We are delighted to be able to announce details of the shortlisted teams, individuals and projects for the 2024 UHR Awards for Excellence in HR. Thankyou to everyone that took part this year, and while not every nomination is successful in receiving a shortlisting, our judges have been so impressed once more this year in the high quality of all of the submissions.
University of Glasgow People and OD Induction Project Team: The University of Glasgow Induction Hub
University of Leeds People and Culture Directorate: Improving Employment Security at Leeds
University of Plymouth HR Operations: Process Transformation Through Robotic Processing Automation
University of Portsmouth People Services Team: UoP People Hub: the one-stop shop to access HR information
University of Stirling Human Resources and Organisation Development: Agile Working Framework
Durham University HR Business Partners Team: Staff Concerns (a new approach to handling grievances)
Imperial College London – the Virtual Values Team: Imperial Together – Imperial Values
Manchester Metropolitan University People and Organisational Development Directorate: Reshaping the Manchester Met Education Focused Career Pathway
Staffordshire University HR and Organisational Development: #Staff Make Staffs – Let’s work better together
University of the Arts, London Organisational Development team (with support from HR Systems, HR Operations, EDI and Payroll: UAL’s sector-leading equal parental leave policy
University of Stirling Human Resources and Organisation Development: Be Heard: Enabling Staff Voice at Stirling
University of Surrey HR and Surrey Senior Leadership Team working group: Surrey’s unique senior leaders’ development programme
Queen Mary University of London Equality Diversity and Inclusion Team: Fostering & Recognising Citizenship - Staff Affinity Networks and Voice at the Heart of Inclusion
University College London B-MEntor Team: B-MEntor@UCL cross-institutional mentoring scheme
University of Glasgow People & OD and External Relations teams: Together Against Racism
University of Leeds Organisational Development and Professional Learning, IT Services and Facilities Directorates: Digital Literacy - Learning to Log On
Manchester Metropolitan University People and Organisational Development: Creating a great place to work and transforming lives together – improving our reward offering
University of East Anglia Resourcing and Compliance Teams: UEA Recruitment Transformation
University of Liverpool Research Technical Professional (RTP) Career Pathway Steering Group: Recognising Talent – Research Technical Professional – A Career Pathway
Bangor University Staff Menopause Support
Durham University Human Resources and Organisation Development: Health & Wellbeing Strategy
Leeds Beckett University People and Organisational Development: Leeds Beckett Wellbeing Assessment
Keele University Human Resources and Organisational Development: Keele Values and Behaviours Framework
Northumbria University Human Resources: Empowering Transformation - Northumbria University’s Journey to a Values-Driven Culture
University of Derby People Experience and Culture: Evolving HR Towards People Experience and Culture
Anglia Ruskin University – Kate Brimley and Sarah Wood (a joint nomination resulting from the merger of ARU with Writtle University College)
Staffordshire University – Scott Allcock
University of Glasgow – Linsay Gilchrist
University of the West of Scotland - Dianne Winwood
The winners of the UHR Awards 2024 will be announced during the UHR Conference on 15 May at 9.15am and we’d love you to join us then to celebrate this year’s successful teams, projects and individuals. We are hugely grateful for the support of all our partner organisations for conference and the awards, including this year our Premium Partners NTT Data Business Solutions and Shakespeare Martineau.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE NOMINATION PROCESS FOR THE 2024 UHR AWARDS IS NOW CLOSED AND THE SHORTLISTED TEAMS, PROJECTS AND INDIVIDUALS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED. However we do get queries throughout the year about the awards process, so the information below is from 2024, but it is shown to help steer those considering a 2025 application.
This year there are 7 awards categories for you to consider.
Every year the UHR Awards are a great opportunity to encourage and motivate the HR team, and even the act of preparing an entry can embed learnings and create an opportunity to think about successful projects, and perhaps how to replicate that success. But it’s also great to have peer recognition for the work you’ve done, and in a specialism where much of what we do is by its very nature ‘behind the scenes’, a small pat on the back and a sincere ‘Well done!’ via a UHR Award can only be a good thing. It is a key aim for our organisation that we can learn from each other, and build our professional skills base, and the leadership that is demonstrated by our awards nominees is one way for us to do this. We want to showcase the cutting edge practices the very best teams deliver every day.
Can we give you some hints on what we think makes a winning nomination?
Our top tips. Think about…
We look forward to hearing about all your hard work and the difference it has made within your universities. We’ll be announcing the winners on day one of the UHR Conference 2024 (14 to 16 May) - its theme is Future Imperfect: Thinking Ahead. How will your entry stand out? Thinking caps on, and remember the deadline date of 8 March. We are hugely grateful for the support of all our partner organisations for conference and the awards, including this year our Premium Partners NTT Data Business Solutions and Shakespeare Martineau.
On-campus presentation of awards
There will be an opportunity for winning teams to have their trophy and certificate presented in person by a member of the UHR Executive or senior staff on either 21 or 23 May. You may want to invite your VC to the presentation or make a small and positive fuss about the achievement! It's always good to share great news via internal communications routes. You may want to discuss this opportunity with comms colleagues, considering options for local PR, photography or filming. If this kind of informal presentation works for you then let us know as part of your application response.
Please note there are two nominations forms, one for the first six awards categories listed above, and one for the HR Star Award where there are different criteria for you and our judges to note. As in past years the form is a simple Word document - easy to use, to save and return to once more when inspiration strikes!
We look forward to hearing from you, and good luck with your nominations!
Download the nominations forms here
UHR Awards 2024 nominations form
UHR HR Star Award 2024 nominations form
Learn more about the winning projects and teams from the UHR Awards 2023.
Our 2022 Award winners included an inspiring set of projects and teams and just as every year there was much for the UHR community to learn.
The winners of the UHR Awards for Excellence in HR 2021 were announced at UHR’s 2021 Conference, themed ‘Refreshing HR’, on Wednesday 12 May 2021.
It is part of our role to identify and share good practice in HR teams across HE and there is much to learn from all of our shortlisted teams. To our winners, congratulations, and to everyone who took part, our thanks and very best wishes
Older awards information
