Welsh Crucible has won the Times Higher Education’s 2013 award for Outstanding Contribution to Leadership Development. Judged to be an initiative which has delivered “game-changing impacts on attitudes and behaviours”, the Welsh Crucible has beaten off competition from five other universities including the universities of Warwick and Sheffield, to the award at a ceremony in London last night.
To date, 90 researchers have been recruited on to the Welsh Programme with innovative research projects already underway such as using digital fiction to improve the body image of young girls, a ‘smart pill’ to help diagnose gastro-intestinal disorders and a digital app to tackle obesity.
Professor Peter Halligan, Chair of the Welsh Crucible Steering Group, said: “This award is excellent recognition of the Welsh Crucible’s ability to develop the necessary skills of Wales’ academic base to develop and deliver innovations that have real world application.
“The Welsh Crucible has been designed to introduce new ways of thinking and working to researchers who are already excelling in their fields. The aim is to create long-term changes in attitude and working practice, as well as encouraging practical collaborations between participants. Now in its third year, the programme has demonstrated how it continues to addresses the needs of Welsh universities to collectively grow future research leaders through research-inspired innovation and cross-institutional collaboration.”
The Times Higher Awards are higher education’s ‘Oscars’ and recognise ground-breaking work undertaken by UK higher education institutions. The award is for Outstanding Contribution to Leadership Development and is sponsored by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, and seeks to recognise and reward imaginative schemes that foster leadership development at any level of management.
The Call for applications for the 2014 programme will open in January. Welsh Crucible is for talented early- to mid- career researchers, with at least three years’ postdoctoral research experience, or equivalent, working in any discipline, including science, technology, engineering, medicine, arts, design, social and political science. Participants must work in Wales, either at a higher education institution, or in research and development in business, industry or the public sector.