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School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences Environment Technician awarded the Papin Prize 2021

Environment Technician Katherine Hardy has been presented with the prestigious award, which celebrates the success and achievements of technical colleagues within Higher Education.

    Papin Prize
    Katherine Hardy with her Papin Prize award for her work in Outreach/Community

    The Papin Prizes are named after Denis Papin, a 17th-century technician who worked with Robert Boyle. Papin invented the steam digester and was one of the first technicians to publish in his own name.

    The prizes are awarded at the 2021 UK Higher Education Technician Summit (HETS) and publicly celebrate the skills, talent, and experience of technicians from across the country.

    The previous winner of the ‘Teaching Technician of the Year’ award at the 2019 HETS was our very own Amy Horne, Animal Technical Specialist. Our Equine Technical team were also finalists in the ‘Technical Team’ category.

    This year, NTU was pleased to have three colleagues shortlisted for awards out of the many nominations received.

    Papin Prize

    Katherine was nominated for her dedicated effort in maximising the community value that the glasshouses and vertical farming shipping containers on Brackenhurst Campus can have by ensuring that produce grown at the facilities goes to charitable organisations around Nottingham.

    This included leading a volunteer programme that aimed to train students to grow crops; and growing and donating around 250-300kg of fresh vegetables to Nottingham city food banks, food clubs, and Newark College. Katherine’s remarkable effort to combine education and outreach has increased the value that our vertical farming facilities can have to the local community while providing students with an opportunity to gain new technical expertise and volunteer experience.

    Katherine consequently won the ‘Outreach/Community’ Papin Prize, which was presented at the HETS 2021 on Wednesday 10 November at the East Midlands Conference Centre, University of Nottingham.

    Almost 200 nominations were received across ten categories and a team of judges made up of Midlands Innovation technical managers, Deputy Vice Chancellors and Pro Vice Chancellors selected the most deserving winners from more than 50 higher education and research institutes.

    “I never expected to be nominated by my colleagues for a Papin Prize, so you can probably imagine how surprised I was to win! I really enjoy my job as a technician, and I think it’s very important to engage with students/the wider community,” Katherine told us.

    Find out more about the Papin Prize here https://www.mitalent.ac.uk/Papin-Prizes

    Published on 25 November 2021
    • Category: Staff; School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences
    • Location: Brackenhurst Campus