Imperial shortlisted for two Times Higher Education awards

Imperial has been shortlisted in two categories: Entrepreneurial University of the Year and Outstanding Support for Early Career Researchers - <em>News</em>

Monday 4 October 2010
By Simon Watts

Imperial has been shortlisted in two categories in this year’s Times Higher Education awards – for Entrepreneurial University of the Year and Outstanding Support for Early Career Researchers. The winners will be announced on Thursday 25 November at a ceremony in London.

Entrepreneurial University of the Year

Imperial’s enterprise culture has been recognised for delivering internationally excellent entrepreneurship research and developing award-winning new ventures, in an atmosphere that inspires future entrepreneurs and collaborates with industry to meet their needs.

Commenting on the nomination, Edward Astle, Pro Rector (Enterprise), said: “Innovation has been at the heart of Imperial’s mission since its founding in 1907. Entrepreneurship is the key to innovation and I am delighted that the College’s activities in this area have been recognised. The College strives to stimulate an enterprise culture at every level and in each faculty, and it is firmly embedded in our teaching and multi-disciplinary research activities.”

Activities highlighted in Imperial’s submission included:

• The Business School’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship group which focuses on bringing together the latest thinking and practice in this field, and works closely with government and industry to provide advice on the development of policy and strategy.
• Imperial Innovations, the business transfer and commercialisation company which aims to bring valuable ideas from the College to market. It supports staff in creating, building and investing in pioneering technologies. Over the last five years it has invested more than £40m in its portfolio companies which in total have raised over £220m. It has also created more than a thousand jobs.
• Encouraging student entrepreneurship through the Business School’s Entrepreneurship Hub, and the Dragon’s Den and Business Plan competitions. The Hub gives students the opportunity to explore entrepreneurial ideas and develop practical skills through workshops, projects and teaching programmes. It has developed online tools to help guide young entrepreneurs through the journey involved in setting up a new venture.
• The student entrepreneurial journey, illustrated through presentations from two student entrepreneurs (Yusuf Muhammad and Matthew Judkins) who explained how they had turned their ideas into reality with the help and support of Imperial College and Innovation RCA.
• Design London, a collaboration between the Royal College of Art, Imperial’s Faculty of Engineering, and Imperial’s Business School. It develops, teaches, researches and delivers radical new practices, tools and processes that transform the way organisations innovate, and helps them translate their creativity into commercial success.
• The Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Design (IE&D) core course, delivered in collaboration with Design London, which is taught as part of the Imperial MBA programme. This offers a unique opportunity to build knowledge, skills and experience in innovation, entrepreneurship and design. In total, entrepreneurship has been taught to more than five thousand undergraduates and one thousand MBA students.
• The College’s role as the lead university partner in the global Microsoft Innovation Outreach Programme - a cross-industry community of thirty international companies formed to exchange ideas on innovation.

The other nominees in the category are Brunel University, University of Central Lancashire, University of Hertfordshire, University of Plymouth and Teesside University.

Click here to learn more about Imperial’s entrepreneurship activities: www.imperial.ac.uk/business

Outstanding Support for Early Career Researchers

Imperial’s second nomination is for Outstanding Support for Early Career Researchers. This recognises the College’s activities in supporting postdoc researchers from across the College, and in particular Imperial’s Postdoc Development Centre.

“Postdoctoral researchers at Imperial make an enormous contribution to the research, teaching and diverse academic life of the College,” said Professor Julia Buckingham, Pro Rector (Education and Academic Services). “Our Postdoc Development Centre provides support to postdocs at a crucial stage in their careers and the College is committed to providing development opportunities to propel them to further successes."

Imperial is the only UK university with a standalone centre to support Postdoctoral researchers. The centre offers a wide range of development courses, workshops and training resources. Specialist coaching includes helping postdocs prepare fellowship applications, reviewing CVs and holding mock interviews. Contracts for Imperial’s post-docs specify 10 days training per year which can be used to develop personal transferable skills; this can be, for example, by attending courses, becoming involved in outreach work in schools, organising a seminar series, or becoming a postdoc rep for their department.

The Research Careers and Diversity Group, RCUK, recently visited Imperial and judged postdocs’ support, “excellent”, saying, “The panel particularly wish to highlight the Postdoc Development Centre [PDC]. As far as the panel members were aware, this was a groundbreaking model which provided a unique focus for research staff”.

If Imperial is successful this year it will be the third time that the College has won the award, having previously received it in 2006 and 2008.

The other nominees in the category are University of Cambridge, Cardiff University, University of Glasgow, University of Northampton, and Universities Scotland Research Training Sub-Committee

Click here for more information about the Postdoc Development Centre: //www3.imperial.ac.uk/staffdevelopment/postdocs1