We’re celebrating the incredible contributions from our staff and postgraduate researchers with the new Sussex Awards. Learn about our broad range of categories and how to nominate.
Sussex Awards 2025
Our new Sussex Awards programme recognises the brilliant work of our staff and postgraduate researcher (PGR) community, across a range of award categories. We‘ve brought together previous Education, Research Culture and Research Impact Awards and added new categories, giving us more opportunities to celebrate the breadth of work taking place across our Faculties and Divisions.
Nominations open for 2025 awards
The Sussex Awards are now open for nominations. Nominations close at midnight on Sunday 16 March 2025.
How to nominate
Who can nominate and be nominated varies depending on the award:
- Staff can nominate, and be nominated, in all categories.
- PGRs can be nominated in all four Research and Innovation categories, and can nominate in most awards.
- Students can nominate in selected categories.
- Individuals or groups of staff can be nominated for any award – except one award (Collaborative Learning and Innovation) which is just for groups of staff and students.
Submit your nomination through our nomination form by midnight on Sunday 16 March. Word limits vary by category and are clearly shown on the nomination form. You should give clear evidence of how nominees meet the awards criteria for your chosen award. Full criteria are shown below, and on the nomination form.
You can submit multiple nominations, but do not enter the same nominee under two or more categories – choose the most relevant category instead. The awards coordination team might move a nomination to a different category if they think it fits better.
You should submit each nomination in one go. The form should save your progress if you go back to it using the same browser, but it is recommended that you write your full nomination out in Word (or similar) and then copy it into the nomination form to make sure you don’t lose anything.
All nominees will be informed that they have been nominated, but not who nominated them.
Timeline
- 30 January to 16 March 2025 – Sussex Awards open for nominations
- mid-March to early May – judging panels chaired by portfolio leaders choose shortlist and winners
- 6 May 2025 – shortlisted nominees invited to Sussex Awards event at the Attenborough Centre, where winners will be announced (followed by a short drinks reception).
Award categories
Explore our wide range of award categories.
Education and student life
- Inclusive Education
This award recognises staff who deliver and/or support inclusive practices in education at Sussex, promoting accessibility, equality, and diversity in teaching, services, and student support.
Who can be nominated? Individuals or groups of staff.
- Education for Employability and World Readiness
This award honours those who embed employability skills and world readiness in the student experience, through teaching, career services and support, internships, and guidance, preparing students for life after Sussex.
Who can be nominated? Individuals or groups of staff.
- Community Impact, Scholarship and Social Responsibility
This award celebrates staff who integrate community engagement, impactful scholarship and social responsibility into teaching and learning, inspiring students and colleagues to make a positive difference locally and/or globally.
Who can be nominated? Individuals or groups of staff.
- Collaborative Learning and Innovation
This award acknowledges teams of staff and students who co-create educational experiences, fostering a sense of belonging, creativity, and partnership through collaboration across departments and roles.
Who can be nominated? Teams of staff and students.
Research and innovation
- Research and Innovation Excellence
This award recognises individuals or teams for driving or supporting transformative research and/or innovation in any discipline or across disciplines that make significant advances in understanding and/or methodology.
Additional guidance
This award encompasses excellence in all kinds of research activity and/or in innovation based on research. Nominations can reflect activity within a single discipline or across multiple disciplines.
A nomination could involve (but is not limited to) a case based around one or more of the following:
- outstanding published research outputs as recognised by peers and/or reflected in their scholarly influence
- research findings of exceptional significance for their addition to fundamental knowledge or their contribution to the interests of society
- development of a new or expanded research team
- leadership of, or major contribution to, a research project of exceptional significance
- development and successful implementation of an exceptionally innovative research design
- development of a major new methodology, approach or framework for research in a field, discipline or across multiple disciplines
- development of an innovative product or service based on research, of any type and in any sector.
Who can be nominated? Individuals or groups of staff or Postgraduate Researchers. - Open Research
This award recognises achievements or innovation in research and research practice that have exemplified our new Sussex value of openness, or that have enabled colleagues to achieve greater openness in their work, building our contribution to global knowledge equity. This might be through co-creation with partners or community, or sharing of knowledge from any part of the research process.
Additional guidance
The award focuses on Open Research in the broadest sense – aspects such as open access and open data, as well as promoting the use of open platforms for sharing research data, activities, outputs and impact to widen reach and/or improve research quality (of design and findings).
Examples of open research practices we are looking for include:
- using publication under an open license to disseminate research outputs (this may include a range of outputs – publications, data, software code, web resources, etc.)
- disseminating research findings as a preprint, either independently of formal submission to a journal, or as part of a journal’s open peer review procedure
- providing an open peer review of a manuscripts submitted under a formal peer review process managed by a publisher
- creating a public preregistration of a study design, or publishing a study as a Registered Report
- incorporating and promoting open and participatory methods in the design and conduct of research (e.g., using open notebook methods, running a ‘citizen science’ project, etc.)
- introducing open research concepts and practices into teaching and learning at an undergraduate or postgraduate level.
Who can be nominated? Individuals or groups of staff or Postgraduate Researchers. - Research and Innovation Culture
This award recognises exceptional contributions to Sussex’s research culture, ensuring our whole research community can flourish. The award recognises activities that enhance diversity, equality and inclusion in our research community, build research integrity, enable researchers at any/all career stages through new opportunities, skills development, recognition, or vitalise collaboration across boundaries.
Additional guidance
We want to reward those who are contributing to the delivery of our Research Culture priorities – maximising the potential of our people, building a sense of belonging for all and enabling collaboration across disciplines.
We’re looking to recognise:
- collegial leadership, at any career stage, that supports the wellbeing and development of others, (such as creating inclusive teams, inspiring others etc.)
- initiatives that create positive change to the research community, culture and/or capability (through guidance, training or other activities)
- efforts and achievements in finding solutions or creating innovative approaches to make Sussex a more equal, diverse and inclusive place to do research
- outstanding ethical practice that moves forward our understanding of ethics in research
- projects that display or enable innovative research across disciplinary boundaries, bringing researchers from different departments, Schools or Faculties together.
Who can be nominated? Individuals or groups of staff or Postgraduate Researchers. - Research and Innovation Impact
This award recognises individuals or teams whose research or research support has led to real-world change or benefit, demonstrating how research makes a difference beyond academia.
Additional guidance
A nomination could involve a case based around:
- a change or benefit of any type, and in any sector beyond academia, with a direct causal link from your research. This could include impacts on society, culture, the economy, public policy or services, health, quality of life or the environment
- a change or benefit that has already been fully achieved, or one that is in progress and has the potential to develop further.
The nominee does not need to have personally created or driven the change or benefit (though they may have done so), but their research must have been a substantial factor in making, allowing or facilitating the change or benefit.
Who can be nominated? Individuals or groups of staff or Postgraduate Researchers.
Education and research
- Postgraduate Researcher Support
This award recognises individuals or teams who have developed: innovative training, activities or interventions enabling postgraduate researchers to flourish, novel ways of reflecting on the work of PGRs, or targeted support for underrepresented identities or PGR communities.
Who can be nominated? Individuals or groups of staff.
Global and civic engagement
- Global Engagement
This is awarded for the leadership and development of significant activities relating to global engagement, which could include: establishing or growing impactful international partnerships in education, research, scholarship, and/or knowledge exchange.
Who can be nominated? Individuals or groups of staff.
- Civic Engagement
This award recognises the leadership and development of significant activities relating to civic engagement, which could include: public and community engagement, involvement of staff and/or students in the life and work of external organisations in the public, private, or voluntary sectors, or contributions to community life more generally.
Who can be nominated? Individuals or groups of staff.
Sussex people
- Inclusive Sussex
This award recognises those who create a campus environment that values difference, where everyone is supported to feel that they belong and can thrive. Highlighting those who collaborate with diverse groups within the University or our wider community, bringing creative new ways to support inclusion of minoritised voices.
Who can be nominated? Individuals or groups of staff.
- Contribution to Campus Life
This is awarded to those who work behind the scenes, going the extra mile to support our students and staff. They embody the Sussex values of kindness and inclusion, and make studying or working at Sussex a more positive experience.
Who can be nominated? Individuals or groups of staff.
Transforming Sussex
- Environmental Sustainability
This award recognises a significant contribution to the Environmental Sustainability themes of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We are looking for evidence from our research, our education or our work with our local civic and global communities that demonstrates a significant benefit to one of the following SDGs: Zero Hunger; Clean Water; Clean Energy and Climate Action; Sustainable Cities and Communities; Responsible Consumption and Production, and Life Below Water and On Land.
Who can be nominated? Individuals or groups of staff.
- Institutional Improvement and Transformation
This award recognises those who are helping Sussex to transform and embrace the future. This award celebrates individuals or teams who have created new opportunities and/or delivered innovative work, from improving our systems, processes and procedures, to furthering interactive and distinctive learning or transformative research. It can also be awarded for projects that have helped the University progress into new digital and data spaces, either directly or by enabling others to flourish.
Who can be nominated? Individuals or groups of staff.