Winners of the Vice-Chancellor’s Professional Services Awards 2023 announced
The winners of the six awards were announced at a special celebratory event
On 21 March, the finalists of the Vice-Chancellor’s Professional Services Awards, including individuals and teams from across the whole University, gathered at the Examination Schools for the announcement of the winners.
More than 140 nominations were submitted – representing more than 300 members of staff – for six award categories, each centred on one of the Professional Services Together principles of People, Collaboration and Quality. The full list of finalists, highly commended entries and winners has now been published on the awards webpage.
The winner of the Role Model award was Chrissy Bunyan, Graduate Studies Manager at the Oxford Internet Institute, who was nominated for her exceptional leadership, for promoting continuous improvement and for embedding inclusivity and psychological safety in all she does. She said: ‘It is a huge honour to receive this award, and even more to have been nominated by my brilliantly talented, kind and encouraging colleagues. I am so grateful to them and to our fantastic students for making the OII such a rewarding place to work.’
Gill Aitken, the Registrar, said: ‘As the chair of the judging panel, it was an absolute honour to review all of the nominations. It was heartening to see not just the fantastic examples of success of our winners, but also the scores of stories of individuals performing heroics in the wider nominations – from the front-line student and research support teams to our vital back-office staff who make our systems and processes work day in, day out.’
In her welcome speech, Vice-Chancellor Professor Irene Tracey said: ‘This is the first year that the University has run awards specifically for Professional Services staff. I am thrilled that we are taking the time to recognise the extraordinary contribution that colleagues in administrative, professional and support roles make to the University, and to furthering Oxford’s academic mission.’ The Vice-Chancellor presented the awards alongside Gill Aitken, HR Director Markos Koumaditis, and Social Sciences Divisional Registrar David White.
Visit the website to find out more about the principles of Professional Services Together – the University’s framework for spreading best practice across our professional services – including its priority projects and initiatives.
