Dr Philippa Waterhouse wins the Postgraduate Research Supervisor Award at The Open University’s Research Excellence Awards

Nominated by WELS PhD student Aaron Mvula, Dr Philippa Waterhouse, Senior Lecturer in the School of Health, Wellbeing & Social Care (HWSC), has won the Postgraduate Research (PGR) Supervisor Award at The Open University’s third annual Research Excellence Awards due to her outstanding support and leadership. 

The Research Excellence Awards celebrates and recognises the achievement of research at The Open University (OU). This year, guests got together in London to recognise the outstanding contributions made by researchers with the School of Wellbeing, Education and Languages walking away as winners on the night. 

Aaron Mvula, whose research focuses on young fatherhood and married young fathers in Zambia, noted that if you want to succeed as a PhD student you need a good support system around you. He nominated Dr Phillipa Waterhouse for the support she was able to offer during difficult periods and the great leadership she has demonstrated.  

In addition to her nomination from Aaron, Philippa was also recognised for the contributions she has made to the wider OU community where she has judged the online Graduate School PGR poster competition, as well as delivered training on quantitative methods as part of the school’s training programme. 

The PGR Supervisor Award recognises outstanding postgraduate research supervision and is evaluated against the criteria of making a significant contribution in the support of one or more postgraduate researchers and to enhancing the postgraduate researcher experience at the University. 

Upon winning the award, Philippa had this to say: “It is great to know that the work that you are doing is making a difference to your students. I find doctoral supervision a really rewarding and exciting aspect of my job – getting to see something grow from an initial idea into a rigorous and in-depth research project, and also at the same time getting to see your students grow in their confidence, expertise and skills.” 

See the full list of award winners at The Open University’s Research website. 

In the video below, hear from Dr Philippa Waterhouse and Dr Hugh Dickinson talking about the doctoral research at The Open University: