The Papin Prizes are dedicated to celebrating technical staff working in academia and research and are presented at the UK Higher Education Technicians Summit - the UKs only award ceremony dedicated to celebrating technical excellence and innovation in higher education and research. Sylvia was one of six other members shortlisted for the Newcomer award.
Dr Lisa Hollands, Technical Engineering Team Leader in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering said: “The involvement of technical staff in research is often taken for granted with the technicians doing brilliant work that is not acknowledged; awards such as the Papin prizes have started to become more common to recognise their invaluable input. The department decided to nominate Sylvia for the newcomer category as it was obvious that she was very talented from the beginning when she started on the technicians training scheme in Summer 22. Since then she has been instrumental in developing some really exciting research tools in our nanocharacterisation lab and has presented her work at multiple conferences. Materials are really proud of Sylvia and are absolutely thrilled that she won her category giving her the recognition that she deserves.”
In response to receiving the award Sylvia said: “Thank you to all my supervisors, managers and team-members who have supported me since joining the University, they helped me develop my skills and confidence. Without their support I would not be in this fantastic position.”