Inclusive Impact Awards: 2025 winners

Illuminating public purpose

This award recognises initiatives demonstrating the University’s role in public good and practical support during challenging times for communities locally and globally.

All Should Eat - Winner

Jake Adams, Eartha Greyson, Rahul Singh, Eve Waddilove, Eve Wiles

All Should Eat is a student-led project tackling food poverty on campus and in York, supporting vulnerable communities, redistributing surplus food, and providing consistent volunteer power to local charities often constrained by budget limitations.

School of Physics, Engineering and Technology Outreach Team - Highly Commended

Ed Allen, Katherine Leech, Liv McCready, Claire Twigg

The Safe Space project tackles the inequity and persistent barriers faced by children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities in accessing science by developing accessible, multi-sensory astronomy workshops with SEND schools and communities.

York Sport; 'Show them that you care' community support - shortlisted

Kate Clough, Cath Jones, Keith Morris, Richard Orr, Alex Wormald

Guided by a culture of “show them that you care", the team at York Sport prioritises wellbeing, inclusion and access for staff, students and the wider public. Their diverse programmes address inequality and barriers to engagement, creating welcoming spaces where people can be active, connect with others and experience the benefits of sport as part of a truly community-focused university.

Rising through unprecedented times

This award recognises individuals, teams or student groups who have shown extraordinary care, adaptation, and strength in protecting community wellbeing during challenging times.

Raj Mann - Winner

Raj has made an outstanding contribution to EDI and wellbeing, supporting colleagues and students through bereavement, discrimination, immigration issues, conflict in Gaza, and mentoring many in their professional development.

Chemistry Wellbeing Team - Highly Commended

Stephen Cowling, Jennifer Glynn, Kieran Godfree, Erica Overend, David Pugh, Lizzie Wheeldon

The collaboration between Chemistry’s Disability Officers, Health and Safety team and teaching labs has made a measurable difference in teaching and research lab spaces by tackling the problem of anxiety and high cognitive load experienced, especially for neurodivergent staff and students.

Alfie Joseph - Shortlisted

"Coming to York was the best decision. EDI is often spoken about but here at the University of York, the serious approach to EDI makes a recognisable difference."

Turning constraint into opportunities

This award recognises individuals or teams who have demonstrated exceptional resourcefulness and creativity in sustaining excellence despite sector pressures.

Tea and Coffee Club - Winner

Alex Brown, Katie Schilling, Eve Waddilove, Zahra Wajid, Madhura Anup Wankhade

A powerful intergenerational project linking students with older residents in local care homes to combat loneliness through weekly social sessions. When funding ended, the team transformed this challenge into an opportunity, creating a self-sustaining model that allowed them to grow and significantly expand their support for the community.

Student Development and Leadership Team - Highly Commended

Anna Jeavons, Joey McNamara, Leigh McDowell, Charlotte Patrick, Chris Tingay

Despite facing acute staffing, space, and financial constraints, the team transformed their delivery model for York Strengths, resulting in a tripling of student reach and significant cost savings.  The program was also enhanced by embedding inclusive, curriculum-based skills development and creating scalable workshops and online resources for students.

Jeremy Moulton - Shortlisted

Dr Moulton has made an excellent commitment to enhancing politics teaching at York and has enhanced learning for York students with clear positive impact. By sharing his work beyond the university and publishing on teaching politics, he has made a sustained, substantial contribution to effective and creative politics education in Higher Education.

Connecting across boundaries

This award recognises cross-functional collaborations including academic-professional services, student-staff partnerships, philanthropic work and interdisciplinary teams that have worked together to drive progress.

Thanzi Programme: Health Economics & Policy Unit (Malawi) - Winner

Tara Mangal, Anna Payne, Paul Revill, Alex Rollinger

This community of researchers, policy-makers, students and professionals is impactfully improving health financing and resource allocation across East, Central, Southern and West Africa. A key achievement has been the establishment of the Health Economics & Policy Unit (HEPU), whose core objective is to improve population health and reduce health inequity in Malawi.

New Era for Female Entrepreneurship in York & North Yorkshire - Highly Commended

Jayne Blizzard, Rachel Cullivan, Sam Gardner, Rebecca Kerr, Katie Wytwyckyj

This collaboration between professional services and academic staff along with the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) brought together female founders, policymakers and business support organisations to evidence women’s real experiences, to shape regional policy, redesign business support, and strengthen opportunities for female entrepreneurs across the region.

York Environmental Sustainability Institute (YESI) - Shortlisted

Lindsay Stringer, Jane Güleç, Rachel Drinkhill

YESI breaks down silos to deliver real-world sustainability solutions. By connecting staff, students, and external partners, it tackles urgent challenges, putting university values of community, collaboration, and inclusion into practice while actively promoting equity and inclusion in the sustainability sector, where diversity is still limited.

Learning Through Neurodivergence Project Team - Shortlisted

Louisa Ashdown, Lucas Broadbent, Nell Hemmingfield, Samara Jordan, Gabby Marks

This innovative project to drive inclusive practice within the School of ACT is a student-led collaboration working in partnership with academic staff. Centred on amplifying marginalised voices, especially neurodivergent students, it created spaces to share experiences and translate these into concrete changes within the project and its wider impact across the School.

Navigating uncharted territory

This award recognises staff, students or teams who have transformed sector-wide challenges into opportunities for innovation across teaching, philanthropic research, operations or student life.

Karisha Kimone George - Winner

Karisha Kimone George has shown courageous, inspirational leadership by taking a multi-faceted approach that educates majority-identity groups, empowers minority groups, and fosters positive relationships between them.

E6 Implementation Group - Highly Commended

Nicola Campbell, Kirsty Lingstadt, Kelly MacDonald, Laura McIlroy, Deb Ward

The E6 Implementation Group at the University of York leads an ambitious, proactive response to an emerging HE challenge, going beyond compliance with innovative, sector-leading practices recognised nationally and internationally.

The York Policy Engine - Highly Commended

Mike Baker, Katie Heffron, John Hudson, Anthonia James, Duncan McKnight, Dom Watson

The York Policy Engine manages a complex portfolio, balancing the needs of internal and external stakeholders while bridging the two. Through innovation, determination and adaptability, it has built a coordinated way to connect academia and government, empower staff, and enhance York’s contribution to major societal challenges.

York SU X University Commercial Services - Highly Commended

Aya Haidar, Anna Lindberg, Arnaud Rustan

This collaboration between commercial venues and the SU Sabbatical Officer Team has overcome hurdles to create a permanent, professional system, to redirect surplus food from campus venues to students in need, reducing waste, improving welfare and providing valuable employment skills and experience.

Spanning teaching-research-practice divides

This award recognises work that demonstrates education is an ecosystem, not a hierarchy, acknowledging the interconnected value of all university roles.

Toolkit for including disabled people in research team - Winner

Alice Bennett, Isabella Brinton, Emi Cavaliere, Grace Davis, Mandy Hickey,  Lilian Joy, Niamh Malone, Jas Reynolds, Alex Reid

This cross-functional team brings together psychology lecturers, students from across the university and professional services staff from the Digital Accessibility Unit. Their collaboration tackles a critical systemic issue: the ableism embedded in standard research recruitment and practice, from student projects to professional studies.

Disability Community Ambassadors - Highly Commended

Stephen Cowling, Mandy Hickey, Samuel Harris, Bryan Hughes, Emel Küçük, Erica Overend

The Disability Community Ambassadors are part of an interdisciplinary network fostering belonging for disabled and neurodiverse students, collaborating across departments to improve attainment, retention, progression and their experience through community creation.

Professor Sara de Jong, Dr Rachel Alsop, Professor Simon Parker - Highly Commended

Rachel Alsop, Sara de Jong and Simon Parker have collectively worked to strengthen connections both university-wide and in wider communities, coordinating Refugee Week, supporting scholarships, challenging refugee representations and working with students, activists and organisations to advance inclusion.

This award acknowledges those who build differently - with creativity that challenges, innovation that opens doors, and entrepreneurial spirit that brings people together. You're making York a community where different voices aren't just heard - they're the architects of our future.

Winners

Mary Haworth

Louise Abrahams

Kathryn Asbury and Vanita Sundaram

Emma Hudson - Winner