Judges
The judging panel includes senior UEA colleagues and guest judges from external partner organisations who we invite to present Awards at the ceremony.
The judges convened in March and shortlisted the 2025 Awards finalists.
2025 Guest Judges and Award Presenters
The Chancellor's formal duties include chairing the University's annual general meeting and conferring degrees at graduation ceremonies.
The Chancellor shapes their role in the way they feel best supports the values and aspirations of the University.
After graduating from UEA in 1968 with a BA in English, Dame Abramsky pursued a trailblazing career in news media, with her near 40-year legacy at the BBC spanning radio, television and online platforms.
Jenny joined the BBC as a programmes operations assistant in 1969, going on to become the first female editor of the Today programme and launch Britain's first continuous news and sport radio station, Five Live, as well as the television channel BBC News 24.
Jenny also launched the BBC’s news website in 1997, before moving back into radio as the corporation’s Director of Radio in 1999, with 1Xtra, BBC 7, 6 Music, Five Live Sports Extra and the Asian Network launched during her tenure.
By the time Jenny left the BBC in 2008, she was on the corporation’s Executive Board as Director of Audio and Music, and its most senior female employee.
Since leaving the BBC she has taken on senior roles as a number of prestigious organisations, including as Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund (now the National Lottery Heritage Fund), Deputy Chair of the Canal and River Trust, and six years as Chair of the University of London.
Jenny is a Fellow of The Radio Academy and is currently Chair of Trustees of National Life Stories and of the Royal Academy of Music.
She has also previously served as Chair of the Governors of the Royal Ballet and of Hampstead Theatre, and on the board of trustees for the UK's largest youth drama festival, the Shakespeare Schools Festival.
In 2003, Jenny was welcomed back to UEA as an Honorary Graduate, receiving an Honorary Doctorate in Letters from the University. She becomes the eighth Chancellor in UEA’s history.
The role of Chancellor is to act as a figurehead for the University, with formal duties including chairing the annual general meeting and conferring degrees at graduation ceremonies.
Natalie is Director of Engagement at the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. She joined NWT in 2022 after nearly twenty years working in public engagement roles across the public and private sector including 12 years at the University of East Anglia, a few years producing Norwich Science Festival and a stint working on a global conference in Sydney, Australia. She is passionate about the mutually beneficial relationship between people and the natural world and the importance of nature connection for our mental health. In her spare time she can be found pottering on her allotment, swimming in the Bure and drinking copious amounts of tea!
Callum Coombes is the founder and CEO of Safepoint, a pioneering company that provides innovative safety solutions for lone workers. A proud UEA alumnus, Callum studied Computer Science and launched Safepoint through the university’s ‘Sync the City’ event, later developing it into a market-leading safety platform.
Before founding Safepoint, Callum served in the British Armed Forces and has recently been recognised as Veteran Entrepreneur of the Year for his achievements in business and innovation. He is also a respected speaker on technology, business, and entrepreneurship, having featured on the BBC, Talking Tech, and at major industry events. Passionate about supporting the next generation of innovators, he regularly mentors startups and contributes to the UEA entrepreneurial community.
Professor Lesley Dwyer is an experienced health leader with an exceptional record in the NHS and Australian healthcare system.
Having begun her career as a nurse, Lesley has worked in a number of leadership roles at times of significant health reform. She has experience and knowledge gained within primary, community and tertiary health settings – she has led complex, multifaceted change and improvement programs aimed at raising organisational performance and integrating service delivery across healthcare systems to improve the health of the community.
Lesley returned to the NHS in late February as the Chief Executive of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.Prior to this, she led the largest tertiary health network in South Australia thought significant reform and set about on one of the largest cultural changes and the establishment of one of the largest academic health science precincts nationally. She previously was in the NHS as the Chief executive of Medway NHS Foundation Trust during a period which saw the Trust lifted from Quality Special Measures.
Heather is General Manager of the National Trust’s Blickling Estate, a historic Norfolk estate which is home to highly significant buildings, collections, nature, and landscapes. In this role, she oversees the operational management of the visitor business and leads for conservation excellence and strategic planning. Prior to the Trust, Heather spent 20 years learning about, loving, and looking after the historic built environment. With a background in Architecture, Archaeology, and Universal Design, Heather joined conservation practice Purcell and founded a Heritage Consultancy team at the forefront of developing conservation management planning. Heather champions understanding the significance of places to enable climate adaptation and accessibility, thrives on collaboration, and believes in the power of place to connect people to heritage and each other.
Head of MyAviva, Aviva’s customer portal, with over 20 years in the Insurance industry and more than a decade working in Digital Product. A passion for shaping digital services that are intuitive, secure and built around real customer needs. Led the evolution of MyAviva into a trusted platform used by millions of customers to manage their policies, claims and financial products.
Combines a strong understanding of the insurance landscape with a passion for digital innovation. Connecting the dots between business goals, technology and customer expectations ensuring digital experiences are not just functional but genuinely valuable.
Driven by a belief that digital should make things easier, faster and more human. Works closely with product, design and engineering teams to deliver continuous improvements anda long term-vision. An advocate for building collaborative teams and creating digital journeys that truly put the customer first.
Steve is Director of Culture & Heritage at Norfolk County Council, supporting a group of cultural and environmental services and programmes including Museums, Arts, Environment, Active Norfolk, Norfolk Record Office, Planning, and Tourism.
Steve Miller is also Head of Norfolk Museums Service, one of the largest county museum services in the UK,operating 10 museums across Norfolk including Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery. Steve is a member of the National Museum Directors’ Council (NMDC) and has served as a Trustee of the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF). Prior to working in Norfolk, Steve was the Chief Executive of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, one of the largest independent museums in the UK (2006-2013).
Steve is currently President of the Museums Association, the professional membership body for museums in the UK, and is also a Cultural Leadership Fellow of NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts).
Chris Starkie is the director of Growth and Investment at Norfolk County Council. He’s responsible for teams covering economic development, innovation, inward investment, employment and skills as well as infrastructure development.
He is also a director of Hethel Innovation, New Anglia Capital and the Low Carbon Innovation Fund and is a member of the Midlands and East Committee of the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Chris was previously chief executive of the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership during which time he helped secure more than £500m of investment into Norfolk and Suffolk. Prior to that he was the chief executive of public private economic development partnership Shaping Norfolk’s Future.
He also spent more than a decade as a journalist in newspapers, radio and television in the East of England, West of England and the Midlands, including spells at the Eastern Daily Press, Western Daily Press and Anglia Television. He was East of England Business Journalist of the Year three years in succession.
Prof Julian Blow, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research & Innovation (Chair)
Stephen Chapman, Director of Research & Innovation Division
Prof Kenny Coventry, Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research
Dr Joita Dey, Associate Director of Intellectual Property & Investment Management
Dr Nick Grant, Associate Dean for Innovation, Faculty of Arts & Humanities
Dr Nicola Hancock, Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation
Prof Sheng Qi, Associate Dean for Innovation, Faculty of Science
Julie Schofield, Associate Director of Business Partnerships
Julia Sheldrake, Associate Director of Research
Melanie Craig, NHS Norfolk and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group
Stephen Crocker, Norwich Theatre
John Gordon-Saker, Norwich Film Festival and History of Advertising Trust
Dr Victor Inyang, East Anglian Air Ambulance
Heather Jermy, National Trust Blickling Estate
Prof Gary Kass
Fiona McDiarmid, Norse Group
Minnie Moll, Design Council
Andrew Orchard, Archant
Dr Melanie Pascale, Big C
Karen Paterson, Aviva
Tim Robinson, Tech East
Glen Webster
Dr Thuria Wenbar, Evaro
Lorna Willis, Archant
Matt Windle, Lotus
Patrick Wood, Airbus