The University’s LifeLab project and the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) are both in the running for this year’s Times Higher Education (THE) Awards 2015 – the higher education ‘Oscars’ – to be announced tonight (Thursday 26 November), at a gala ceremony in London.
Southampton is short-listed in two categories:
Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community
LifeLab, is a unique, state-of-the-art teaching laboratory dedicated to improving adolescent health by giving school students opportunities to learn first-hand the science behind health messages.
Located at the heart of University Hospital Southampton, LifeLab is run collaboratively by the University of Southampton and the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust with a team that includes both medical and education specialists.
Since opening in October 2013, almost 2,800 students have participated with 93% rating the programme as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ and 100% of teachers would recommend the programme to others.
International Collaboration of the Year
The next generation of ultra-fast Internet or ground-breaking electronic circuits powered by light could very well be built on research carried out at The Photonics Institute, established as a joint venture between the ORC at the University of Southampton and Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
As a result of the Southampton collaboration, the £40 million Institute, based at NTU and supported by industry partners and national agencies, is set to make Singapore a powerhouse in photonics research and enterprise.
You can follow news of next week’s awards ceremony live via Twitter. The presentation of awards starts at 21:30.