Community Spirit Award

Recognising colleagues who do amazing things beyond the boundaries of specific roles or/and beyond the boundaries of UCL

The nominees for the Community Spirit award have been nominated for the work they do that goes above and beyond their specific role.

The winners of this award have campaigned for equality at UCL, supported staff and students with their accessibility needs, and dedicated their time to charity work.

Winner: Thomas Morgan Evans

Lecturer (Teaching) in History of Art

Since the first lockdown in March 2020, Dr Thomas Morgan Evans has made an ongoing and substantial commitment to improving the lives of the young people who live in his local area and is an 'Estate Champion'. This has taken the form of fundraising, advocating for educational support from local schools and council authorities, supporting parents and carers, developing specific educational activities, and leading on a Beacon Bursary-funded project to improve the local environment.

Winner: Raj Kalia

IT Services Manager, Queen Square Institute of Neurology/ IT for SLMS Brain Sciences, Information Services Division

Raj Kalia kickstarted the UCL Laptop for Schools initiative. He connected with a local school to provide old, but still working devices to be used for home schooling where pupils had no means of joining in due to lack of equipment. His first call out resulted in over 50 devices, which he delivered to the school. Raj discovered that these children and schools in our communities need devices all year round. To that end, this initial gesture has quickly morphed into a much wider scheme across UCL. Please follow the link to to find out more about the UCL Laptop for Schools initiative: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/isd/laptops-for-schools

Winner: Madiha Sajid

Teaching and Learning Officer, Department of Applied Health Research

Madiha has shown exceptional leadership by bringing the UCL community together during Covid-19. As lockdown began in March 2020 Madiha took rapid action, setting up a virtual community on Teams for parents and carers and providing an immediate platform for support. With more than 900 members actively engaging, Madiha has led the work providing weekly webinars, sharing policy updates, signposting to support, and giving advice. She has done this voluntarily, on top of her work/ family commitments. She has fostered human connections, breaking down barriers of senior versus junior, and enabling staff members to speak openly about the challenges they face.