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The shortlist for FBS's EDI Awards & Celebration 2023 has been announced.
Shortlisted nominees
We received over 20 nominations for FBS's EDI Awards & Celebration, which honors individuals and teams making significant contributions to advancing equality, diversity, and inclusion within our community.
There are six different award categories, encompassing various areas and allowing both staff and students to be nominated. From these nominations, the panel has selected three individuals or teams to be shortlisted for each category, with a winner chosen from each shortlist.
The following staff members and students have been shortlisted:
- Dean’s Excellence in EDI Award
Natalie Marchant- Division of Psychiatry
Natalie Marchant is a trailblazer promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion within UCL's Division of Psychiatry. Natalie has founded and led the Race Equity and Ethnic Diversity group and chairs the EDI committee. Natalie has initiated innovative projects such as the creation of Divisional In2Science internships, name-blind recruitment for MSc students, and Grade 6 posts and has created working groups to deliver on these, inspiring her team and supporting junior colleagues. Her values and behaviours have resulted in positive change towards a more inclusive environment.
Diana Sefic-Svara- Institute of Ophthalmology
Diana's Emotional Intelligence workshops at the Institute of Ophthalmology have had a remarkable impact, by helping staff and students to improve their interpersonal skills. Positive feedback has led to calls for these workshops to be available to everyone across the Faculty. Diana's commitment shows her determination to create a positive and respectful environment at IoO and beyond.
John Draper- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences
John's unwavering commitment to promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion at both PaLS and Faculty levels is truly outstanding. Through his active participation in various EDI initiatives, including supporting Career Advice Surgeries and sharing best practices, he has made a significant impact. His exceptional leadership in the SPICE Time programme which allows Professional Services staff to occasionally prioritise well-being activities within their working time has garnered high praise for his dedication to helping others and advancing EDI at UCL. John truly embodies the spirit of making a positive impact on those around him.
- Contribution to EDI in Education and Student Experience
Michael Foster- Institute of Neurology
Michael has been recognised for their exceptional work on the FBS LGBTQ+ Equity Committee and ION EDI committee since 2021. They delivered a talk on their MRI research during "LGBT+ History Month and Brain Awareness Week" in March 2023, increasing awareness of UCL's commitment to equality and supporting LGBTQ+ communities.
Tim Young, Tracy Skinner, Jessica Jiang, Benito Maffei, E'Jane (Yi Jie Li), Kangxin Chen Huang, and Mena Farag- Institute of Neurology
This group consists of active members of the Institute of Neurology (IoN) EDI Action Group, representative of all student categories. They have made significant contributions by conducting the IoN student survey on wellbeing, mental health, and career development, organising 'Paths to PhD' events, and providing Active Bystander training for students. These initiatives have positively influenced the progress of EDI across different demographics and increased engagement to promote EDI.
Vitor Zimmerer- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences
Vitor has received recognition for his outstanding work in evaluating a plan that promotes inclusive teaching. The goal of the initiative was to educate staff members about the significance of inclusion in the classroom. Vitor utilised specialised software to reveal various ways to improve inclusivity by analysing interactions between teachers and students and raising awareness of addressing inclusivity in the classroom.
- Contribution to EDI Leadership
Benjamin O’Callaghan, Institute of Neurology
Ben is recognised for their outstanding leadership in organising 'The FBS ECR Careers Day'. The event drew in 200 participants and featured renowned speakers from diverse fields,
providing valuable insights into career paths for early-career researchers. Ben's exceptional skills in planning and execution set an inspiring example to host similar events in the future.
Stefanie Anyadi, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences
Stefanie's exceptional leadership inspires their team to actively promote diversity and challenge implicit bias through their Caleidoscope project. Stefanie’s unwavering commitment to this important project has remained steadfast even in the face of challenges brought on by the pandemic. Through their workshops and training methods, they have successfully shared their vision and inspired the wider UCL community and abroad at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
Wing-Chau Tung, Institute of Ophthalmology
Wing-Chau has made a positive impact on PS&T staff by introducing career advice surgeries, which promote career guidance and equal opportunities for growth amongst all staff groups. This initiative has been successful and well-received and has even expanded to the Faculty level due to its increasing popularity. Wing-Chau's efforts have played a significant role in encouraging community and career development.
- Contribution to EDI in Research
Aikaterini (Katerina) Fotopoulou- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences.
Katerina’s vision has led to the establishment of the Centre for Equalities Research in Brain Sciences (The ERB Centre) at UCL. This Centre serves as a hub for researchers in Mental Health, Neuroscience, and EDI to come together to collaborate and access shared resources. The Centre has already provided funding for research projects and is poised for further growth in the future. Katerina's ongoing dedication to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion through various research initiatives is truly commendable.
Leslie Gutman; Fatima Younas; and Rachel Perowne- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences
The study conducted by Leslie, and Rachel titled "UCL and EDI: Investigating Wellbeing During the Pandemic Period," was exceptional in its aim to understand how the pandemic affected individuals' wellbeing at work. The team dedicated themselves to analysing data collected from a weekly wellbeing survey during the pandemic and conducting qualitative interviews to gain more detailed insights. Their findings shed light on the experiences of those who worked remotely or in a hybrid manner for UCL, which contributed to key institutional decision-making.
Audrey Zhang- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences
Audrey conducted a research project exploring the ‘Effects of Personal and Contextual Factors on Status and Belongingness of First-year Undergraduate Students’. Audrey administered questionnaires to Psychology students at three different times and found that mental wellbeing, extraversion, and openness positively contribute to their sense of belonging. Audrey's research provides useful information for university administrators to improve student success and promote EDI.
- Contribution to EDI in the International Community
Anouchka Sterling- Division of Psychiatry
Anouchka collaborated with a cross-cultural communications specialist to create a set of workshops that aimed to foster intercultural communication and inclusion. Attendees of these workshops pledged to utilise their newly acquired skills and tools in their respective roles, including active listening and addressing micro-aggressions. Furthermore, Anouchka has taken steps to extend the efforts toward enhancing intercultural competence to other departments within UCL, exhibiting excellent EDI beaconing.
Sushrut Jadhav- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences.
Sushrut is an impressive advocate for intercultural competency at UCL. Sushrut’s dedication to promoting diversity and understanding is evident through the amazing events he hosts, such as 'Addressing Racism in Clinic' and 'Decolonisation in Mental Health: Trainees' Perspectives'. He is also an active member of the Race Matters mailing group, where he continues to advocate for cultural competency in university contexts. Sushrut's efforts are truly credible and contribute to a more inclusive and understanding community at UCL.
Angela Hwang- Institute of Neurology
Angela founded the first epilepsy genomics project in the Democratic Republic of Congo with a focus on analysing the genomes of diverse groups of people with epilepsy. Angela’s research aims to compare the genetic architecture of epilepsy in African populations, particularly in resource-limited settings. Angela's work has earned her the NIHR pre-doctoral fellowship in 2022 and is a testament to her remarkable drive and passion for improving healthcare.
- Contribution to EDI in Innovation and Enterprise
Georgia Pavlopoulou, Anna Freud, and Ruth Moyse- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences.
Georgia, Anna and Ruth developed new training curricula to address the wellbeing of autistic people through enhanced access to mental health support and recovery plans. The program's success in England and South-East has led to a national roll-out funded by NHS England for all ages in various settings. It's a remarkable and inclusive training modules key topics around neurodiversity and its impact on the workplace and st-graduate courses.