Humanities recognised at 2024 Vice-Chancellor’s Awards
Staff and faculties from across the Humanities Division have been honoured at this year's Vice-Chancellor's Awards.
The awards recognise the successes and achievements of colleagues from across the University who have gone ‘above and beyond to contribute to Oxford’s mission.’ This year, there were 250 award entries, with the nominations comprising of 1,500 individuals, projects and activities. The awards were announced at a special ceremony hosted by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Irene Tracey, at the Sheldonian Theatre on Wednesday 8 May 2024.
Alice Purkiss, Dr Rachel Delman and the Humanities Researcher Training and Development Programme received the Support for Students Award for their Heritage Pathways programme.
Heritage Pathway is a series of training and engagement activities that have provided undergraduate and postgraduate students, and Early Career Researchers with the skills, knowledge and confidence to engage effectively with a wide range of partners in the heritage, museums and cultural sector. Reacting to their award, Alice Purkiss and Dr Rachel Delman said:
We support students as part of the wider research and engagement ecosystem, working with external heritage partners and building research collaborations for Oxford academics. We are really pleased that our work connecting across multiple teams and Divisions within the University is being recognised, especially our close collaborations with the Humanities Training team, the Careers Service and members of the Oxford University Heritage Network.
Heritage tends to be seen as an elite sector which is notoriously competitive and challenging to navigate. We both work really hard to facilitate opportunities in the sector and see our students growing in confidence and skills, while engaging with partners such as the National Trust, English Heritage, Historic Royal Palaces and Blenheim Palace.
Caroline Thurston, Researcher Development and Training Manager, commented:
Heritage Pathway is unique in its dual-facing approach, nurturing Oxford students while maintaining a sector-focussed outlook. It has created a pipeline of students and researchers, from undergraduates through to postdoctoral researchers, who leave Oxford equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to pursue careers in, and collaborations with, the heritage sector. It is a testament to the success of Heritage Pathway that many of our speakers (who now work in the heritage sector) are ‘graduates’ of the programme.
John Fulljames, Josie Bamford and the Cultural Programme team were highly commended in the Environmental Sustainability Award category for their Everything is Connected season, a rich and varied series of conversations and events inspired by the idea that everything is connected in the human and natural world.
Reflecting on the success of Everything is Connected, the Cultural Programme said:
Working with 56 partners from local cultural organisations, international artists, environmentalists, thinkers and poets, including 20 researchers from the University, the Everything is Connected programme welcomed more than 8,000 people to a wide range of events exploring the mutually beneficial relationship between humans and the environment to offer a hopeful exploration of nature’s place as an essential component of our everyday lives.
Professor Jennifer Strawbridge and Dr Erin Heim of the Faculty of Theology and Religion were also highly commended in the Inclusive Teaching and Assessment Award category for diversifying the curriculum in Biblical Studies and helping students with a broad range of needs.
Jenn Strawbridge and Erin Heim have commented:
We are delighted to see New Testament studies at Oxford recognised at this level and grateful to the students who have taught us so much over the years and the support of our Faculty. It was a privilege to be nominated alongside colleagues doing inspiring work across the university and we were thrilled to be highly commended in a category with such a depth of finalists. We remain committed to continuing to offer collaborative inclusive teaching with our incredible students.
Prof. Willilam Wood, Chair of the Faculty, also commented:
I was delighted to learn that Professor Strawbridge and Dr Heim were shortlisted for a Vice-Chancellor’s award in the Inclusive Teaching and Assessment category. Their new undergraduate paper is— impressively— called ‘Why the environment, women, colonialisation and Black lives matter to New Testament Interpretation’, and it has become one of our most popular undergraduate options. It is a real point of pride, and to their great credit, that our Faculty is able to offer such a paper, and that it is so popular with our students.
Responding to the success of the Humanities Division at this year’s Vice-Chancellor’s Awards, Alexandra Vincent MBE, Chief Operating Officer and Divisional Registrar, said:
I am delighted to see such a well-deserved recognition of projects across the Humanities Division. It's fantastic to see the concrete impact our work has had on our students and the wider research community. All of the projects that were nominated sound truly amazing and I am so pleased that the hard work of everyone involved has been recognised.
A full list of winners and highly commended nominations can be found on the awards webpage.
