A huge congratulations to Jonathan Fullwood, Technical Team Leader in Multidisciplinary Engineering Education, who has been awarded one of this year's eleven prestigious Papin Prizes at the Higher Education Technicians’ Summit (HETS 2025).
Named after Denis Papin, a groundbreaking 17th-century technician, the Papin Prizes are the UK's only awards dedicated to celebrating the invaluable expertise of technical staff and teams in academia and research.
Jonathan picked up the prize for Contribution to Teaching, presented to a member of technical staff that has made a significant contribution to the student teaching and learning experience.
Jonathan Fullwood, Papin Prizes winner, on what the award means to him:
“It was a delight to attend the HETS conference in Leicester – an experience made even more remarkable by surprisingly winning the Papin Prize for Contribution to Teaching.
“This prize is made special by the fact it is nominated by peers. It feels great to be recognised for the 28 years I have spent in technical education at pretty much all levels.
“I am obviously delighted and honoured to receive such an award, which specifically recognizes the work carried out in the Computing, Control and Electrical Engineering (CCEE) theme in the Diamond – including our very special Diamond+ sessions, which are exclusively delivered by myself and the technical staff in support of our students.
“The work we do as technical staff can often go unnoticed and I think awards such as this show that the immense amount of work we do and the skill it takes to carry out this work is finally starting to be recognised at a national level.
“I would personally like to thank James Screaton and Andrew Garrard from Multidisciplinary Engineering Education (MEE) here in Sheffield; Adam Funnell, former leader of CCEE; and Claire Lucas, Professor of Engineering Teaching and Learning at King's College London, for their very kind words in support of my nomination.”
Also shortlisted for the prestigious award from engineering were Andy Patrick and Rob Moorehead from the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering.
Through internal advocacy groups and our pledge to the national Technician Commitment, we're driving forward our commitment to technicians. Find out more about how we are championing technicians.