Award categories
Discover more about the Innovation and Impact Awards categories below.
This prize recognises an outstanding student innovation or enterprise venture that originated at UEA. This prize will recognise both business and social enterprise. The applicant leading the project must be a current student or have graduated from UEA within the last three years.
Previous winners
2018 - Catching a Fish in Norway (Paul Donati and Lottie Michael)
2019 - E-Surgery (Dr Oskar Wendowski and Dr Thuria Abduljhbar)
2020 - Coral Eyewear (George Bailey) and Safepoint (Callum Coombes and James Rogers)
2021 - Squiish Ltd (James Beavis and Muhammed Ozsoy)
2022 - Bare Kind (Lucy Jeffrey)
This award recognises an outstanding knowledge exchange project with an external partner that can clearly demonstrate a commercial, social, health or cultural impact beyond academia. This could be in the form of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership, consultancy work or similar.
Previous winners (this Award was previously Consultancy Project of the Year)
2018 - Improving cataract surgery outcomes (Dr Michael Wormstone - School of Biological Sciences)
2019 - Impacts of Climate Change: Informing the UK Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Prof Rachel Warren, Prof Corinne Le Quere, Asher Minns and colleagues - School of Environmental Sciences and Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research)
2020 - Development of innovative 3D printing strategies for next generation intraocular lens for cataract treatment (Dr Aram Saeed - School of Pharmacy)
2022 - Improving animal nutrition (Prof Charles Brearley and Dr Hayley Whitfield - School of Biological Sciences)
2023 - Safeguarding Natural Assets: Working with the Norfolk & Suffolk Nature Recovery Partnership (Prof Andrew Lovett, Gilla Sūnnenberg, Dr Trudie Dockerty and Dr Sophie Day, School of Environmental Sciences)
This prize recognises the outstanding commercial use of research. The journey to commercialisation is often very long and this category also recognises the progress and commitment of the research. As well as recognising for-profit business and consultancy, this award also recognises social enterprises that can demonstrate community-based innovations.
Impacts could include direct contribution to an individual business, sector or group of enterprises, economic growth, and innovation or change in management practices/structures or through the growth and utilisation of new skills. Impact could be achieved through any of the following means:
- Research collaborations funded by industry or social enterprises
- Commercial licensing of intellectual property to industry
- Creation of a start-up company to exploit the intellectual property.
Previous winners
2018 - Naturemetrics (Prof Douglas Yu and Dr Kat Bruce - School of Biological Sciences)*
2019 - Working with industry to provide technology solutions to product development for treating diseases (Dr Sheng Qi - School of Pharmacy)*
2020 - Assessment Micro-Analytics (Dr Bryan Maddox - School of Education and Lifelong Learning)
2021 - Bioacrylic Acid production from seaweed (Prof Jonathan Todd and Dr Ana Bermejo Martinez - School Biological Sciences)
2022 - UEA Publishing Project Ltd (Nathan Hamilton and Dr Philip Langeskov - Interdisciplinary Institute for the Humanities and School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing)
2023 - Cellexcel Ltd (Prof G Richard Stephenson, School of Chemistry)
* Formerly Outstanding Commercialisation of Technology
This prize recognises impacts of research or innovations where the beneficiaries are individuals and groups whose quality of life has been enhanced (or potential harm mitigated). This includes a change in practice or guidance that can be traced to real-world improvements in outcomes, reduction in costs or a change in behaviour at a local, national or international scale. Where possible, impact should be quantified in financial, survival or similar terms.
Previous winners
2018 - Improving Access for All: Reducing inequalities in access to General Practice Services (Dr John Ford, Prof Andy Jones and Prof Nicholas Steel - Norwich Medical School)
2019 - Childhood Disability in rural Kenya: Empowering caregivers and promoting participation (Dr Karen Bunning - School of Health Sciences)
2020 - Continuous glucose monitoring in women with Type 1 Diabetes in pregnancy trial (Prof Helen Murphy - Norwich Medical School)
2021 - Developing evidence-based wellbeing approaches to help improve wellbeing and productivity across the police force for England and Wales (Prof Sara Connolly, Prof Kevin Daniels and Dr Helen Fitzhugh - Norwich Business School)
2022 - Continuous Ambulatory Vestibular Assessment - a novel diagnostic system to detect dizziness and improve the health and wellbeing of patients (Prof Stephen Cox, Dr Jacob Newman and Dr John Phillips - School of Computing Sciences and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)
2023 - Support Needs Approach for Patients (SNAP) (Prof Morag Farquhar and Dr Carole Gardener, School of Health Sciences)
This prize recognises impacts of research and innovation where the beneficiaries may include government, non-governmental organisations, charities and public sector organisations and society, either as a whole or groups of individuals in society. This includes changes in professional guidance or training, direct changes in policy (or the prevention of change), the way in which options and/or evidence are viewed or evaluated by policy makers or increased efficiency in services.
Previous winners
2018 - Europe, the UK and the Natural Environment: Impacting the EU Referendum and the Brexit Process (Prof Andy Jordan, Dr Tim Rayner and Brendan Moore - School of Environmental Sciences)
2019 - Supporting Humanitarian Journalism (Dr Martin Scott - School of International Development)
2020 - Strengthening Electoral Integrity and Management (Prof Toby James - School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies)
2021 - 'Who Buys My Food?' From Insight to Action: Transforming small-scale food and drink businesses (Prof Andrew Fearne - Norwich Business School)
2022 - Sequencing COVID-19 genomes to inform public health policy (Prof Robert Kingsley - School of Biological Sciences and Quadram Institute Bioscience)
2023 - Improving global crop disease diagnosis to reduce economic loss and improve food security (Prof Sophien Kamoun, School of Biological Sciences and The Sainsbury Laboratory)
This award recognises the significant contribution of research and innovation to a specific group, wider society or cultural institution, promoting awareness and tolerance. This includes media coverage associated with demonstrable changes in public perception or prompting debate, increased turnover for a cultural institution or sector in relation to a research-led event, or a change in creative or curatorial practice resulting from a research-led exercise or exhibition, or public engagement activity.
Previous winners
2018 - Crime Pays: Bringing Noir to Norwich (Prof Henry Sutton, Dr Laura Joyce and Dr Sara Helen Binney - School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing)
2019 - Growing Up Married (Dr Eylem Atakav - School of Art, Media and American Studies)
2020 - Magna Carta (Prof Nicholas Vincent - School of History)
2021 - Skeletons in the Kitchen Cupboard: Revealing hidden plastic in tea bags (Dr Andrew G Mayes - School of Chemistry)
2022 - Paston Footprints (Dr Karen Smyth - School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing)
2023 - International Chair of Creative Writing Africa Year (2021-22) (Tsitsi Dangarembga and Prof Jean McNeil, School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing)
This award recognises UEA staff who have made a collaboration/collaborations with organisations of all sizes and sectors that has resulted in an outstanding commercial, social, health or cultural impact beyond academia.
Previous winners
2018 - Science Analytical Facility (Liz Rix - Faculty of Science)*
2019 - SmartCondensing (Matthew Bennett - Faculty of Science)*
2020 - UEA Law Clinic (Prof Gareth Thomas - School of Law)
2021 - The Scores Project (Dr Michael Grey - School of Health Sciences)
2022 - INOGOV - Innovations in Climate Governance (Dr Johanna Forster and Prof Andy Jordan - School of Environmental Sciences, School of International Development and Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research)
2023 - Coastwise – the North Norfolk Coastal Transition Accelerator Programme (North Norfolk District Council) (Dr Sophie Day, School of Environmental Sciences)
* Formerly SME Collaboration of the Year
This award is selected by the judging panel from all entries and chosen as a project that demonstrates outstanding innovation, impact and collaboration.
Previous winners
2018 - Operation WALBEA: What the Americans left beind in East Anglia (Dr Derwin Gregory - School of History)*
2019 - Microplastic Detection (Dr Andrew Mayes - School of Chemistry)*
2020 - Improving the quality of primary health care in low and middle income countries (Prof Max Bachmann - Norwich Medical School)
2021 - Norwich Testing Initiative (Colleagues from across Norwich Research Park - UEA, Earlham Institute, Anglia Innovation Partnership, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Quadram Institute)
2022 - Future and Form of Literature (Prof Henry Sutton and colleagues - School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing)
2023 - Launching the Gloucester: A Norfolk Heritage Project with National and International Reach and Significance**
* Formerly Economic and Social Research Council Impact Accelerator Account Award
** Vice Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Achievement