ARU initiatives recognised for real-world impact
Work benefiting the community has been shortlisted for Alliance Awards 2025
The exceptional real-world impact of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) researchers, teams and projects has been recognised by the national Alliance Awards 2025.
ARU has three shortlisted nominees for this year’s Alliance Awards, organised by University Alliance, with each making significant contributions to the wider community.
Dr Mirna Guha, Deputy Head of ARU’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Senior Lecturer in Sociology, is nominated for the Research and Innovation Impact Award for improving domestic abuse and sexual violence (DASV) services across England.
Dr Guha is helping to address the shortage of specialist support provided by and for women from minority backgrounds by leading initiatives to promote racially diverse leadership within support services. She also advises Peterborough Women's Aid on the Dahlia Project, an intervention which emerged from her research.
ARU’s Trusted Adult Scheme (TAS) is shortlisted for the Local Impact Award, which is supported by UCAS. TAS is a collaboration between ARU, Cambridgeshire County Council and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care System (NHS) and helps young people in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough by providing safe spaces, mentorship, and guidance.
Children and young people aged 14-19, with social workers, are referred to TAS, which offers on-campus activities such as music recording, street art and gym access.
ARU’s Social Work team is shortlisted for the Teaching Innovation Award for its innovative and inclusive teaching methods for apprenticeship students.
Teaching begins with reflective wellbeing check-ins, to help improve compassionate resilience, and the sessions have been carefully designed to embrace inclusive teaching for neurodivergent and disabled students on the BA (Hons) Social Worker Degree Apprenticeship course.
University Alliance represents professional and technical universities in the UK and the shortlists for each award were selected by an independent panel of expert judges from across the higher education and research sector.
“This year we have renewed the categories for the Alliance Awards – and the response has been phenomenal.
“We have received over 250 nominations across nine categories, and I continue to be awe-inspired by the range, the depth and the quality of the many individuals and teams across the Alliance.
“The judges’ shortlisting to decide the nominees was incredibly competitive and close, with some categories receiving over 25 nominations. This attests to the sky-high standard of work that goes on across Alliance Universities.”
Vanessa Wilson, CEO of University AllianceThe winners will be announced at the Alliance Awards 2025 ceremony on 18 September, hosted by the University of Hertfordshire.