Oli Schofield, the Doctoral Development Manager in the Doctoral College, was awarded the Newcomer of the Year award at the Vitae Impact, Culture and Engagement (ICE) Awards last week.
The Vitae ICE awards recognise the contribution of the researcher development community and aim to highlight the multifaceted role of the researcher developer, much of which often goes unrecognised.
Oli was nominated by Dr Rachel Arnold, Academic Director (Doctoral) and Shyeni Paul, Director of Doctoral College Operations in the Doctoral College for his work on revamping the doctoral development resources here at the University and setting up innovative new initiatives such as the Doctoral Coaching Network and the Doctoral Celebration evening.
The Awards were held as part of the Vitae International Researcher Development Conference 2023.
Clare Viney CEO, CRAC-Vitae said:
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. Oli has re-defined and enhanced doctoral development provision at the University of Bath, as well as developed as an outstanding Researcher Developer. He demonstrated exceptional and innovative approaches in his work in such a short space of time, improving the doctoral development provision at the University. Oli has taken new approaches to his work by shifting the focus away from solely training courses to inclusively engage a diverse group of researchers through establishing networks, implementing coaching and supporting development programme which has had a positive impact on research culture and researchers.
Oli said:
I am delighted to have won the first Newcomer of the Year Award organised by Vitae. Many thanks to Dr Rachel Arnold and Shyeni Paul for taking the time to nominate me and supporting me consistently within my role. The award has only been possible with so much support from other colleagues across the University who work collaboratively with me and have largely been instrumental in helping to improve doctoral provision. The Award has been a great way to look back on all of the successes over the past year and it’s nice to receive some formal recognition to end my first year in my new post. I’m looking forward to continue working in this field and am looking forward to new opportunities to continue developing doctoral training and development.
Congratulations, Oli!