We are delighted and proud to have received this award for the series of workshops about brain development and neurodevelopmental conditions at the Coin Street Community Centre on the Southbank. It was only possible through working closely with our fantastic public engagement team, the incredible, dedicated Coin Street staff, and the KCL researchers and NHS colleagues who all gave up their time for the workshops. We found it very rewarding to see how the local community of families and healthcare workers engaged in every session and look forward to working with them more in the future.
Professor Tomoki Arichi, Head of the Research Department of Early Life Imaging at the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences
23 January 2025
School public engagement efforts recognised at King's Engaged Research Awards 2025
Members of the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences were celebrated for their work at the King's Engaged Research Awards ceremony, securing two wins and four nominations.
The Awards ceremony brought together over 130 staff, students and community partners to celebrate best practices in public and community engagement with research at King’s.
Professor Tomoki Arichi, Head of the Research Department of Early Life Imaging at the School, won the Communicating Research: Local prize for his workshops on the Developing Brain, along with partners at the Coin Street Neighbourhood Centre including Leila Hadiyat, Claudia Gracia and Fatemeh Mozaffar.
The workshops, which focus on early brain development and differences in children with neurodevelopmental conditions, were co-developed by researchers, clinicians and the Public Engagement team at our School, and Coin Street Centre. This was a response to local families’ desire to learn more about why some children develop differently and to understand the research behind it.
Overwhelmingly positive feedback has helped to build new bridges with the local community in the form of further workshops and interactive collaboration.
The School's Community Engagement Officer Deanne Naula won the Outstanding Individual - Professional Services prize for her exceptional contribution to the public engagement space at King's. Noting Deanne's achievement, the School's public engagement co-lead, Professor Alexander Hammers said, "Deanne has made the most remarkable progress in reaching out to communities that do not traditionally engage with science... [she] is thus making very important contributions to societal acceptance of science and removing the "ivory tower" image of universities in their own local communities.”
It’s a real honour to receive this award as the other nominees are spectacular! It’s also really important for not only community engagement activities to be recognised, but also the work it takes to make them happen, the soft warm bits that don’t always make it into the reports but ensure healthy, equitable, mutually beneficial relationships that underpin great engagement. It has taken me 4 dedicated years to get to this point - meeting and working with a lot of great people along the way and I have loved every minute!
Deanne Naula, Community Engagement Officer at the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences
Staff members at the School were also nominated for their noteworthy efforts to create impactful, holistic and multidisciplinary initiatives that drive collaborative and innovative solutions in service to society.
The 'What Does Radiotherapy Mean to You?' project was recognised in the Collaboration (Global) category. Led by Lisa Whittaker and Liane Harris, the project brought together 13 people who have had radiotherapy, their family members/carers, radiation researchers and a therapeutic radiographer to engage in creative practices to answer the aforementioned question. Also nominated in the Collaboration category was the partnership between the Coin Street community and the School's Centre for Medical Engineering, led by Deanne Naula.
Dr Samantha Terry, winner of the Communicating Research award in 2024, was nominated for the Outstanding Individual (Established Academic) prize this year for her activities across a number of platforms aimed at supporting the local community as well as patients with experience of radiotherapy and their loved ones. Also on the Outstanding Individual shortlist was Alice Taylor-Gee, Senior Public Engagement Manager at the School, for enabling 1480 academics and professional staff to develop and participate in over 250 engagement activities through training, funding support and facilitated activity.
To have 6 projects shortlisted in the King's Engaged Research Awards, and then winning two of those, is fantastic! It is so important to have recognition for all the excellent engagement work we do within our School, so the event was a great opportunity to celebrate alongside our researchers together with our community and patient groups.
Alice Taylor-Gee, Senior Public Engagement Manager, BMEIS
Credit: Laterus Photography
In this story
Reader in Radiobiology
Head of the Department of Early Life Imaging
Community Engagement Officer
Senior Public Engagement Manager
Patient and Public Engagement Coordinator
Head of the PET Centre and Professor of Imaging and Neuroscience