The evening before graduation, we enjoyed a ceremony of celebration for our Dean’s List winners, top performers, PhD graduates and prize winners. Professor Fraser McLeay, Dean of the Management School, had the pleasure of opening the ceremony before welcoming 2024 Dean’s List winner Kate Lally to the stage.
Kate delivered an inspiring speech to our graduates. She spoke of her experience of graduating from MSc Management to securing a role at Santander as Corporate Relationship Manager. She shared how her background as a dancer gave her a unique selling point; she knew she could learn quickly, take direction and be an enthusiastic performer. Kate encouraged our prize winners to ask themselves what their USP is, she asked “What makes you stand out from the crowd?”
Kate closed her speech with an inspiring quote from Homer’s Odyssey: “But you, brave and adept from this day on … there's hope that you will reach your goal … the journey that stirs you now is not far off”.
Professor Fraser McLeay then awarded our newest members of the Dean's List while Professor Damian Hodgson, Associate Dean of Research and Innovation, shed light on the incredible achievements and contributions they made whilst being a student of the School.
Head of Work Psychology Dr Rachael Finn congratulated our PhD graduates on their doctoral success. She thanked them for their important contributions to the Management School's academic research before handing it back to Damian to announce our prize winners.
Professor Damian Hodgson welcomed our kind sponsors to the stage to present their prizes. We were grateful to be joined by Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Learner Partnerships Manager Jonny Crawley, Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) Partnership Development Manager Clare Winton and Just Development Partners Dr Angela Carter and Ian Greggor. Professor Hodgson then awarded our top performers who achieved the highest overall academic grade on their programme.
Director of Postgraduate Education, Dr Lina Kloviene, thanked our Student Ambassadors, Content Creators, and Academic Representatives for their contributions to the School before advisory board member and Partner of DLA Piper Teresa Hitchcock delivered her closing address.
Teresa wrapped up the ceremony with a fantastic speech. She particularly emphasised the importance of networking which fed perfectly into the rest of the evening filled with nibbles, fizz and new connections.
We’d like to thank our guest speakers Kate Lally and Teresa Hitchcock as well as our postgraduate prize sponsors: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Prize, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, Chartered Institute of Marketing, Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply, Fretwell-Downing Hospitality, Just Development and Pearn Kandola.
Congratulations to our prize winners:
The Dean’s List
The Dean's List is awarded annually at both postgraduate and undergraduate levels, to students who applied for the award and who demonstrate excellence in the three areas of: academic achievement, social responsibility and employability.
2025 winners - Fransiska Sonia Rickiyanto and Guannan Hao
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Prize
Established by the South Yorkshire and District branch of the CIPD, this prize is awarded annually to the MSc Human Resource Management student with the best overall performance across all modules, including the dissertation.
2025 winner - Ziang Chu
Chartered Institute of Marketing Sheffield Branch Prize
These prizes were kindly sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).
The first award was given to the student this year with the best overall performance across the taught modules on MSc International Management and Marketing:
2025 Winner - Tanmin Wu
The next CIM prize was given to the student this year with the best overall performance across the taught modules on the MSc Marketing Management Practice (MMP):
2025 Winner - Fransiska Sonia Rickiyanto
Our next prize awarded by the Chartered Institute of Marketing was presented to the student with the best overall grade in the ‘Marketing Consultancy Challenge’ module as part of the MBA programme.
2025 winner - Lauren Bartlett
Chartered Institute of Management Accountants Prize
This prize is awarded for the best dissertation in the subject of accounting and finance, based on marks awarded, and the innovative nature of the dissertation, including its fit with the values and mission of the School and the Accounting & Financial Management division, as embodied by the research themes of CRAFiC (Centre for Research into Accounting and Finance in Context). This prize is kindly sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
2025 joint winners - Julian Azzam and Edward Collinson
Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply Best Graduate Award
Established by CIPS in 2013, this prize is awarded annually to the student who has achieved the best overall performance on the MSc Logistics and Supply Chain Management degree programme.
2025 winner - Reshma Vijayan
Fretwell-Downing Prize
This prize is kindly sponsored by Fretwell-Downing Hospitality. This prize is awarded annually for Outstanding Performance in Information Management Subjects on the MBA Programme.
2025 winner - Malikbir Singh
Just Development Prize for Best Portfolio
Just Development kindly sponsors this prize, and it recognises the student who achieved the best academic grades in module MGT6162, ‘Applying Psychology to Work and Organisations’, on the MSc Occupational Psychology programme.
2025 winner - Rikke Gisvold
Pearn Kandola Best Dissertation Prize
This prize is kindly sponsored by Pearn Kandola LLP business psychology consultancy. It is awarded to the student with the best overall performance on their dissertation across the MSc Occupational Psychology and MSc Work Psychology programmes, based on overall grade awarded, greatest contribution to the field and greatest practical application.
2025 winner - Analisa Widyaningrum
Geoff Sykes Memorial Prize
The Geoff Sykes Memorial Prize was founded in 2012 by colleagues of Geoff Sykes, Lecturer in Business Studies. It recognises the student who has achieved the best overall performance on the MBA Programme.
2025 winner - Alka Ranjan
Professor Josephine Maltby Memorial Prize
The Josephine Maltby Prize was founded in 2018 by the family and colleagues of Professor Maltby, a dedicated researcher and lecturer in Accounting, Governance and Finance, who died in December 2017. This prize is awarded annually for the best performance overall on the MSc Accounting, Governance and Financial Management programme.
2025 winner - Guannan Hao
Tony Lowe Prize
Tony Lowe was the first Professor of Accounting and Financial Management at Sheffield. He is considered to be the father figure of the Sheffield School of Interdisciplinary and Critical Accounting. Tony Lowe died in March 2014. The prize is awarded for the highest scoring student in the Research Methods module on the MSc Accounting, Governance and Financial Management and the MSc Finance & Accountancy programmes.
2025 joint winners - Kateryna Andrusenko and Feiran Chen