The EDI Celebration 2023: The Award Winnners!

The Faculty EDI awards recognises an individual or group whose activities are impassioning, influencing, and leading positive change, making the Faculty of Brain Sciences or the wider UCL community a more inclusive place to work and study. The winners of the EDI Awards were announced at the Faculty of Brain Sciences EDI Celebration 2023. Across the Faculty, 85 individuals were nominated for their outstanding contributions to equality, diversity, and inclusion.

Below are the categories and their respective winners:

1. Dean’s Excellence in EDI Award

This award recognises an individual or group that has been a catalyst for change and has generated intentional, sustained, impactful, and/or innovative EDI efforts. Efforts can be related to mentoring, advising, community building, teaching, outreach, research activities, hiring/recruitment, department climate, retention, reducing systemic barriers, developing equitable policies — anything that promotes EDI excellence.

Winner: Natalie Marchant- Division of Psychiatry

Natalie Marchant is a trailblazer promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion within UCL’s Division of Psychiatry. Natalie has founded and led the Race Equity and Ethnic Diversity group and chairs the EDI committee. Natalie has initiated innovative projects such as the creation of Divisional In2Science internships and name-blind recruitment for research Grade 6b posts and has created working groups to deliver on these, inspiring her team and supporting junior colleagues. Her values and behaviours have resulted in positive change towards a more inclusive environment.

2. Contribution to EDI in Leadership Award

This award recognises an individual or group whose activities are impassioning, influencing, and leading positive change, making the Faculty of Brain Sciences and the wider UCL community a more inclusive place to work and study.

Winner: Stefanie Anyadi- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Stefanie’s leadership in actively promoting diversity and challenging implicit bias through her Caleidoscope project has been successful. Stefanie’s commitment to this important project has remained steadfast despite challenges brought on by the pandemic. Through her workshops and training methods, Stefanie has shared her vision and inspired the wider UCL community and abroad at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

3. Contribution to EDI in Education and Student Experience Award

This award recognises an individual or group that has developed innovative teaching, learning, and/or assessment practices or other initiatives that advance inclusive education for diverse students and contribute positively to the student experience.

Winner: Tim Young, Tracy Skinner, Jessica Jiang, Benito Maffei, E’Jane (Yi Jie Li), Kangxin Chen Huang, and Mena Farag- Institute of Neurology

This group comprises active Institute of Neurology (IoN) EDI Action Group members, representing all student categories. They have made significant contributions by conducting the IoN student survey on wellbeing, mental health, and career development, organising ‘Paths to PhD’ events, and providing Active Bystander training for students. These initiatives have positively influenced the progress of EDI across different demographics and increased engagement to promote EDI.

5. Contribution to EDI in Research Award

This award recognises a person who has taken the opportunity to engage with staff, speaking openly about their personal experiences in a visible forum that encourages and champions diversity and inclusion in a way that new and existing staff can relate to.

Audrey Zhang- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Audrey conducted a research project exploring the ‘Effects of Personal and Contextual Factors on Status and Belongingness of First-year Undergraduate Students.’ Audrey administered questionnaires to Psychology students three times and found that mental wellbeing, extraversion, and openness positively contribute to their sense of belonging. Audrey’s research provides useful information for university administrators to improve student success and promote EDI.

4. Contribution to EDI in International Community Award

This award recognises an individual or group that regularly goes above and beyond, making a positive difference to the embodying its ever-growing international community through celebrating culture and/or creating and contributing towards innovative projects and activities that enhance the experience of UCL’s international community.

Winner: Angela Hwang- Institute of Neurology

Angela founded the first epilepsy genomics project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, focusing on analysing the genomes of diverse groups of people with epilepsy. Angela’s research aims to compare the genetic architecture of epilepsy in African populations, particularly in resource-limited settings. Angela’s work has earned her the NIHR pre-doctoral fellowship in 2022 and is a testament to her remarkable drive and passion for improving healthcare.

6. Contribution to EDI in Innovation and Enterprise Award

This award recognises an individual or group who has significantly contributed to EDI using innovation and enterprise activities that led to an inclusive and equitable impact for students and/or staff at FBS and beyond.

Winner: Georgia Pavlopoulou, Irina Nedelcu, and Ruth Moyse- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences.

Georgia, Irina, and Ruth developed new training curricula to address the wellbeing of autistic people through enhanced access to mental health support and recovery plans. The program’s success in England and the South-East has led to a national roll-out funded by NHS England for all ages in various settings. It’s a remarkable and inclusive training module with key topics around neurodiversity and its impact on the workplace and post-graduate courses.