Recognition for pioneering projects and partnerships across GLAM

19 May 2025

Projects across GLAM were last week recognised with a clutch of awards at Oxford University’s Vice-Chancellor’s Awards 2025. 

The awards recognise achievements and celebrate successes across the collegiate university – from academics and researches to professional, technical and support staff. This year saw 160 award entries across the 11 categories, with winners revealed at a special ceremony at the Sheldonian Theatre. 

Projects from across GLAM were shortlisted for eight awards and took home a remarkable four, with a fifth project highly recommended. The diversity of projects demonstrates the breadth of GLAM’s expertise, and this year’s success build on last year’s shortlist of seven projects and win of three awards. 
 

The 2025 Teaching and Learning Award went to the Ashmolean Museum’s Diversity in Death and Dying: Medical Student Museum Experience, a collaboration between the museum, the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, the Faculty of History and the Faculty of Theology & Religion.
 
The Making a Difference Globally Award went to Pitt Rivers Museum for the Maasai Living Cultures Project.
 
The Award for Outstanding Contribution - offered to a colleague or team that has demonstrated an exemplary commitment to supporting the University’s mission - went to the Museum of Natural History for the Uncovering Oxfordshire’s ‘Dinosaur Highway’ Project.

The Research Culture Award went to the Oxford Centre for the Humanities (TORCH)’s Medical Humanities Research Hub (MedHum), supported by the Ashmolean and challenging assumptions that cutting-edge medical research and innovation in healthcare are solely the domain of physicians and laboratories.

Finally, under the Supporting our Mission Award, GLAM received a highly commended for its Operationalising GLAM's Carbon Footprint Data project, which has developed a comprehensive data model to capture and automatically calculate carbon footprint. 

 

Richard Ovendon OBE, Head of GLAM commented:
‘Our performance across these awards is testimony to the amazing, innovative work taking place across GLAM.’

 

Further shortlisted projects for the Vice Chancellor’s Awards included the GLAM Community Engagement team for the Local Community Engagement Award for their Discover and Create project providing mental health support for young people; the Ashmolean team for the Commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award for Inclusive recruitment and training for Ashmolean Visitor Experience Assistants, and Finance colleagues were part of the project Finance Community: collaborating, learning, and sharing best practice under the Supporting our Mission Award.

 

Oxford University Museum of Natural History colleagues celebrate award win.

Vice Chancellor Professor Irene Tracey with the Uncovering Oxfordshire’s ‘Dinosaur Highway’ team, photo by John Cairns Photography

 

Oxford University's Vice Chancellor wears a red suit, holds a wooden trophy and shakes the hand of an award winner. They stand in front of a screen displaying photographs.