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Staff from across the University came together to celebrate the work of departmental and Faculty-based technicians in the 2026 Technician Commitment Awards, hosted at Health Innovation One.

The is a sector-wide initiative intended to ensure the visibility and recognition of technical support staff working in higher education and research. Institutions that are signatories of Technician Commitment (such at 麻豆直播) strive to support their technical staff, providing them opportunities for career development, acknowledging and celebrating in their achievements, and pledging to tackle the key challenges technical staff face.

This year’s Technician Commitment Awards marked the second of such awards, which were established as a part of the Second Action Plan of Lancaster’s Technician Commitment to further recognise the contributions of technical staff to the work undertaken at the University. The awards took place on 8^th July in Health Innovation One as a part of the regularly-scheduled Technician Forum, and welcomed staff – technical, academic, and professional services – to join the event and help congratulate those technicians deemed to have gone above and beyond over the course of the year. Attendees were also treated to a tour of the Health Innovation One facilities over the course of the morning, allowing them to explore the Clinical Anatomy, Clinical Skills, and Human Performance Labs and facilities that are home to this more far-flung corner of campus.

Pro Vice Chancelor of Research and Enterprise, Professor Jo Rycroft-Malone, alongside Technician Commitment Steering Group Co-Chairs Helen Quirk and Professor Rich Haley were present for the awards ceremony, which saw ten technicians from across the University’s disciplines receive awards and commendations for their commitment and contributions to the University’s research and teaching landscape. Awardees were nominated by their peers, as well as by the wider community of University staff.

The awardees for the Technician Commitment Awards were as follows:

Highly Commended

• Ben Wood (Chemical Engineering)
• Tim Gregson (Lancaster Environment Centre)
• Elisabeth Shaw (Biological Life Sciences)

Winners

• Contribution to Research: Sammy Hollings (Biological Life Sciences)
• Contribution to Teaching: David Gardner (Mechanical Engineering)
• Outstanding Leadership: Elisabeth Shaw (Lancaster Environment Centre)
• Collaborative Award: Jack Cunningham and Ash Osborne (Faculty of Health and Medicine)
• Legacy Award: Janice Drinkall (Biological Life Sciences)
• Distinguished Service Award: John Dwyer (Faculty of Health and Medicine)

“As co-chairs of the Technician Commitment Steering Group, Richard and I were very impressed by the calibre of the many nominations this year and we know the panel found it extremely difficult to select the award winners from such a high-quality pool,” said Helen Quirk. “These awards demonstrate the Technician Commitment's pillars of visibility and recognition, celebrating the outstanding contributions technicians make to research, innovation and education across our institution.”

Professor Richard Haley added: “We would like to congratulate all our winners again and express our gratitude to Jo Rycroft-Malone for taking the time to present the awards at the Technicians Forum. It was an excellent event all round!”

More information about our technicians and Lancaster’s role in the Technician Commitment can be found on the Technicians’ website.