WELS wins Guardian University Award; comes runner-up in a second!

The Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies has scooped a prestigious Guardian University Award and taken the runner-up spot in a second category. The Awards showcase some of the best work from across the Higher Education (HE) sector. 

WELS projects were selected as the winner in the 2020 ‘Research Impact’ category by a panel of expert judges and awarded runner-up in the ‘Staff Experience’ category.
 

Research Impact Award Winner: nQuire 

The win for research impact went to nQuire, an online citizen science platform developed by the Institute of Educational Technology (IET) at the OU, which allows members of the general public to act as scientists and recognises research projects that demonstrate either academic impact through advancing knowledge, or which results in measurable benefits to the wider society and/or the economy. 

The platform was highly remarked for its facility to involve members of the public throughout all stages of scientific enquiry, creating and structuring investigations, recruiting participants, accessing and analysing findings, and sharing results in a way which can be understood at varying degrees of scientific understanding. 

Project lead, Dr Christothea Herodotou, Senior Lecturer (IET) said: 

“We are delighted to have been named the winner at this year’s awards and for the platform to be recognised for its research impact. nQuire has scaled up learning from citizen science to thousands of citizens and its impact has been greatly boosted by a significant collaboration with the BBC.” 
 

Staff Experience Runner-up: Care and Caring Network 

The OU’s Care and Caring Network (CCN@OU), established and chaired by Dr Mary Larkin, Senior Lecturer in the School of Health, Wellbeing and Social Care, was a runner up in the Staff Experience category, which is awarded to an outstanding initiative that has a significant and measurable impact on working conditions for staff, from equality and diversity to pay and pensions.  

CCN@OU is the first network of its kind in a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI). Membership is open to anyone employed by the OU and encourages knowledge exchange around care, carer research, provision of information, advice and guidance in carer-related policy, and promotes carers rights and carer-related policy development within the OU.
 

Widening Access and Outreach Award for BDU’s Uber programme 

The OU’s programme with Uber also scooped first place in the ‘Widening Access and Outreach’ category. Find out more about this award, and read the full write-up on all the OU awards on OU News. 

Find out more 

nQuire: Explore your world 

Carers Scholarship Fund