We are proud to announce our BUAFTA 2017 winners – IT Service Desk (Team of the Year), New Library Project Team (Principal’s Award), and Raj Khaira (Highly Commended – ‘Unsung Hero’ of the Year category).
At the 10th annual BUAFTA awards ceremony on Friday 17 February, shortlisted nominees and guests from across the University gathered in the Great Hall to announce the winners of this year’s BUAFTAs.
During this special “10 years of BUAFTAs” themed evening, our very own IT Service Desk walked away with the Team of the Year award! The award was presented in recognition of the fantastic work and friendly support the team provide to staff, students and visitors, and the team’s ability to cope in challenging situations for example, when they were faced with a huge number of incoming calls during Welcome Week and the New Library open day.
Later in the evening, the New Library Project Team collected the Principal’s Award for their fantastic work in delivering the New Library, which involved a great deal of collaboration across the University, including staff from End User Services and Application Services. In the end, the team managed to deliver a state-of-the-art building on time and within budget. This was an extremely challenging project and one of the largest moves of learning resources nationally — filling 40 miles of shelving and undertaking a significant change programme for around 250 staff with minimal disruption to students and staff.
It was also great to see the Lapworth Museum Redevelopment Team win Project Team of the Year, as we contributed by developing the Lapworth mobile APP!
Not only did our teams have reason to celebrate, so did Raj Khaira, Application Services Specialist! She received Highly Commended in the ‘Unsung Hero’ of the Year category — for exceptional work during her 30 years at the University. Recent examples include, preparing IT for A Level results weekend and, clearing and resolving hundreds of incidents for staff and students. Raj’s unwavering enthusiasm never tires. Nothing is too much trouble, and she is always ready to take on new challenges.
We’d also like to take this opportunity to congratulate our other shortlisted staff: Ian Bowman – shortlisted for Exceptional Change Leadership, and Bruce Hart – for ‘Unsung Hero’ of the Year.
Finally, a special thank you to Lucy Turner, Jon Winterbourn, Natalie Gibbons and Rai Furniss-Greasley for their work on the organising committee and as BUAFTA champions.
Thanks for making us all feel proud to be part of IT Services!
For more information about the BUAFTAs awards and a full list of all the winners please click here.