WP & Student Success CoP Awards 2026: Celebrating the people opening doors across UCL

The 2026 awards were our biggest yet. More than a celebration of individual achievements, the evening marked an important moment in UCL’s history. It’s 200 years since UCL was founded on the mission of admitting students regardless of religion or social background. It also marks 25 years since UCL introduced its first Widening Participation (WP) strategy – helping shape what is now one of the largest Access and WP operations in the UK.

Held in UCL’s newly restored Jeremy Bentham Room, the evening opened with a keynote address from Professor Paola Lettieri (Vice-Provost (Strategy)), setting the scene for an inspiring evening celebrating the people and partnerships driving change at UCL.

As Community of Practice Co-Lead Caroline Fionda Dedman reflected in the evening’s opening remarks, the awards were created to celebrate widening participation and student success work happening across UCL – particularly the contributions of colleagues whose day-to-day roles do not primarily focus on WP. This year’s nominations showed that improving access and supporting student success reaches every corner of the university.

The awards had a dual focus – firstly, to look back on the progress made over the last 25 years and the hard work that had gone into establishing WP and Student Success at UCL before then looking to the future of this work at UCL and recognising those who continue to pioneer new WP and Student Success strategies.

For the anniversary celebration, a special WP25 Award was created. Designed to recognise long-standing contributions to WP, it was awarded to Charlotte Frearson for her trailblazing WP work in Social and Historical Sciences. Since joining UCL in 2008, Charlotte has run numerous projects including Dig This, a fieldwork exercise for WP students on the banks of the Thames and, in the words of her nominee,

“She does amazing WP work to bring Archaeology and other SHS disciplines to the attention of young people across London who might not otherwise consider them as a course of study.”

Turning to the future of inclusive education at UCL, the Universal Design for Learning Pilot Convenors were recognised with a deserved Inclusive Practice Award.  for their excellent work bringing this training to life from the ground up. Spanning three faculties (SELCS, SHS, and Engineering), their winning project culminated in an online programme on Inclusive Education being rolled out to all staff and students at UCL as well as numerous toolkits on inclusivity and more specialised online training courses in how to include all students when teaching.

Across the evening, nominations highlighted people creating opportunities, building communities and helping students feel they belong – often through work that happens quietly behind the scenes.

Ramona Gonczol received the Community Engagement Award for her work with heritage language speakers through the Raising Aspirations Project (RAP), helping young people see the value of their home languages.

Niki Kalaydzhieva and Eimear Hurley were awarded the Student Success Award, having received no fewer than four separate nominations for their outstanding work with the Maths Extra programme supporting WP students in their first year of study at UCL.

WP and Student Success stalwart Evi Katsapi won the Student Journeys Award again on the back of four separate nominations for her work as Faculty Tutor for Undergraduate Programmes over the last five years, weathering the pandemic, expanding the service provided every year and ensuring that students always have a champion to fight in their corner. 

In the words of her nominee,

“Put simply, no-one has done more to support student success.”

In a full circle moment, Dr Jasvir Bhamrah, one of the founding members of the WP and Student Success Community of Practice back in 2018, won the Widening Access award. This award recognised her work over the past 10 years as the key academic coordinator for the Year 12 Sutton Trust Summer Schools, run in conjunction with the Access and Widening Participation department.

Perhaps the loudest cheer of the day came for Dan O’Connor and John Iona, winners of the competitive People’s Choice Award. Their nomination recognised their vital work as librarians for the Institute of Education. In the words of their nominee,

“Their work demonstrates inclusive, high-impact practice by equipping students with the skills to navigate academic resources, conduct research, and engage confidently in higher education.”

The evening closed with a look ahead to the future and a celebration of the Community of Practice itself. In the spirit of the evening, all nominees received badges and certificates celebrating their achievements as, though, there could only be one winner of each award, ‘Tonight was about recognising the unsung heroes of WP and Student Success, and to us, you are all winners here’ to quote Lauren Gillett, one of the CoP leads responsible for the planning the ceremony.  

Praise must go to Community of Practice Co-Leads Lauren, Rakiya Charles, Caroline Fionda Dedman, Hanan Hauari, and Elise Polley, whose work brought together the largest CoP awards yet. And congratulations to all our fantastic 2026 winners!

Further links

• CoP Awards nominees
• Widening Participation & Student Success Community Of Practice (UCL staff only) join here
• WP25 landing page
• Opening doors: changing futures
• A day in the life of Lauren Gillett
• AWPO Sharepoint site (for UCL staff only)