Professor Alys Young, from the University of Manchester, has won the Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year award at this year’s THE Awards.

Professor Young was one of six research supervisors from across the UK shortlisted for this new award category, sponsored by the Council. The new category, supporting the launch of our Research Supervisors Network, was designed to acknowledge the individual who created the most supportive, stimulating and inspirational research environment for PhD students or professional doctoral students.

Professor Young’s nomination stood out in this new category, not only for her outstanding supervision work in deaf studies and social work, but for her fierce commitment to helping deaf students access PhD-level study.

The judging panel included our Chair, Professor Rosemary Deem, Alison Johns, chief executive of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, Joanna Newman, vice-principal (international), King’s College London, and Malia Bouattia, president of the National Union of Students. Their citation stated:

Able to provide high-quality supervision in sign language if needed, Professor Young has helped her students overcome both academic and personal difficulties, providing excellent pastoral and academic supervision well beyond graduation.

Thanks to her unstinting support, many deaf students who might otherwise have struggled to access research degree programmes have now obtained PhDs, found jobs in their desired fields and made their own unique contribution to the future of research.

She has also helped parents with deaf children to undertake PhD-level study, enabling them to become parent-researchers within doctoral studies.

Students under Alys’ care have been directed towards training and development opportunities, while Professor Young has also participated in efforts to nurture the next generation of research leaders in her fields. Praising the ​“highly distinctive” work of Professor Young and her exceptional support for students, the judges described how she had ​“helped [her students] overcome obstacles to starting or continuing their doctorate as well as providing opportunities to publish and disseminate their work to both academic and non-academic audiences”.

On her award, Professor Young said:

“I’m very proud to win this award as it is recognition of the challenges that deaf people and those with deaf children face in trying to gain access to doctorates. I’m very proud of all of my students, past and present and happy that I’ve been able to help their talent shine.”

Alys Young Announcement — BSL Version

About Professor Alys Young

Following her BA Hons in English Literature from King’s College, Cambridge (1986), Alys qualified as a social worker in 1989 with an MSc in Applied Social Studies and a CQSW from Oxford University. She went on to work for Cambridgeshire Social Services as a community mental health social worker, ASW, generic social worker and specialist social worker with Deaf people. She gained her PhD in 1995 from the Centre for Deaf Studies, University of Bristol, on the impact on hearing families of sign bilingual approaches to early intervention, carrying out her fieldwork in both BSL (British Sign Language) and English.

Appointed a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2015, Professor Young has been described as a ​“one-off” whose supervisions, support and research have had a global impact, making her a worthy winner of Times Higher Education’s very first award for Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year.

About the Research Supervisors Network

The Research Supervisors Network, the UKCGE’s latest special interest group, is designed to promote excellence in research supervision.

The inaugural meeting of the network will take place on the 23^rd February 2017 at Birmingham City University. Presenters will include Alys Young and other short-listed applicants for the UKCGE/THE award. The workshop will be chaired by Professor Ken Wann of the University of Cardiff and Dr Stan Taylor of the University of Durham.

About the UKCGE

The UK Council for Graduate Education is the UK’s leading independent representative body for postgraduate education. We’re a membership organisation providing high-quality leadership and support to our members, to promote a strong and sustainable national postgraduate sector.

All the Times Higher Education Awards 2016 Winners

Here’s the full list of winners from the awards night:

University of the Year | London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Entrepreneurial University of the Year | London South Bank University

Most Innovative Teacher of the Year | Sara Wolfson, Canterbury Christ Church University

Outstanding Digital Innovation in Teaching or Research | University of Leeds and Leeds College of Art

Outstanding Contribution to Leadership Development | Royal Holloway, University of London

Business School of the Year | Strathclyde Business School, University of Strathclyde

THE DataPoints Merit Awards | University of Surrey

Outstanding International Student Strategy | Royal Northern College of Music

International Collaboration of the Year | The Royal College of Pathologists

Outstanding Support for Students | University of Wolverhampton

Outstanding Contribution to Innovation and Technology | Nottingham Trent University

Widening Participation or Outreach Initiative of the Year | University of Winchester

Most Innovative Contribution to Business-University Collaboration | Dairy Crest, in collaboration with Harper Adams University

Most Improved Student Experience | Ulster University

Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year | Alys Young, University of Manchester

Research Project of the Year | University of Salford

Excellence and Innovation in the Arts | University of Central Lancashire

Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community | Edge Hill University

Outstanding Employer Engagement Initiative | Liverpool John Moores University

The Lord Dearing Lifetime Achievement Award | Lord Sainsbury of Turville

Head over to the Times Higher Education site for more about the night, the awards and the winners.