"Team of the Year"- PhD Awards
Following the PHC team's trip to Paris over the summer, our members were delighted to return home to the news that our team had won Team of The Year at the 2024 PhD Awards! PHC members Hannah Johnston, Will Dixon and Stuart McErlain-Naylor attended the event. We caught up with Hannah (Doctoral Researcher) to hear what she thought about the win:
We had a great evening at the PhD awards, to hear of everyone's success over the year was really special. To have the team who have been collaborating on the Road to Paris events be recognised for all our hard work was rewarding. Bringing our Paris merchandise to the event was a fun reminder of how fun the trip was.
The award highlights the togetherness of the PHC team and was the icing on the cake of a fantastic summer of Paralympic success.
Vice-Chancellor Awards: Sporting Advancement Category Winners
Shortly after the PhD awards, members of the PHC Wimbledon Project (Professor Vicky Tolfrey, Dr Thomas Rietveld, Thomas Miller and Ellie-May Storr) were successful in being awarded a Vice-Chancellor Award in the Sporting Advancement Category. This award was for significant contribution to sporting policy, practice and innovation. The project, in collaboration with RGK Wheelchairs and staff of The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), investigated how wheelchair tennis under different chair configurations and surface hardness impacts the grass surface on which the iconic tournament is played.
The findings will inform AELTC ground staff teams with valuable insights to assist the scheduling of the wheelchair tennis matches depending on surface hardness. It is hoped that Loughborough’s findings will encourage organisers to schedule even more Wheelchair Tennis matches on SW19's Show Courts in the future.
Doctoral researchers Thomas Miller and Ellie-May Storr attended the event in person, and have shared their thoughts following the win:
It was amazing to come away with the VC Award, especially against such strong nominations. It's been great to be involved with a project that has significant impact on sporting policy, really looking forward to disseminating the findings- Ellie-May Storr
Thomas Miller shared what it meant to be involved with a project that collaborates with organisations outside of Loughborough:
To be rewarded with the VC Award demonstrates the hard work we (the PHC team) have put into the project. It is important to highlight this would not have been achievable without collaboration from PHC stakeholders, such as the LTA, RGK, and the AELTC- Thomas Miller
We are so proud of all of our Doctoral researchers and staff for their hard work and success this year to date. The attainments of these amazing awards is something the PHC continues to strive to achieve, we can't wait to see what's next!