Excellence in knowledge exchange, our world-class Management School and the team behind Lancaster’s outstanding campus have all been shortlisted for prestigious national awards.

Widely recognised as the 'Oscars of higher education', the THE (Times Higher Education) Awards are open to anyone involved in higher education across the UK and Ireland, attracting hundreds of entries each year.

This year, in recognition of the breadth of excellence at Lancaster, the university has been shortlisted in three THE award categories – Business School of the Year, Knowledge Exchange / Transfer Initiative of the Year and Outstanding Estates Team.

Lancaster has been shortlisted for the Knowledge Exchange Initiative of the Year Award due to its leading role in building innovative research and knowledge exchange partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa. Partnerships forged through the GCRF-funded RECIRCULATE and ACTUATE programmes have seen researchers co-create and co-deliver solutions to help African communities in 14 countries in their bid to secure clean and sustainable supplies of water, energy and food, while managing waste and optimising circular economies.

Most recently, Lancaster academics, together with African collaborators, have piloted the adoption of anaerobic digester (AD) technology in Ghana and Nigeria. These systems deliver integrated solutions to waste management, power, food and soil security and help to improve health. In addition, RECIRCULATE trained 460 academics, business leaders and policy professionals from 14 African countries to ensure local people have the skills and knowledge to drive sustainable infrastructure projects in their home regions.

Lancaster University Management School’s nomination for ‘Business School of the Year’ is based upon its unique Entrepreneurs in Residence (EiR) programme which brings a network of global entrepreneurs into the faculty and classroom, providing students and researchers with direct access to those on the frontline of business.

The EiR programme has grown exponentially over 15 years, from one single entrepreneur to a network of more than 90 in 2021/22, all from diverse backgrounds and cultures across the globe and with more than a thousand years of multi-sector business experience. EiRs are engaged in all aspects of student-facing activity, offering valuable input into student programme design as well as classroom delivery. They deal with real problems and work on campus or online, participate in lectures and seminars, mentor students both in their studies and with their own business ventures, and assist with knowledge exchange programmes.

Lancaster is also in the running for the Outstanding Estates Team Award due to the efforts of its Facilities team in creating a sustainable world class institution and making campus an inspiring place to be. Lancaster’s innovative Estate Strategy supports the University to deliver on its sustainability targets, delivering cost savings of £5.5M along with carbon savings of 1219 tCO2e through repurposing and refurbishing existing space. Lancaster University has 7,000 trees planted on campus and generates 15% of its annual campus energy from its own wind turbine, which has also helped the university invest £180,000 back into local community sustainable projects over the last nine years. Lancaster is one of two universities awarded the EcoSmart Greengage Platinum Award, and 11 consecutive Green Flag Awards.

The winners of each category will be announced at a ceremony on 7 December at the ACC in Liverpool.

Professor Andy Schofield, Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University, said: “It is great to see Lancaster shortlisted for these prestigious awards.

“The nominations recognise of the strength of our knowledge exchange and partnerships which co-deliver real-life impact, transforming the health and lives of West African communities; the true excellence of our world-leading Management School and our Entrepreneurs in Residence programme which brings business people from across the globe into the heart of the faculty; and our first class estates team who work so hard to maintain and improve our beautiful campus to provide the very best facilities for our students and staff - all while helping us achieve our ambitious sustainability targets as we work towards being carbon neutral by 2035.

“I wish them all the best of luck and look forward to hearing the outcome in December.”

To read more about the awards and more detail of the nominations, please visit: THE Awards 2023 (the-awards.co.uk)