Nominees

⭐ Victoria Batty - nominated by Lucy Orange and Giovanna Massei2 nominations

1. Vicky has only been with us since October, but in that short time has made such a huge impact on the department, both within her role as Admin Manager, and as a colleague/team member. 1. We are inclusive and embrace our diversity: Vicky joined EDC straight away and gives useful contributions in every meeting. She is not afraid to challenge view points to make sure inclusivity and equity are considered. She is incredibly compassionate, takes time to listen to everyone, will happily reframe her approach to be more inclusive, and is constantly championing everyone's voices around her. 2. We make a positive difference: Vicky has already made positive changes to processes within her role; she has streamlined the GTA recruitment process, going the extra mile with both GTAs and academics to make sure that both parties understand the process. She always makes time to talk through any processes/HR policies with colleagues. In the office, she is a well-liked and respected team member, and responds to circumstances in a sensitive manner. 3. We strive for environmental sustainability: Vicky always considers this when providing support and advise on our departmental events, such as the festive pot luck. 4. We are a friendly and helpful community: Vicky lives by this value. As above, she goes out of her way to help her colleagues across the staffing groups, as well as GTAs. She has bundles of patience, is humble and won't hesitate to apologise and rectify any mistakes. She also often brings in baked goods to share around which is a lovely touch! She never hesitates to jump in to help her colleagues, even when it isn't her remit. Recently she helped the Student Services Team by collecting information for constraints, which alleviated some stress and workload for them. She is a strong team player. 5. We are curious and always learning: Vicky is always exploring how things can be done better. She strives for perfection and is very reflective on processes she is responsible for; she will always listen and take advice from others on how to improve. She puts people at the centre of everything she does.

2. Victoria was incredibly helpful in answering many queries about my (complicated) FTE on different projects. She took my case to heart and worked to provide answers to all my query in a friendly and professional way. As a result, she produced a table with my time allocation to several projects and she also ensured that my salary reflected recent changes in projects' income.

⭐ Matt Pickering - nominated by Isabel Navarro and Isla Stubbs2 nominations

Matt has been very helpful showing and explaining the LC-MS, and is always helpful and encouraging towards any questions I have. He is happy to help and takes interest in my work. He has always made time to explain lab equipment thoroughly. Much appreciated!

⭐ Chloe Mitchell - nominated by Darpan Das1 nomination

In an organization, where we are always loaded with work and extra work is frowned upon by individuals. Chloe stands out as an outlier. Being new to the organisation, I was overwhelmed with the documentation and procedures associated with a project, and was tossed between different sections of the department. When it reached Chloe, she went beyond her job requirements to facilitate this process and made the steps much simpler for me. She even reached to our external partners to ensure they are in alignment with the necessary guidelines and feel supported. I think her approach strongly validates our core values (2) positive difference and (4) friendly and helpful community.

⭐ Angela Purdham - nominated by Annabel Jackson and Liz Hurrell2 nominations

1. We are inclusive and embrace our diversity. Angela has been a great support to me since I started as a new member of staff to the University last year. She is someone that embodies this core value as she always seeks to ensure that everyone is treated fairly and with respect. 2. We make a positive difference. Angela provides a fantastic sense of calmness to the office, and is always ready to help her colleagues if needed. Her positive, realistic attitude has greatly inspired me, especially as she is a working mother! 4. We are a friendly and helpful community. I greatly enjoyed working with Angela recently, and really appreciated the positive feedback that she went out of her way to provide. It is a pleasure to work with such a supportive and friendly colleague.

2. I would also like to nominate Angela for the MTD award. There are several reasons for this: 1) I know from my students how supportive Angela has been to help them find placements. I know she has gone above and beyond to help them find placement and support them when they have struggled with interviews/applications/having wobbles about whether the placement is 'right' for them. She really has made a positive difference to ensure they do not give up. 2) Angela has always been so positive and supportive whenever I have e-mailed her about anything careers/placements related. Again, she has always gone above and beyond to help me to tackle my questions and her responses are always really friendly (i.e. not feeling like I'm wasting her time). This was reflected most recently when I was exploring internship possibilities - she supported me through the process and made enquiries on my behalf which made the difference between me applying for internship funding vs not applying. So she has been incredibly helpful and continues to make a positive difference.

⭐ Katariina Nara-Zanotti - nominated by Rebecca Reid Rodrigues1 nomination

Kat is a fantastic coordinator and a real asset to the PSS team. She does a great job at guiding us through the academic year - taking the time to answer our questions no matter how small and is always a friendly and helpful member of the team. Kat encourages us to be confident in our decisions and communications with both students and fellow members of staff. She is very organised and has excellent time management skills, enabling us to prioritise and plan ahead for the busy assessment periods. Kat make sure that each team member takes time for self development by attending training sessions and expanding our knowledge of processes. She is very knowledgeable herself of the different processes throughout the wider University and always knows who to contact should we need to complete an urgent task! Kat is kind, considerate and brightens the atmosphere of the office. It's great to have her as part of our PSS team :)

⭐ Annabel Jackson, Chloe Mitchell - nominated by Zheng-Hong1 nomination

The weekly staff newsletter must be one of the most impressive work they have undertaken. From small skills, forthcoming seminars, workshops, to media engagement, trainings, fundings, the newsletters are always richly ladened with various information about and for its members, connecting us as a vibrant community, which also demonstrates a real leadership in every aspect we can think of. Thank you Annabel and Chloe!

⭐ Dave Hay - nominated by Zheng-Hong and Giovanna Massei2 nominations

1. I don't have the privilege to often accessing to Dave's service. But whenever I receive his emails, I see some must have benefited from them. When we are well informed and prepared, uncertainties are reduced. With Dave's support, we become more resilience in our working environment. Thank you Dave.

2. I have appreciated immensely the help that Dave gave me on so many occasions when I dropped in his room unannounced with my last-minute queries. Some examples include helping me with the process of hosting an Italian student at the DEG, assisting me with filling travel insurance and risk assessment forms requested for my overseas travels, and finding the technical specs (and best price!) for equipment for the lab. I found Dave friendly, generous with his time, and curious about my work and always a pleasure to work with.

⭐ Beth Roberts - nominated by Angela Purdham1 nomination

Beth has been a brilliant support recently when our team was working at reduced capacity, her can do attitude and willingness to learn really embody our core values and ensured we were able to continue to offer a key service to our students through our weekly newsletter. Beth took this task on cheerfully and proactively, she does not just do the minimum required to complete the task she looks into what she is doing, asks questions if she is unsure and makes suggestions and amendments if she spots inconsistencies or things that could be done better. She does all of this with a smile on her face and a desire to understand and learn more. This proactive approach was further demonstrated when Beth reached out about a transfer process for an employability led module which showed a curiosity for understanding how things work within the Department in order to ensure a smooth administrative experience for our students. She is a joy to work with.

⭐ Jenny Pollard - nominated by Angela Purdham1 nomination

I would like to nominate Jenny Pollard, our Industry Liaison Officer for the Sustainable Business, Leadership and Innovation (SuBLIM) programme. As we transition from SuBLIM to SBES, Jenny has supported the diversity of our students, faculty and industry partners providing an inclusive space for everyone. Jenny is always going above and beyond for everyone regardless of how small or big the challenge may be. She has also supported our students to try and find ways to collaborate with industry partners to promote learning opportunities and career advancement. Jenny has provided invaluable mentorship to our Master students as they transition from their module coursework to placements and eventual employment recruitment. This also extends to her efforts to help and assist in transition of our programme modules and new staff. With her support and ability to think creatively, her curiosity and drive to want to help and serve others, and her amazing commitment to provide the very best in environmental sustainability education and experiential learning has allowed us to expand our industry partnerships to include British Wool. Our industry partners speak highly of Jenny's integrity, her open, honest and transparent communication, her ability to adapt to challenging tasks, her commitment to finding innovative opportunities for them and students that allow for amazing experiences are just some of the many reasons they are committed to working with us and being a part of our environmental and sustainability community. I am beyond appreciative and grateful to have Jenny on our team - how she always maintains a positive outlook, is kind and generous and well as gracious in all that she does and beyond as our Industry Liaison Officer.

⭐ Ciaran Ogilvie - nominated by Richard Friend1 nomination

Ciaran is a marvellous representative of the department's core values - kind and considerate, immensely patient and supportive, always keen to help above and beyond what is required of his formal role.

⭐ Rachel Vonderdell and Beth Roberts (Reception Team) - nominated by Chloe Mitchell1 nomination

Rachel and Beth are always friendly, welcoming and always willing to help. They have incredibly busy jobs, where they have to work on detailed admin tasks whilst juggling this with the front-facing reception role. I often have to pop in to ask for their advice or help with a dept issue, especially as I don't have much involvement in the student-facing side, and they are ALWAYS happy to talk through an issue or explain how something works. Their attention to detail and willingness to make sure things are done properly is impressive. I work remotely much of the time, so when I come in and talk to them, I often leave with a renewed sense of team spirit. The support they consistently give to others is so valuable and the impact it has should not be underestimated. Their work clearly exemplifies the core values 2. and 4.

⭐ Jun Li - nominated by Nahum Ashfied1 nomination

Jun Li is always so approachable and friendly whenever myself or others need help, particularly in the lab. Over the past year I have started doing some quite complex modelling work which was completely new to me and he has always made the time to go over anything I am confused about, which has made a really positive difference in my understanding. More recently he has been extremely helpful whilst I have been planning my experimental studies, sharing his experiences and advice from previous work. Having these discussions with Li has had a real impact on this part of my PhD and undoubtedly contributed to some of the ideas that we have come up with in the last few months. Given this I think Li is a great asset to the department and 100% deserving of recognition in the Making the Difference Awards.

⭐ Anika Haque - nominated by Roland Gehrels and Adrian Gonzalez2 nominations

1. Anika has been a brilliant colleague since she joined us from Kent in 2022. She's contributed on many fronts, and at one point had five academic citizenship roles, having volunteered for all of them (core value 2). She's been a great lecturer and her research has been globally recognised through the prestigious AXA award (core value 5). As student feedback champion and EDC chair she's been equally brilliant and she is now supporting the REF process very pro-actively (core value 1), Anika goes well beyond and above what could be expected in all these roles and keeps carrying out all her responsibilities while away, on fieldwork or at a conference. Whenever Anika picks up a task, she puts her heart and soul into it. I have received commendations from students and parents alike about the valuable support Anika offers to our students and how approachable and inspirational she is (core value 4). Anika has been doing her work while still trying to find suitable accommodation in York, and facing a long commute, but always with a smile on her face. She is an absolute star.

2. Anika has been praised by a parent for the inspirational and timely support she has provided to her daughter in her capacity as dissertation supervisor. This engagement has helped to motivate the student to consider prospective further study and employability pathways based on this advice (values 2 and 4).

⭐ Lindsay Stringer - nominated by Banki Chunwate1 nomination

She is a timely academic professor distinguished. She has the core values of departmental aims and objectives. Her expertise greatly supervised many PhD researchers currently, contributing immensely to environmental sustainability with numerous researches and publications, organising conferences that help connect interdisciplinary research and try to bridge a gap between nature and human activities that can strive towards environmental sustainability. She is friendly, curious, open to learning good ideas, and likes interacting with the audience. She also has ideas of inclusiveness and diverse cultural aspects of research across the length and breadth of the world and has travelled to different parts of the world to research, collaborate and network, e.g., Africa, Asia, Australia, America and other European countries for research development. I am happy to nominate her for this prestigious Award based on the summarised achievement mentioned above for your consideration.

⭐ Debs Sharpe - nominated by Ollie Moore1 nomination

Having recently joined the department, I needed to develop a module which involved fieldwork for the students (which involved safety gear), two reccy’s to gather samples for the students to analyse in the lab (which involved a fair bit of field kit), plus a lab practical (which again involved lots of glassware, reagents etc.,); all on a short turnaround (a week’s notice, but on occasions sometimes a day’s notice) all of which, Debs facilitated (2 & 4). This all fell at her busiest time of the semester, yet she made time to meet with me, to talk through the feasibility of each aspect, to ensure that the delivery to the students was outstanding (2 & 4). This resulted in delivery of a practical which the students all gave feedback as being excellent (2) plus those that had never been in the lab before and were anxious were made to feel at ease by Debs (1). The time she carved out for me meant I felt included in the department (4). She also asked to join on the fieldtrip reccy, as she was keen to learn more about the geochemistry of mine waters (so as to enrich the students experience in the lab practicals) and is keen to help with the fieldwork in future years (4 & 5).

⭐ Rebecca Sutton - nominated by Debs Sharpe1 nomination

I would like to nominate Rebecca for all the assistance she has given to our undergraduate project students. Rebecca is responsible for research support not teaching, but has spent many hours going above and beyond to help students obtain data for their dissertations, across a range of analytical instruments. Students come with hugely varied backgrounds and levels of understanding, and Rebecca takes extra time to ensure that all communication is as clear as possible, and all information is explained and presented in different ways where needed. For those without lab backgrounds, this can take multiple attempts before understanding is reached, and Rebecca guides them carefully through all the steps required. The time taken to run the instruments is huge and requires long days. For project students who have left their analysis late, or taken longer due to errors or circumstances outside of their control, the deadline pressure is looming, but Rebecca has moved her time around, including days scheduled to be working from home, to do all she can to get them some data to work with. Some of our instruments are new, and different to their predecessors, so Rebecca has had to take a lot of time to get them up and running, overcoming various instrumental challenges, and teaching herself how they work to then help the project students. This is all on top of the regular challenges of supporting our PhD students, keeping an oversight over all our research labs and resources, and being primarily responsible for another quality lab submission to the Green Impact Awards. So much work done by technicians is unseen and unrecognised, and we’re very grateful to Rebecca for everything she does to keep things running in these busy times. She will always help other members of the team, even when pushed for time herself, and we would be lost without her guidance, wisdom and kindness.