News Story

Celebrating Research, Innovation, and Societal Impact at The Open University

Nancy Pontika, Tuesday 24 Sep 2024

The Open University recently hosted its prestigious Research Excellence Awards ceremony at Unity Place in Central Milton Keynes, with over 250 attendees gathered to celebrate the remarkable research being conducted across the university. This year’s event, themed Shaping the Future, not only highlighted the excellence of OU’s research but also showcased the societal impact of our work through the Open Societal Challenges Awards and the relaunch of the Open Business Creators Fund competition. These initiatives underscore the university’s commitment to addressing the world’s most pressing challenges by fostering collaboration with businesses, policymakers, and communities.

KMi had a strong presence at the event with several nominees and a prominent role in the exhibition area.

The evening featured engaging exhibition stands, including KMi’s MK:Smart project, represented by Prof. Enrico Motta, Dr. Iman Naja, and Riccardo Pala. They showcased cutting-edge research on urban robotics in collaboration with Extend Robotics and Swift Robotics. Notably, Swift Robotics will partner with the OU in the newly awarded “Resilient Enterprise” initiative—a groundbreaking Eureka ITEA 4 project set to launch in November 2024. This project aims to enhance the resilience of robotic solutions used in commercial deliveries at MK University Hospital, enabling them to learn and adapt in real time.

(From left to right: Riccardo Pala, Enrico Motta, Harith Alani, and Iman Naja with their PAL TIAGo robot)

A special highlight of the evening was Prof. Miriam Fernandez’s recognition with the STEM Research Excellence Award for her outstanding contributions to postgraduate research supervision. Her commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) and her transformative impact on students were acknowledged through this prestigious accolade.

(Image of KMi’ers who attended the awards that night)

Although they didn’t win, being shortlisted for these prestigious awards is an incredible accomplishment that speaks to the dedication and impact of the nominees. Prof John Domingue’s nomination for the Outstanding Leadership Award reflects his visionary guidance, which has been crucial to KMi’s ongoing success. Likewise, the shortlisting of Keyur Dave, Rachel Coignac-Smith, Abi Brooks, Ortenz Rose, and Jane Whild for the Outstanding Support Award highlights their invaluable contributions to KMi’s work. Joseph Kwarteng’s nomination for the PGR Student Award also emphasizes the significance of his research and his bright future as a scholar.

KMi is incredibly proud of all their achievements and the continued excellence they bring to KMi. Congratulations to all winners and nominees for their remarkable contributions.

Related links:

MK:Smart website https://www.mksmart.org/

Celebrating Excellence: Prof. Fernandez’s Impactful Leadership in PG Research Supervision https://kmi.open.ac.uk/news/article/26618

REA winners announced https://openuniv.sharepoint.com/sites/oulife/Pages/REA-winners-announced.aspx