supervision has been overwhelmingly positive.

In summary, Nick embodies the qualities of an outstanding research supervisor, making a profound and lasting impact on the academic and personal development of their students. The subsequent career path is an active testament."

"I would like to offer my gratitude to Dr. Patrizia Kokot-Blamey for all her support, time, help, and advice throughout these years. Her continuous encouragement and emotional support have been essential for completing my doctoral thesis and making it an enjoyable experience while helping me grow intellectually. I believe she should win this award. She was Co-director Co-Director of the Centre for Research in Equality and Diversity; she is very helpful."

"The nominee's extensive involvement in PhD mentorship, impactful contributions, and proactive engagement in creating new networks exemplify his commitment to inclusivity and collaboration. His mentorship approach fosters a supportive environment, empowering students and colleagues alike to thrive academically. By securing funding for PhD students and providing constructive feedback, he has enabled the professional growth of individuals. His innovative initiatives, such as guiding students in 2023 Paris December Finance conference presentations and facilitating networking opportunities, have broadened horizons and enhanced academic networks. His inclusive and collegiate approach has prevented isolation and fostered a culture of collaboration, ultimately benefiting the academic community by nurturing talent and facilitating meaningful connections. His research excellence in empirical CSR areas has garnered positive recognition from external stakeholders. As an illustration, professors from King's College London invited him to serve as an external examiner for their finance PhD students' viva. This opportunity not only underscores the candidate's expertise but also enhances his public engagement efforts. Engaging with professors from other universities opens doors for professional networking and collaboration opportunities for the candidate's PhD students as well. Thus, the nominee is deserving of recognition for their transformative impact and dedication to fostering inclusivity and collaboration in academia."

"Following a significant restructure, the HSS Research Team has demonstrated resilience, exceptional teamwork and a commitment to excellent support, which deserve to be recognised.

The team has collaboratively redefined roles, overcome siloes, strengthened pre and post-award support and provided exceptional and proactive support for a broadened range of research activities which contribute to our vibrant research culture, from external events to internal research communications.

The team has expanded their support for individual researchers to include longer-term planning around sustainable funding trajectories. The impact of the team's work is felt across our community of researchers, and especially by ECRs, who regularly feed back that they feel exceptionally supported, and that the team's expertise and encouragement prepare them to engage with external funding. The team has strengthened its Faculty-wide outreach, including through an innovative programme of funding workshops, which has resulted in greater and more inclusive engagement across HSS.

The team shares information, collaborates on complex projects and cover gaps due to leave, leading to more resilient and joined-up support for Schools. The team has strengthened support for large, collaborative bids, which has ensured that ambitious projects, such as a recent AHRC Centre bid, benefit from relevant expertise from across the team."

"I endorse that the inaugural Queen Mary Postdoc Conference is worthy of the Research and Innovation Award for Research Support. The event provided a safe-space for postdocs to get together across all the different Queen Mary schools and institutes to discuss their vision of the postdoc experience, and to have those ideas presented to the Research and Innovation Board in the form a recommendation paper. These discussions and ideas have formed a key part in developing the action plan for researcher development and support for the next few years. The conference provides an innovative and vital mechanism for postdocs to have their voices heard by senior management and provide a forum to meet and network with other researchers across Queen Mary. As a member of the BCI Postdoc Forum, I have noticed a real change in how Queen Mary postdocs view their development since the conference, with more postdocs coming together as a community and being actively engaged with their own professional development."

"I am extremely proud to have Carlos as part of my team and I would like to nominate him for the Research Professional of the Year award as a recognition of his significant and valuable contributions to FMD."

"I am pleased to provide my strongest endorsement to members of the Devolved School Research of Ethics Committee (DSREC), based at the School of EECS.

The School has more than 1000 enrolled undergraduate students, more than 500 enrolled taught postgraduate students, and more than 300 postgraduate research students - with many of these students carrying out studies involving human participants or social media data. The team has been reviewing more than 100 ethics applications annually. This has been instrumental in enabling the timely project completion and adherence to ethical practices for students, while also freeing up resources from the college's central ethics committee. The team has also innovated by proposing specific processes on working with social media data, and implemented new risk screening processes. Beyond offering support, the team's learning resources and visibility have made a demonstrable impact on increasing students' awareness of responsible and ethical scientific practices, while also promoting open science.

To conclude, work carried out by the DSREC team has made a substantial positive impact to several pillars underpinned by QMUL's 2030 strategy, by supporting excellence in education, improving students' engagement with their projects, and providing world-class support for our researchers. I wholeheartedly support this application."

"I'm nominating Coleen so have largely answered this question by preparing the previous sections. The only additional point I would add is Coleen is probably the person I am most scared at losing from the JRMO! Her combination of expertise, collaborative approach, support for colleagues and positive attitude to change is invaluable. Her long service and dedication to QM and Barts Health Trust deserves recognition."

"My experience of Claudine Grisard and Evisa Mitrou's work aligns closely with their statement. I, and I believe many other colleagues, have witnessed l firsthand their unwavering commitment to grow and enhance peer recognition of the group. In addition, they have been fostering an inclusive and collaborative research environment at AARG. Their leadership has not only enabled impactful research outcomes but has also created a supportive space where all team members feel valued and empowered to contribute. Their innovative approach to research support, coupled with a strong emphasis on inclusivity and collaboration, has significantly enhanced the quality and rigour of our research. I believe they should win this award due to their exceptional dedication to promoting excellence, equity, and diversity within the AARG and beyond, ultimately benefiting not only members of the group but also the SBM and Queen Mary."

"Having worked in and around UK academia for 25 years, I am confident in saying that Marie's excellent management skills are rare. Personally, I have benefited greatly from Marie's guidance and mentorship, which have been instrumental in my professional development. Marie excels in effectively communicating research findings to both internal and external stakeholders. Her organisation of the Research Collaboration meeting in December provided a platform for disseminating our research findings and fostering dialogue among stakeholders, internally and externally to QMUL, which we are also hosting in July 24. Her ability to communicate complex research findings in a clear and concise manner has been crucial in ensuring that our work has a meaningful impact on our target audiences. She also took over the Communications & Engagement strand of G&H and has helped translate findings into tangible outputs for our participants."

"Mark is relatively new to QM but is already making significant impact. His enthusiasm and passion for research culture issues is infectious and he has succeeded in building strong relationships across the institution to drive forward our new culture strategy. These links are vital for shifting our approach and I've seen how mark has succeeded in bringing teams together who have not really collaborated before. His positivity and proactive engagement means he is already better connected across QM than many. This embodies the values we want to see across QM. His data driven approach and external awareness means his opinion is valued by academic colleagues. He led the introduction of the research culture paper at SET which is unusual for those meetings and evidence of that trust. He is also up for a challenge taking on the desire to improve our EDI related data for funders and volunteering in wider corporate activity."

"Petra has been an amazingly helpful and supportive colleague and joy to work with and is an absolute asset for the SBBS professional services team. She has worked hard to create a highly effective technical team that covers several sites and a number of different areas and specialisms. The success of her team leadership has been shown by the results of the staff survey which indicates an enviable high satisfaction rate across the team that she leads. In addition she is well known for her collaborative approach when working with our academic staff and trying to find innovative low cost solutions to resolve issues. Her work in putting together a 5 year rolling plan for School lab equipment has meant that we can now clearly see what equipment will be needed or will need to be refreshed over the coming years and greatly assists in planning round applications and negotiations. Her contribution and help with our Business Continuity plan was invaluable as well as being informative and led to us being told that the planning for the Business Continuity exercise was the best to date in the university. Not only is Petra a great colleague who is respected by her peers she is also a colleague who really cares and pushes to get the best for those she leads and for the colleagues she works with and around."

"Global Politics Unbound has done incredible work, not just in showcasing the research of often 'missing voices' and scholars in academia, but also in carving out space to do creative, innovative and outside the box research. They make these spaces highly accessible for researchers at all stages of their career, specifically holding space for PhD students to speak and present their work, in conversation with more experienced scholars. Their public and incubation events ensure diverse membership - they invite women of colour, participants from the Global South, early career scholars and others - to sit centre stage, and ensure events are organised around key themes of social justice. This has meant that scholars often shunted to the background (particularly those from working class, global majority backgrounds) feel welcomed and represented. Their focus on creative approaches to scholarship is also particularly inspiring for those seeking new ways to share their research with a wider non-academic audience. They have become an important home for SPIR's postcolonial and decolonial scholars, and have made an integral impact in how the School's research community shares, thinks with and generates research on the genealogies of race, class and gender with contemporary and historical issues of social justice."

"As Research Manager for WIPH Dr Tor Kemp has worked tirelessly to support both high quality research and the lnstitute's researchers. The Research Team focuses particularly on supporting early and mid-career researchers and to do this Tor has developed and implemented a number of new initiatives, including running the extremely popular series ""How I got my fellowship"" and instituting a rigorous system for mock interviews when people are shortlisted. This effort coincides with a significant and consistent increase in both the number of fellowship applications linked to WIPH and the success rate.

More recently Tor proposed and led on the introduction of ""White Board"" sessions, opportunities for researchers to present early ideas to interested colleagues from across the institute with the aim of helping presenters develop rigour and sowing the seeds for successful grant applications. To introduce something like this, and make it work successfully as Tor has done, requires generating a great deal of trust and a spirit of collegiality. Tor has managed this extremely well and the sessions are proving popular and much in demand. I believe it is true to say that these sort of initiatives Tor has introduced epitomise the fostering of an open and inclusive research culture. WIPH is extremely lucky to have Tor as its research Manager as she is constantly seeking ways to improve our research, our researchers career development and our research culture."

"I am writing this statement in support of Darren Cox's application for the 2024 Research and Innovation Award. Darren has consistently shown infinite initiative and resourcefulness when it comes to improving the lab facilities and student experience. He has shown an incredible ethical and collegial attitude within the team which has extended beyond the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences (SBBS). In turn, building a strong community of technical staff at Queen Mary. Darren has recently taken the lead on several projects developing and producing equipment and tools to be used in the SBBS teaching labs. Despite setbacks and balancing his full-time teaching technician role, Darren has pursued these projects with patience and competency while ensuring sustainability and inclusivity. As a result, I have observed first-hand a great improvement in the students' enthusiasm and willingness to participate. This is reflected by the current high attendance for student practicals. Darren has always been a team player and a great support to the rest of the team."

"Over the Winter of 2023/2024 the team worked with producers of BBC Panorama to devise a 30-minute programme based around research on coastal landfills conducted in the School of Geography. The lab team supported collecting preliminary data, visiting field sites for filming, sample collection and analysed samples and data that were then used in the documentary. The BBC Panorama has had significant impact with over 1 million views and contributes to impact work around legacy waste, increasing public awareness and influencing national policy and practice.

All the lab team supported this project. This all happened with very short timelines requiring the lab team to be flexible with their own time, respond at short notice to requests, and travel away from home. Their expertise was invaluable in providing analytical advice, supporting the field and labwork and ensuring the data presented was of excellent quality and delivered in time for filming. This impact and public engagement work would not have been possible without the professionalism and support of our analytical team."

"To whom it may concern,

I wish to offer my full support to Dr Manuela Terranova Barberio for this application for the Research and Innovation Awards for the technical staff
category.

Manuela has recently taken over as manager of a very busy Flow Facility that is essential to the research and business of two major institutes in our
university (BCI and William Harvey). In her role, she has demonstrated exceptional leadership and dedication. She developed a new and excellent Core Service team and significantly enhanced the quality of services the core provide.

As heavy users of the Flow Cytometry, our group have experienced the positive impact of her leadership. Previously, instruments were frequently in
disrepair, leading to disruptions in research projects. However, under Manuela's management, instruments are consistently well-maintained, and any
issues are promptly addressed, ensuring minimal downtime and uninterrupted progress in research. Support is also available for all the stages from
support at the instrument to the experimental design or data troubleshooting.

My team has also joined the mandatory basic training she does as an introduction to flow cytometry and have found it helpful and useful even if they
were already practising flow cytometry as a technique.

In summary, Manuela's dedication, expertise, and innovative approach have significantly improved the research environment at Queen Mary University of London. I hope that her contributions merit recognition through the Research and Innovation Awards."

"Martin Dodel's tenure at QMUL as a research technician has been distinguished by his outstanding scientific contributions, rivalling those of senior academics, and an exceptional commitment to collaboration. His work has not only elevated QMUL's research profile but also fostered a culture of high-impact, collaborative study within the community.
 

But his performance in the last 2 years has been frankly extraordinary on all levels. During this time, Martin has authored seminal papers as first or middle author, and contributed to pioneering patent-pending technologies, significantly advancing the scientific profile of the University. Beyond his research, Martin has been instrumental in mentoring and supporting students and colleagues, thus significantly enhancing the university's collective expertise and research output.
 

Having been a close contender for this award last year (coming second in the Technician category), Martin's achievements have only grown more impressive and impactful. I can not think of anyone more deserving of this recognition this year. His dedication to excellence and community support embodies the values we hold dear at QMUL. I strongly endorse Martin for this award, hoping the selection committee will acknowledge his remarkable contributions by honoring him this year."

"Petra has been an amazingly helpful and supportive colleague and joy to work with and is an absolute asset for the SBBS professional services team. She has worked hard to create a highly effective technical team that covers several sites and a number of different areas and specialisms. The success of her team leadership has been shown by the results of the staff survey which indicates an enviable high satisfaction rate across the team that she leads. In addition she is well known for her collaborative approach when working with our academic staff and trying to find innovative low cost solutions to resolve issues. Her work in putting together a 5 year rolling plan for School lab equipment has meant that we can now clearly see what equipment will be needed or will need to be refreshed over the coming years and greatly assists in planning round applications and negotiations. Her contribution and help with our Business Continuity plan was invaluable as well as being informative and led to us being told that the planning for the Business Continuity exercise was the best to date in the university. Not only is Petra a great colleague who is respected by her peers she is also a colleague who really cares and pushes to get the best for those she leads and for the colleagues she works with and around."

"With this letter, I strongly support nomination of Dr Qasim Zia (QZ) for the Research and Innovation Award. QZ provided me with the formal training on Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). Later, he also helped in morphological characterisation of my own samples and others received from industrial partners under the framework of the Impact fund. His technical expertise in electron microscopy is outstanding, and he has developed a nice blend of soft skills, including interpersonal skills allowing him to train new users effectively, irrespective of the level of their previous understanding of the microscopy.
 

Based on my own experience, I can ascertain, his contribution as a technician to the electron microscopy activities at the QMUL is exceptional. His technical knowledge in the field and quest to explore further in the area distinct him from other trainers and allow him to understand the user's need and helping them to achieve refined morphological features of their samples'. I really appreciate his contribution to the QMUL research community and strongly recommend the nomination of Qasim Zia for the R&I award, that will inspire others to achieve a high level of professionalism in their research support roles. I am happy to provide further comments and details on QZ's technical competency and strengths, if needed."

"I fully endorse Sam's nomination for the technician R&I award. Sam's above and beyond approach to getting the core facilities up and running during the IT outage was commendable. He became the liaison between all of the core facility managers (whose kit has different needs to that of Sam's) making sure he understood the priorities of each facility and ensured IT understood the needs of each facility. He created a new core facility network, allowing the facility managers to interact. Sam's communication skills meant that all parties were informed at all times allowing researchers to plan experiments and not waste time or resources unnecessarily. The impact on all of the core facilities and the researchers who use the BCI core facilities across QMUL was immense and this was all carried out whilst running the BCI Microscopy facility."

"ITS Research is proud of our biog, we work to ensure it's insightful concerning research and HPC, but we don't expect it to be cited in high-impact academic journals. Exceptionally, this is just what Sherman has achieved. His R package and the companion biog post have received two citations in Nature in the fields of Oncology and Epidemiology, from research groups outside of QMUL, in addition to the publication of the QMUL researcher that Sherman's code enabled in the first place.

We promote best practices in research code but it is still rare for it to have users beyond its original authors. Sherman's R package has started gathering momentum and is of exemplary quality. To accomplish this, Sherman had to learn new complex techniques to maintain code quality and readability.

The vastly more efficient implementation of the statistical method has enabled research in fields with societal impact, making it feasible for use on HPC systems where it wasn't previously. Sherman has used his code to promote best practices in ""code-clinic"" events within QMUL, and also represented the university at conferences."

"I am delighted to support Aravindan's nominations for the VP research excellence award 2024. Aravindan is a relatively new member of SBBS having joined us only 5 years ago, but he is already one of our leading stars. Since starting in Queen Mary, I has been part of several landmark research projects addressing fundamental questions relating to bacterial infection mechanisms. He consistently generates significant income from diverse sources including UKRI, Wellcome Trust and industry (currently holding over £2million in grant funds to QMUL) and publishes in top tier journals: since 2021 he has 3 Nature Comms, 2 Nucleic acid research and 1 PNAS paper. He is also an excellent PhD supervisor, currently supervising 8 students, and a constructive and collegiate member of staff. He organises the Protein and Gene club, revitalising the research environment for our PGR students and ECR. I unreservedly support this nomination."

"Dr Roney's work is at the forefront of engineering methodologies to personalise treatment approaches in cardiology. This research is based on personalised anatomical models and virtual cohorts to design patient-specific treatment approaches, using signal processing, mechanistic simulations and machine learning techniques.
 

Since joining Queen Mary in October 2021, her work has gone from strength to strength. She received a highly reputable Future Leaders Fellowship to design optimal ablation therapy for atrial fibrillation patients. Based on her work in cardiac digital twins, she led Queen Mary's participation in the EDITH project, a large Digital Europe Programme grant laying the groundwork for interoperable digital twins involving a simulation platform, digital twin repository, roadmap and ecosystem for uptake of digital twin technology in healthcare. She is a core researcher in the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Precision Cardiovascular Devices and Trials theme to deliver digital twins research for aortic valve therapy. She has also been awarded an industry-sponsored PhD studentship for atrial fibrillation therapy planning, working with Acutus.
 

All of this research portends to a future where digital twins in healthcare are a routine part of clinical care -- with impacts in personalised disease detection, treatment and follow-up. Additionally, virtual patients simulated from digital twins are already having impact through in silico trials of novel devices and therapeutics. Dr Roney's work is helping to build this future and is on an excellent trajectory, as evidenced by her appearance in a video on Queen Mary's Research Highways."

"I am delighted to provide an unequivocal and enthusiastic recommendation for Lars Chittka in recognition of his exceptional scientific achievements. Throughout his illustrious career, Lars has consistently demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to advancing the frontiers of knowledge in insect cognition.

What sets Lars Chittka apart is his ability to merge theoretical expertise with groundbreaking experimental work. His innovative contributions have not only expanded our understanding of fundamental scientific principles, as evidenced by is impressive array of multiple high impact publications in Science and Nature, but have also paved the way for practical applications with implications for policy and insect welfare.

Lars' rigorous approach to research, coupled with a keen analytical mind, has resulted in numerous awards and prizes throughout the years, including becoming a member of the prestigious Leopoldina society. In addition to his scientific career, Lars exhibits strong leadership qualities, whether guiding his own research team, mentoring new members in the School, or participating in interdisciplinary collaborations.

I believe that Lars displays the qualities that make him an excellent candidate for the VP award for Research excellence and it is without reservation that I recommend him."

"I nominate Dr Louise Barber for the award in recognition of her exceptional contributions towards the improvement of gastrointestinal (GI) cancer research and the remarkable impact she has had on our lab. Dr Louise Barber is a driving force behind the success and advancement of our research endeavors. Since the establishment of our lab, she has been instrumental in shaping its direction and fostering a culture of excellence and innovation. Her unparalleled dedication to the betterment of our lab ensures its smooth functioning and continued success.

One of Dr Barber's most remarkable achievements lies in her mentorship and support of PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. With her wealth of knowledge, expertise, and unwavering commitment for research, she has successfully guided and supported approximately ten PhD students, ten postdoctoral researchers and many other clinical research fellows in our lab throughout the years. Her mentorship extends beyond academic guidance, as she takes a personal interest in the growth and development of each student/staff, nurturing their research skills, and fostering a passion for inquiry and excellence in them. The impact of her mentorship reverberates throughout the academic community, as these researchers have gone on to make significant contributions to the field of GI cancer research and beyond.

Furthermore, Dr Louise Barber is a founding member of our lab, and her visionary leadership has been instrumental in shaping its success as a leading research lab in the field of GI cancer research. She has played a pivotal role in establishing the lab's research priorities, forging collaborations, and securing funding to support our research initiatives. Her strategic vision and forward-thinking approach have not only propelled our lab to the forefront of GI cancer research but have also positioned it as a hub of excellence within the City of London centres."

"I write to give my full support to Professor Rachael Mulheron's nomination for a VP Research Excellence award. Professor Mulheron's work in recent years has generated outstanding impact. Last year (20/11/23), this impact work was rewarded with a Faculty Research and Innovation Award. Her research continues to influence and generate collaborative work with a very impressive roster of professional and policy organisations. The organisations directly making use of Professor Mulheron's research include the Ministry of Justice, the Department for Business and Trade, Legal Pie, the Competition Appeal Tribunal, and the Association of Litigation Funders (ALF). Indeed, her work on third party funding, and in seeking to help reverse the UK Supreme Court's decision in Paccar, is influencing the legislative process in the House of Lords via her interactions with the ALF and policy-makers and legislators. This policy work is underpinned by a research agenda that she has forged over a number of years working at QMUL, which sets out a number of innovation solutions to complex legal problems. Her recent award by the Legal Studies Board in February 2024 (re third party funding) will no doubt provide a platform to further enhance the impact of Professor Mulheron's hugely impressive work."

"This is a third party nomination. I would like to nominate Professor TESSA WRIGHT for this award. She recently completed a major grant funded by the ESRC, which looked atthe potential of procurement procedures in delivering social justice outcomes. Her work has been impactful in scope and focus. It was covered in a range of outlets. Impact was also delivered through a tool kit produced by the project team, which included Dr Joyce Mamode (also QMUL for the duration of the grant) and is proving popular.

Professor Wright has a track record of delivering high quality and impactful outputs in journals such as Accounting, Organisations and Society (FT Top 50); Work, Employment and Society; and, for example, Gender, Work and Organization. She also recently published a book on Women, Work and Transport. Throughout her academic career, she has produced high quality outputs that tackle male-dominated occupations from an inclusion point of view and she also produced a range of research on the working conditions and experiences of lesbian, gay and bisexual workers.

Professor TESSA WRIGHT is an example of collegiality at QMUL. She has held high profile administrative roles at Faculty level and is currently leading the research ethics committee. Her work is always excellent, on time, and produced fairly.

I worked closely with her as co-Directors of CRED until 2022 where she worked hard to foster an open and inclusive research culture through collaboratively organising a range of events for our researchers to come together, for example research grant meetings, CREDtheory events which targeted our PhD community but were very well attended across different levels of the centre, and was always open to feedback and requests by centre members. It is always a pleasure working with her and as a junior colleague it is also inspiring.

She works with academics across the UK and also abroad and collaborates with colleagues in producing high quality research across SBM as well. She has been an nurturing mentor to postdoctoral colleagues working with her as well as to our joint PhD students."

"This nominee's research output and experiences allow him/her to lead better the development and implementation of innovative curricula and programs and research workshops within MSc/BSc Accounting and Finance and SBM Doctorate programs at QMUL, enhancing the educational experience for students with various backgrounds and various levels and aligning with academic staff's commitment to transformative learning.

The nominee's development of an index score method to measure CSR engagement demonstrates their innovative thinking and dedication to practical application. By incorporating diverse samples from the US, the UK, China, and other international contexts, they ensure inclusivity and relevance across different settings.

His/her collaborative approach is evident in the open dialogue and transparency maintained throughout the research process. By actively seeking input and feedback from colleagues and peers, the nominee fosters a collegiate atmosphere conducive to knowledge-sharing and interdisciplinary collaboration.

The impact of their activity extends beyond Queen Mary, influencing academic discourse and informing practical applications in business and sustainability worldwide. These research outputs not only enhance understanding of CSR determinants but also provide actionable insights for practitioners and policymakers.

The nominee's inclusive, innovative, and collaborative approach to CSR research has enabled significant benefits, including enhanced understanding, and informed decision-making. His/Her dedication to excellence and the positive impact on others make him/her a deserving candidate for this award."