Newcastle University

The University's Research Office won first prize in the prestigious Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards 2010, held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, in Park Lane, London.

This year saw 264 entries across the 18 categories of the awards. The judges said that their choice of winners "demonstrated the professionalism and dedication that underpin the UK's world-class research and teaching enterprise and give the sector an unrivalled body of best practice".

The award for the Outstanding Research Management Team was presented to a delegation from Newcastle University who attended the awards ceremony, led by Professor Nick Wright, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, Dr Douglas Robertson, Director of Business Development and Regional Affairs, and Mrs Jill Golightly, Head of the Research Office.

• Pictured: Receiving the prize at the awards ceremony in London

After the ceremony, Professor Wright said: "This award is a fantastic achievement for the research services team, whose efforts underpin recent improvements in the University's research performance, in particular the significant growth in our income from research councils.

"I was delighted to attend the awards ceremony in London with representatives of the research management team and it was a great honour to be selected as the winner in this category, in the face of strong competition from other institutions," he said.

The citation in the winners’ brochure says:

‘The Research Office at Newcastle University has spearheaded an institution-wide effort to improve systems, process and staff development to free up academics’ time, boost research council income and increase the international element of its research.

'At the heart of the strategy is a sophisticated web-based applications and awards system called MyProjects. This provides a resilient, single source of all key documents and core information relating to any project throughout its lifespan and is accessible to researchers, administrators and managers.

'An integrated corporate research-management system called MyImpact has also been launched, providing one-stop access to all research information about any individual researcher.

'Meanwhile, a new ethics review programme has given departments the opportunity to nominate their own members of staff to advise on ethics.

'The statistics suggest that these measures are having a major impact. Funding obtained by Newcastle from UK research councils rose by 17 per cent in 2008-09 to £36.5 million. At 41 per cent of the university’s total award value, this also represented a significant increase on 2007-08, when it was 37 per cent.

'The judges were particularly impressed with the MyProjects programme, which they described as a substantive achievement.'

Ian Carter, Director of Research and Enterprise at the University of Sussex and member of the judging panel said of the team's achievement: "As well as the technical and data-management challenges, it also required the active involvement of multiple interests in the institution."

• Pictured: The winning team celebrates success