Friday, 29 November 2024
A University of Nottingham technician is celebrating success after being honoured at the Times Higher Education Awards 2024, which highlight the outstanding achievements of universities across the UK and Ireland.
Jodie Chatfield, Head of Technical Services in the university’s School of Life Sciences, picked up Technician of the Year at last night’s awards ceremony, which is awarded to an individual whose exceptional practical skills, commitment and vision have enabled the highest quality teaching, research or knowledge transfer.
The award recognised Jodie’s outstanding contribution to technical careers and neurodiversity, with the judges praising her open and collaborative ethos, which is exemplified by her work supporting neurodivergent colleagues and sharing good practice.
It was an honour just to be shortlisted alongside fellow technicians from across the sector, so to win the award is incredible. I am lucky enough to work within a team and with colleagues across the university who continually support me and the work that I do.
Professor Katherine Linehan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for People and Culture at the University of Nottingham, said: “Huge congratulations to Jodie on her well-deserved win, we are so proud of what she has achieved. Universities need more people like Jodie, who are not only passionate about their job but committed to inclusivity and supporting people to being their authentic selves in the workplace, which is at the core of fostering talent and achieving excellence.”
In a career spanning almost 30 years, Jodie has advanced from an apprentice to Head of Technical Services and her dedication has transformed the more than 100 technicians in the school to a cohesive team fostering excellent performance with constant opportunities for career development.
Jodie Chatfield with her Times Higher Education Technician of the Year 2024 award
Crucial role in supporting neurodivergent staff
Her contribution extends to playing a crucial role in university level committees, including, the Technical Managers Committee, where Jodie leads the University Technician Commitment strategy supporting staff to achieve professional registration and Advance HE status. Her work with neurodivergent staff developed from one individual, to developing University wide systems of support and increasing awareness of training needs. Through MI TALENT she expanded this nationally, to enable the sector to learn from this established good practice. For this she was awarded a Vice-Chancellor’s award from the University of Nottingham in 2023.
The Technician of the Year award was sponsored by Technician Commitment, a university and research institution initiative, led by a steering board of sector bodies, hosted by the UK Institute for Technical Skills & Strategy, which aims to ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in higher education and research, across all disciplines.
Dr Simon Breeden, Associate Lead, Technician Commitment and member of the THE Awards judging panel this year said: "Sponsoring this award not only uplifts the profile of technicians in higher education and research, but also recognises that technicians often go above and beyond their day-to-day responsibilities.
"The Technician Commitment are immensely proud to honour Jodie as this year’s Outstanding Technician of the Year amongst a pool of other outstanding technicians. She truly exemplifies putting the needs of her community and networks first and took all the right steps to filling a gap in how technicians are supported in the workplace and then sharing that throughout the technical community. Congratulations from all of us at Technician Commitment!"
Technician Commitment recently published a feature on Jodie, alongside the other shortlisted nominees. Jodie also authored a short article published in THE Campus calling for increased professional recognition of teaching technicians.
Shortlist success for other Nottingham projects
The University of Nottingham was shortlisted in three other categories at last night’s ceremony, which also celebrated 20 years of the Times Higher Awards:
- Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community (alongside Nottingham Trent University and in collaboration with Nottingham City Council) for the Student Living Strategy, which aligns civic partners on a strategy to manage and plan student living arrangements for the benefit of both students and longer-term residents.
- Library Team of the Year for UoN Libraries, which has developed a sector-leading approach to digital accessibility which has included adopting new technologies to effectively meet the needs of users and establishing a dedicated Digital Accessibility Team to provide proactive advice and guidance across the institution, via a package of training, resources and support for a Community of Practice.
- Research Project of the Year: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences for the Slavery from Space: Using Satellites for Human Rights and Sustainable Development project led by the Rights Lab which has looked at whether remote-sensing satellites can detect exploitation of people at locations around the world including India’s brick kilns a vast, under regulated sector that is rarely assessed for environmental impact and exploitation scale.
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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