Vitae Impact, Culture and Engagement (ICE) Awards
Recognising the Contribution of the Researcher Development Community.
The Vitae Impact, Culture, and Engagement (ICE) Awards aim to celebrate and highlight the impactful and innovative work carried out by the researcher development community, acknowledging the significant contributions it makes towards helping researchers reach their full potential.
The categories for the awards are:
- Newcomer of the Year
- Outstanding Contribution
- Research Culture Impact through Researcher Development
- Innovative and Inclusive Practice
Co-sponsors of the Vitae ICE Awards
Nominations are now closed for the Vitae Impact, Culture and Engagement (ICE) Awards 2026.
After a successful third year of the Vitae Impact, Culture and Engagement (ICE) Awards in 2025, we will be holding the fourth Vitae ICE Awards for 2026 at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh, as part of the Vitae International Researcher Development Conference.
View the winners of the 2025 Vitae ICE Awards.
Nominations are now closed for the Vitae ICE Awards 2026
The categories for the awards are:
- Newcomer of the Year
- Outstanding Contribution
- Research Culture Impact through Researcher Development
- Innovative and Inclusive Practice
Multiple nominations were welcome.
We recommended that you review the full criteria before submitting your nomination, detailed on this webpage.
Review the longlist and shortlist from the Vitae ICE Awards 2025 for inspiration and guidance.
Can I apply to be part of the judging process?
Applications are now closed to be a part of the community panel, who will review and shortlist the nominations.
Previous members of the community panel have noted how the process is inclusive and enriching, and a real privilege.
What’s involved?
Involvement will include reading and reviewing a selection of nominations against the judging criteria and attending an optional online meeting to discuss and determine the shortlist.
We would like this panel to have representatives from across our community. The deadline has now passed for applications.
Are there opportunities for sponsoring the Vitae ICE Awards 2026?
There are opportunities at multiple levels for those interested in supporting the awards. Please contact events@vitae.ac.uk for further information.
Award Criteria
Please note this Award is for researcher developers rather than researchers, please do read through our other Award categories to see if your researcher meets the criteria
This award recognises someone early in their researcher development career who has made a significant contribution in their role in a short space of time.
Nominees may have:
Been proactive in engaging with their peers or colleagues to the benefit of researchers or others
Demonstrated an exceptional approach to their work, by coming up with novel solutions, ideas and initiatives
Had a positive impact on research culture and the researchers in their communities through their work
Nominees should be within the first 2 years of their career in the development of researchers.
This award seeks to recognise and celebrate someone who has made an outstanding contribution to researcher development, delivering a lasting and exceptional impact for their institution and/or the sector as a whole.
Nominees may have:
Played a key role in the researcher development community, leading positive change and delivering impact at an institutional, sector or strategy level
Advocated for the value of researcher development, working to influence policy on research culture or related issues
Developed programmes or initiatives that engage with and support fellow researcher development professionals
This award champions excellent practice within researcher development that demonstrates inventive approaches to complex challenges, and that contributes towards achieving equity of access to researcher development opportunities and support.
Nominations can be for individuals, groups of people or teams, and examples of practice may include:
Work that focuses on removing barriers of access
Creating welcoming spaces for collaboration
Work that takes an innovative approach to tackling complex issues, such as precarity
Engaging with the researcher development community to share examples of innovative and inclusive practice that can be applied more widely
This award aims to showcase activities or work within researcher development that has had a positive impact on improving research culture. Nominations can be for individuals, groups of people or teams, and initiatives can be at any scale, from institutional or sector level to smaller scale work focused, for example, on a particular group of researchers.
The award seeks to recognise examples which demonstrate how researcher development can act as a catalyst for change in research culture, including (but not limited to) the obligations outlined under the Environment and Culture principle of the Researcher Developer Concordat.
Examples may have already been submitted to The Concordat Platform of Practice and may include:
Innovations in the area of equality, diversity and inclusion
The support of researchers wellbeing and mental health
improving collegiality
The facilitation of collaboration or the creation of communities, resulting in improvements to the research environment
“Very often this work happens under the radar but the role and the people in these roles make a real difference.”
Dr Lisa Thompson
Doctoral Development Manager
Ulster University
“Being nominated feels incredibly humbling and gratifying and it is really I think an affirmation of the increasing recognition of researcher development and research culture initiative.”
Dr Saneeya Qureshi
Head of Researcher Development and Culture
University of Liverpool