Union awards announced 2013

The Imperial College Union Awards Ceremony was held yesterday (Thursday June 13). The Awards Committee chose the winners and Union Council unanimously upheld the decision.

Union Fellowship with Distinction was awarded to Nathaniel Bottrell, a long-time trustee, and Stephen Richardson, Deputy Rector of Imperial College London.

The winners of the Awards and Fellowship with Distinction were Nathaniel Bottrell, a long-time trustee, and Professor Stephen Richardson, Deputy Rector of Imperial College London. There was also Union Fellowship for Dr Lorraine Craig, Earth Science and Engineering Academic Tutor. Many students were awarded Union Colours and Outstanding Service Award (see right). At the last Union Council of the academic year all of the sabbatical officers, including Tim Arbabzadah, Felix Editor, and Shiv Vorha (ICSMSU President) were awarded Honorary Life Membership.

The President’s Awards were also announced at the last Council of the year. These are awarded by the Paul Beaumont, Union President, with no other committee being involved and are his personal pick of those that have supported the Union in an outstanding way.

Club, Society, or Project of the Year President’s Award went to Caving Club for discovery of the longest cave in Slovenia back at the beginning of the year. Rhys Tyers Caving Club Chair said: “Connecting our cave systems and thereby discovering the longest cave in Slovenia this summer was the crowning achievement of over a decade of work by the caving club. We think this project has taken over a hundred person-years of effort and it’s really nice to see this recognised by the union and RCC through these awards.”

The Undergraduate Representation President’s Award went to Biology Soc. Aaron D’souza Biology Departmental Representative said: “I think that there have been a lot of people this year who have put a lot of work and effort and dedication into making this year so successful for the Biologists. In my case, I have had a lot of support from the BioSoc, the Biology department, the Biochemistry dep rep and Doug (Hunt). Without them, Biology wouldn’t be getting this award.” Doug Hunt, Deputy President (Education), said that they have “increased the number of their Staff-Student Committees for the next academic year so more issues can be raised and dealt with more swiftly”. He added that they have been heavily encouraging their lecturers to use Panopto [lecture podcasting]”.

The Postgraduate Representation President’s Award went to the Business School. Simon Schillebeeckx Business School Departmental Representative said: “Unfortunately I cannot be here today as I am giving a talk at the Goodenough College Conference in North London. I am very happy to receive this reward and that Paul and Doug decided to award it to the Business School for representation. I have tried my very best to intermediate between the needs of the students and the appropriate college channels. If I were successful in my endeavours, I think this wouldn’t have been possible without the fantastic cooperation with Doug, Paul, Andrew George, and Debra Humphries. Thanks a lot”. Hunt commented saying: “They have convinced the College to increase the PhD writing up period to 12 months as Imperial is behind our competitors in this respect, they have also helped give the rest of the College academics insight into the Business School’s workings and have made the Graduate School write various drafts for College policy e.g. the double marking definition and group plagiarism rules.”

The President’s Personal Awards were given to three individuals. Professor Stephen Richardson was again the recipient of an award. Richardson was a student at Imperial and completed his PhD in 1975. He later returned as a lecturer in 1978 and has been a permanent fixture of Imperial since 1987. He was appointed Deputy Rector in 2009. Beaumont said: “Stephen has been a champion for the student voice and student experience for the last twenty-five years. Since his appointment as Deputy Rector, he has been the go-to person in the College Management – always frank, honest and willing to listen. “ He went on to say: “Stephen has been a great help to the Union itself this year too; helping with our new Partnership Agreement, Code of Practice, Funding and Space agreements. He has always had a good word to say on the Union’s behalf when it comes to campaigns like #AgainstActon, the College Management Board’s response to student views on the new halls, the Holland Club and Level 0, and the Union’s involvement in that.” Beaumont also commented on the good feedback he gets from his lectures and his promotion of teaching when he was Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering. He said: “Despite being one of the most powerful figures in the College, Stephen has never forgotten his roots – nor probably his days as a student here. This grounding creates a very important friend for the Union.”

Also in for a double award was Lorraine Craig, who picked up a President’s Award as well. Craig joined College in 2006 and since joining ESE SOLE & NSS scores have shot up. Beaumont described her as “a complete hit [with the students”. He said: “Lorraine knows every single one of her students by name – and makes it her job to ensure their student experience is second to none. She is – for all intents and purposes – these students’ second mum.” He also mentioned how she “always had a good word to say on the Union’s behalf when it comes to campaigns like #AgainstActon” and how she always comes up with great initiatives.

The final President’s Award was given to Phillip Kent, a Chemistry student, for his role as Systems Administrator for the Union Website. Beaumont said: “Imperial College Union literally wouldn’t have a web presence without Philip. Over the Summer 2012 he helped myself, and two members of staff completely re-write the Union’s website, which takes £1M of CSP transactions each year. As SysAdmin, Philip has worked selflessly to try and ensure the security of one of the CSPs best communication tools: Dougal, the Union webserver. Without Philip, CSPs could have lost their websites and individuality, and the Central Union, the support system. Philip has also written some of the new systems that students and the Union rely on for annual events: the Mums and Dads matching system, for one. For all of his contributions, I have awarded Philip the President’s Award, and the Council has awarded him an Outstanding Achievement Award.”

Union Awards

Colours

Zahra Aboukhalil, Fatima Ahmad, Matthew Allinson, Martin Asprusten, Giada Azzopardi, Richard Bennett, Henry Bleech, William Brown, Christopher Charles, Francis Clegg, James Cooper, Peter Davis, Pongsathorn Dechatiwongse, Aaron D’souza, Christian Franke, Shiladitya Ghosh, William Glendinning, Usman Goga, Boshuo Guo, Maija-Lisa Han, Dariush Hassanzadeh-Baboli, Johannes Hoenigl, AliHosin, Ibtesham Hossain, Maximilian Hunter, Matthew Hutchins, Emily Hutchinson, Narthana Ilenkovan, Naomi Jordan, Neeraj Kalra, Hanan Kamel, Natalie Kempston, Giridhar Kesavan, Callum Kirk, Jane Langdon-Davies, Marissa Lewis, Jonathan London, Anna Luthman, Frank Machin, Megan MacKenzie, Gemma Milman, Noah Nathan, Nicholas Ng, Aislinn O'Malley, Leonardo Paol, Bhavesh Patel, Lydia Pearson, Helen Pennington, Helen Phillips, Claudio Polisseni, Jonathan Pratt, Sybghat Rahim, Deepka Rana, Timothy Runcorn, Lewis Ryan, Plabon Saha, Cyin San, Harish Santhanam, Usman Siddiqui, Natasha Strydom, James Sudlow, Zhao Tai, Yuen Tham, Victoria Walpole, Ken Wu

Outstanding Service Award

Dominic Andradi-Brown, Isabel Fenton, Benjamin Fry, Adam Funnell, George Goldberg, Maryam Habibzay, Philip Kent, Wasim Khouri, Joseph Letts, Thomas Lim, Slobodan Radosavljevic, Suzanne Rayner, Joseph Rumer. Simon Schillebeeckx. Steven Tran. Ross Webster. Thomas Wilshere. Jake Woods

Fellowship

Lorraine Craig

Fellowship with Distinction

Nathaniel Bottrell

Stephen Richardson

President’s Awards

UG Rep: Biology Soc

PG Rep: Business School

Club of the Year: Caving Soc

Personal Awards: Lorraine Craig, Philip Kent, Stephen Richardson (Deputy Rector)