The Science & Engineering Education Research and Innovation Hub (SEERIH) at The University of Manchester has been Highly Commended in the Communicative Outputs category for the Hidden REF 2024 Competition.
The Hidden REF awards celebrate the impact and roles that are vital to research but are overlooked by traditional research evaluation. It aims to build a more effective and more equitable system for recognising contributions to research success.
The awards are split into five 'output panels' with 24 categories, each organised by output type. The panels include Applications of Research, Communicative Outputs, Context, Practices and Hidden Role.
SEERIH was Highly Commended in the Communicative Outputs panel under the category of 'Campaigns' for the success of its Great Science Share for Schools campaign, a pioneering campaign dedicated to fostering scientific curiosity and education among young learners.
The category recognises campaigns that initiate change that is adopted across the research community and creates significant positive impact in a broad range of areas, including the way research is conducted, the diversity of the research community, the pipeline of people involved in research, or any other change that can be demonstrated to be beneficial for the research environment.
Professor Lynne Bianchi, Director of SEERIH, said: "We are very proud to have had our work recognised in this new competition across the Higher Education sector. It really does shine a light on the campaign which makes research more visible to young children, as well as empowering them to think and work scientifically themselves. We'd love for more Higher Education Institutions to get involved. I'd also like to say a special thank you to the Faculty of Science and Engineering's Kerry Wilkins for doing such a great job (as always) in supporting the application."
The panels were judged by volunteer experts and the panellists were chosen based on their experience of the submission categories.
The winners were announced at an online awards ceremony on 29 November. You can find all of the winners and re-watch the ceremony here.
