Professional Services Conference and Awards 2017

  • Pictured top (left to right): Julie Lloyd, Professor Nigel Weatherill, Phil Duffy, Meriel Box, Gary Graham, Mark Power

  • Executive Director of Everton in the Community, Phil Duffy delivering his presentation

  • Carol Oliver receiving award for consistent outstanding service to her Faculty, particularly in the areas of absence management and travel.

  • Maria McShane receiving award for outstanding service in supporting and helping staff with disability related matters

  • Paula Timmings receiving award for innumerable examples of service, assistance and support across the Faculty

  • Outreach Team receiving award for their continuous work supporting tens of thousands of prospective students, including innovative schemes such as the Dream Plan Achieve Programme, Student Shadowing and the Law Factor Project

  • Centre for Entrepreneurship receiving award for continuing successes in the delivery of their service, including nominations for a THELMA award, and winning awards for UK University Enterprise of the Year and EU Higher Education of the Year

  • John Rae received his award (collected by Jane Short) for creating and continuing to constantly develop the Web Hub information system

  • David Boardman received his award (collected by Carolyn Lees) for the development of an online toolkit to support the collaborative publication of nursing academics and students

  • Alice Ferrebe receiving award for leading her team with camaraderie and solidarity, resulting in them being awarded LSU’s 'Amazing Course Team' of 2017

  • Paul Wright received award (collected by Sara Rioux) for supporting the Faculty with initiatives such as MTC, Maritime Knowledge Hub, bre@LJMU, Sensor City and the Adaptive Learning Zone

  • Employability Advisors Team receiving award for outstanding levels of student satisfaction and approval

  • Saarah Robinson, Naomi Scharf and Guy Philip receiving award for superb collaborative work on developing and implementing the electronic Post Approval Form (ePAF)

  • Carolyn Benny and Pauline Smith receiving award for their work developing and supporting pupils and staff undertaking Extended Project Qualifications at Formby High School

  • Shonagh Wilkie receiving award for her constant hard work behind the scenes representing the university, including acting as lead of communications on the NSS and her collaborative work leading on the narrative and illustrative features of a book detailing the history of LJMU

  • Jack Butterworth received award (collected by Julie Wynne) for consistently working beyond the boundaries of his role, engaging in partnership working across departments in order to ensure the delivery of a seamless service to staff and students

  • Sue Ashurst receiving award for outstanding level of support and teamwork, including tackle new challenges through a long period of covering for staff absence

  • Kaylie Fortune receiving award for epitomising the positive impact that professional service staff can have on the workings of the University and the student experience, including her meticulous organisational contribution to the Learning and Teaching Conference

The day started with an insightful welcome from Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nigel Weatherill.

This was followed by an inspiring and emotive keynote presentation from the Executive Director of Everton in the Community, Phil Duffy. Delegates were captured by emotional videos showing how Everton in the Community has supported people living with dementia, care leavers, former armed forces and homeless people. Phil explained that the projects placed sport at the service of humanity and he drew parallels with LJMU’s role as a pioneering, modern civic university, and saying: “You can offer learning and opportunity - you can change lives, you can save lives - you have such fantastic opportunities to do that.”

The conference also offered 20 informative parallel sessions and a lively Q&A and plenary session, featuring LJMU senior management panel.

The event concluded with the presentation of the Professional Services Excellence Awards, recognising outstanding contributions from staff across the University who demonstrate best practice and performance standards.

There were 95 nominations in six different categories and the awards were presented by the Vice-Chancellor:

Service Excellence Winners - this award is for those who  deliver excellent service at all times, go over and above their role to provide support to others, overcome obstacles to others and enhance the service provided:

  • Paula Timmings, Receptionist, Estate Management
  • Carol Oliver, Executive Support Officer, Faculty of Engineering and Technology
  • Maria McShane, Training Supervisor and Leadership and Development Foundation Associate, Estate Management
  • Outreach Team, Student Recruitment
  • Centre for Entrepreneurship

Highly Commended: Corporate Events and Engagement Team, Corporate Communications and Stakeholder Relations

Innovation Excellence Winner - this award recognises those who have significantly changed the way they work for the better by using innovative thinking to transform areas of activity:

  • John Rae, Academic Planning and Information Services

Intern of the Year - awarded to individuals who have displayed a high level of commitment, initiative and produced outstanding pieces of work:

  • David Boardman, Department of Computer Science

Highly Commended:  Mohammed Isap, IT Services; Becca Fadden, Leadership and Development Foundation; Joe Goulding, Graduate School; Hannah Buckley, Careers Team; Catherine McNeill, School of Education

Leadership Excellence Winner - for success in co-ordinating, developing and inspiring others to achieve goals and fulfil potential:

  • Alice Ferrebe, Subject Leader, School of Humanities and Social Science

Achieving Excellence Winners - this award recognises those who have made a demonstrable difference to how a service is delivered or achieved outstanding project delivery.

  • Paul Wright, Senior Technician, Faculty of Engineering and Technology
  • Employability Advisors Team, Careers Centre
  • Saarah Robinson, Finance Manager, Naomi Scharf, People and Organisational Development, Guy Philip, Senior Systems Engineer, IT Services and Christine Coldham, Senior Business Systems Test Engineer, IT Services
  • Carolyn Benny and Pauline Smith, Librarians

Star Quality Winners - this award goes to those who for whom no job is too much trouble. Who work diligently in the background, anticipating needs and who others turn to for support:

  • Shonagh Wilkie, Manager, Corporate Communications and Stakeholder Relations
  • Jack Butterworth, Senior Software Engineer, IT Services
  • Sue Ashurst, PA, Legal and Governance Services
  • Kaylie Fortune, Admin Support Co-ordinator, Teaching and Learning Academy

Highly Commended: Jacinta Ellis, Research and European Funding Officer, RIS

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