The AUA Annual Awards are usually announced and presented as part of our Gala Dinner. As our Annual Conference & Exhibition has been postponed, we have had to rethink how we will recognise and acknowledge the hard work by our members and networks for this year’s awards.

Each weekday from Thursday 26 March, we will be publishing a short article about each member and network that has been shortlisted by our awards panel. This will lead into Monday 6 April, which would have been the date of this year’s Gala Dinner, where we will announce the winners.

Here you can read about the Newcastle University, who have been shortlisted for network of the year! The network is led by Advocates Susan Sheehan-Watson, Alexander Byrne, Karen Stubbs & Jack Ennis.

What it means to be shortlisted

It is an great honour to be nominated and shortlisted!  We work hard to ensure that we include our whole university membership network in our communications and try to bring them all together as often as possible to build relationships at networking events. 

It is thrilling to hear that our work is being recognised and that we are adding value for our local AUA members by upholding the AUA values.  Although we are now entering uncertain and challenging times we will still strive to engage our local network and support them in any way we can. 

We would especially like to thank Dr John Hogan, Registrar at Newcastle University, for his continuous support and for giving us this opportunity.

Why Newcastle University was shortlisted

In the nomination for the AUA Advocate team at Newcastle University, they are credited with renegotiating existing and securing new funding to help staff attend AUA events. They have promoted the AUA to staff at all levels, including at a variety of internal events, along with running an internal PgCert Mentoring Scheme.

They have sought and acted on feedback from their members and, along with regular internal Advocate meetings, have networked with the team at Northumbria University.

The panel were particularly impressed by the teams’ impressive list achievements and their clear focus in promoting wider membership activity.