Impactful Research and Innovation

For research and innovation that has delivered significant and sustained impact on society and the environment.

Winner: The STEER Team

STEER is a multi-million-pound research centre that explores the transition to sustainable energy systems. They represented º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ at the recent COP28 summit and continue to deliver a vast impact on both society and the environment. As Directors of the research centre, Ed & Mark have had a major role in STEER’s vast success.

The STEER Team with the Vice-Chancellor
The STEER Team receiving a VC award from the Vice-Chancellor, Nick Jennings

Nominees

Ishara Dharmasena

Ishara introduced nanogenerator research to º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ (LU), an emerging field in wearable electronics. He is a globally leading theorist in nanogenerators. His new theory (DDEF Model) revolutionised existing practices of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG), causing a step-increase in their outputs. Ishara recently won the RAEng Young Engineer of the Year-2024, for his work both in nanogenerators and smart textiles in healthcare technology.

Dominic Willmott

Dominic has produced innovative and impactful research seeking to improve justice outcomes for victims and survivors of sexual violence. Dom has established himself as a leading voice in the domain of jury decision making within sexual offence trials and in the last year his research has had a major influence on criminal justice policy and legal reforms around the world.

The RAAC Team

The Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete team, Blanco pushed the frontier of knowledge concerning the structural performance and durability of RAAC. They were directly responsible for understanding the risks around ageing buildings with RAAC and defining measures to ensure their safety, which allowed several hospitals to remain open during Covid and have guided the UK during the national RAAC crisis affecting schools, public and private buildings.

The Digital Decarbonisation Team

Tom Jackson and Ian Hodgkinson’s Digital Decarbonisation research movement has revolutionised the way we understand and address the impact of digital and AI on CO2 emissions. Among a number of achievements, they have developed an ethics strategy for the National Digital Twin Programme and informed the revision of the Greenhouse Gas protocol developed by the World Resources Institute.