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The second UCL Professional Services conference took place on 2 February 2016. The awards recognise the attitude and commitment that professional services teams at UCL bring to their work. In 2016 the Professional Services Values Awards categories were linked to the foundational values.
The five categories are:
- Collaboration… putting UCL's goals first by working in partnership
- Empowered… confident and enabling
- Excellent service… putting UCL's goals and customer needs at the heart of our endeavour
- Innovation… to be creative and ambitious in all our endeavours
- Mutual respect… to maintain an inclusive environment in which all colleagues can flourish
Collaboration
Winner: UCL Data Integration Team by Kirsten Hamilton
The Data Integration Team was established by Student and Registry Services to ensure the identification, implementation and assurance of the work required to deliver UCL's merger with the Institute of Education. The merger demanded an intensely collaborative approach that was sensitive to cultural differences across the two institutions. The team's provision of comprehensive and timely training, excellent contingency planning and the consolidation of materials across Professional Services were all crucial and worked to an extraordinarily ambitious goal of completing an 18-24 month project in nine months.
Empowered
Winner: UCL Health Creatives Team led by Jayne Noctor
UCL Health Creatives are a team of 20 dynamic and innovative staff that strives to achieve the highest quality, embrace new technology and consistently take on new projects. At the 2015 Institute of Medical Illustrators annual conference, Health Creatives won numerous accolades including several bronze and silver awards, two golds and the Wellcome Trust award.
Excellent service
Winner: UCL Library Services, Main and Science daytime and Evening/Saturday teams led by Breege Whiten
Since the introduction of self-service in the UCL Main and Science Libraries, the front-line teams have transformed their services to deliver a wider range of support. By observing how customers use the library space, the teams in the Main and Science Libraries worked out how to position themselves so that customers can find help without having to search for it. They also changed their work patterns, and managers introduced formal customer services training and a monthly journal club to discuss best practice.
Innovation
Winner: UCL Sustainability Team led by Alex Green
The new interactive online tool, degreesofchange.co.uk, built by UCL's Sustainability Team has brought issues around reducing the university's carbon emissions to life, while gathering views from the UCL community in a more participatory and interactive way. The tool allows staff and students to try out what it would mean to spend UCL's £10 million energy efficiency budget on a choice of interventions. Feedback is helping to shape UCL's new Carbon Management Plan, providing a sense of what interventions staff and students care about and why.
Mutual respect
Winner: UCL PACE Programming Team by Helen Pike
The PACE programming team identified that UCL's museums had less appeal for those studying unrelated subjects, and devised a new mechanism to engage students from across UCL's faculties, they recruited a student panel to design and run events in the museums. The PACE programming team's approach was open and inclusive, involving students across UCL, regardless of their experience. The students gained skills in programme planning, devising content, budgeting and marketing. Following the event, they also held an informal careers session on how staff in UCL's Museums and Collections gained their current roles.