1. University of Wolverhampton
  2. Research
  3. Beyond Futures - Festival of Research & Innovation
  4. Awards Shortlist

Research & Enterprise Awards

Research & Enterprise Awards 2025     Logo for Beyond Futures the Festival of Research and Innovation

Friday 12 September 2025

More than 85 submissions were received across 10 award categories; each entry demonstrating how Wolverhampton’s expertise, facilities and partnerships are driving forward knowledge, tackling modern challenges and creating meaningful impact.

What made the evening especially inspiring was the breadth of support represented on the evening, with staff and students from the University being joined by alumni, regional stakeholders and partners from the private, public and third sectors across the West Midlands and beyond.

To thrive, our research must remain relevant and responsive. The Awards showcased exactly that, with projects recognised for their local, national and international collaborative impact. More than a celebration of individual and team achievements, the event reflected the University’s ambition to inspire, innovate and deliver solutions that truly matter.

We would like to extend our thanks to our collaborators and sponsors, whose support was vital in bringing this landmark celebration to life.

To see photos of the evening have a look through our photo gallery. 

The winners of the inaugural awards, together with their category partners, were:

 

Winner - Research Supervision

Dr David Matheson and Dr Moses Murandu

Faculty of Education, Health & Wellbeing

 

Winner - Rising Star Postgraduate

Ify Nwiwu

Faculty of Education, Health & Wellbeing

 

Winner - Early Career Researcher

Dr Rahul Mourya

Faculty of Science & Engineering

 

Winner - Exceptional Research and Enterprise Partnership

Advancing Research and Enterprise Through Global Partnerships

Professor Suresh Renukappa and Professor Subashini Suresh

Faculty of Science & Engineering

 

Winner - Excellence in Public Engagement

M.O.O.D:  Making Outreach Outstanding through Dissemination

Professor Andy Lane

Faculty of Education, Health & Wellbeing

Winner - Transformative Impact in Knowledge Exchange, Enterprise, Industry, and Innovation

From BIM to Digital Twins: Advancing Construction Innovation Through Applied Research and Industry Partnerships

Professor David Heesom supported by Nigel Moore

Faculty of Science & Engineering

Winner - Transformative Impact in Green Innovation and Sustainability

AI-driven green circular economy via sustainable recycling and manufacturing

Dr Kiran Gulia

Faculty of Science & Engineering

Winner - Transformative Impact in Health and Social Care

Centre for Applied & Inclusive Health Research, Living Well with Dementia Research Cluster

Dr Karan Jutlla

Faculty of Education, Health & Wellbeing

Winner - Transformative Impact in Inclusive Communities

Empowering Women, Empowering Communities: Leading Global Impact through Entrepreneurial Support and Digital Upskilling

Dr Samia Mahmood & Professor Roya Rahimi

Faculty of Arts, Business & Social Sciences

Winner - Exceptional Contribution to University Culture, Community, and Environment

Professor Matthew Wyon

Faculty of Education, Health & Wellbeing

Beyond Futures Research Student Conference 2025 - Prize winners

Oral Presentations

  • Best Presentation - Amy Claire Fenn (FABSS) Youth-led approaches to violence prevention
  • 1st runner up – Ezekiel Olatunji (FSE) Factors Influencing Community Flood Resilience: Delphi Insights
  • 2nd runner up - Hannah Cooke (FSE) Bile Acid Diarrhoea: Diagnosis and Predicting Treatment Response
  • 3rd runner up - Caroline Jubb (FEHW) Measuring Training Loads in Swimmers: A Systematic Review

Poster Presentations

  • Best Poster - Zakiyyah Ahmed (FEHW) - Bridging Generations: Intergenerational Practices and Social Inclusion Among South Asian Communities in the West Midlands, United Kingdom.
  • Runner-up - Zinnia Mansoor (FSE) - Application of bacterial cellulose developed from waste materials, as mulch film for sustainable agriculture

People’s Choice Award Posters

  • Visual Impact - Shalini Kumarasamy, FSE - Identifying non-invasive gut inflammatory biomarkers in pregnant women
  • Clarity of Message – Dionne Williams, FABSS - Intersectionality, Habitus and Career Progression: Black Women In HE
  • Importance to Society – Mary Ibidapo, FSE - 3D Scaffolds for Advanced In Vitro Cancer Models

Beyond Futures 2025 Shortlisted Entries

See the shortlisted entries for all the Beyond Futures Awards 2025

 

Shortlisted - watch the shortlisted videos 

  • Claire Jones
  • David Matheson and Moses Murandu
  • Mohamad Patwary
  • Ross Cloak
  • Suresh Renukappa

Shortlisted - watch the shortlisted videos

  • Deinsam Dan Ogan
  • Ify Nwiwu
  • Rekha Duggal and Dionne Williams
  • Rimsha Taqdees
  • Siting Guo
  • Wala Abdalla

Shortlisted - watch the shortlisted videos

  • Anna Kuteleva
  • Joshua Blamire
  • Nazanin Khasteganan
  • Rahul Mourya
  • Taylor Richards
  • Zeeshan Ahmad

 

Shortlisted - watch the shortlisted videos

  • Zeeshan Pervez - Advancing Cyber and AI Through Research, Partnership, and Innovation
  • Suresh Renukappa and Subashini Suresh - Advancing Research and Enterprise Through Global Partnerships
  • Ruoling Chen and team - Healthy Ageing, Collaborative Research and Enterprise Partnership with Universities in China
  • Zeta Williams-Brown with support from Diana Bannister and Megan Lawton - UK-Ukraine twinning partnership between the University of Wolverhampton and Nizhyn Mykola Gogol State University, Ukraine
  • Arts Connect - Creative Partnerships for thriving schools and young people

 

 

Shortlisted - watch the shortlisted videos

  • Arts Connect - Creative Partnerships for thriving schools and young people
  • Andy Lane - M.O.O.D:  Making Outreach Outstanding through Dissemination
  • Samantha Fleming and Neil Reading - The Arena Theatre

Shortlisted - watch the shortlisted videos

  • University of Wolverhampton (Niki Zakeri, John Robinson and Arun Arjunan); Diamond Hard Surfaces (Chris Walker, Sally Bristow and Nisura Wijeweera) - 3D Printable Copper Coated Diamond for enhanced electronics
  • John Robinson supported by Arun Arjunan and Tharumal Wanniarachchi - Driving Innovation in Thermal Management for Battery Technology Through Additive Manufacturing and Academic-Industry Collaboration
  • David Heesom supported by Nigel Moore - From BIM to Digital Twins: Advancing Construction Innovation Through Applied Research and Industry Partnerships
  • Executive Education (Sean Starr, Sadaf Alvi-Liaqat and Neelam Bhatia) - Strategic Leadership and Management Training Programme – Driving Transformative Leadership and Enterprise Across the West Midlands
  • DigiSpinWM - Transforming Innovation through Collaboration

Shortlisted - watch the shortlisted videos

  • Kiran Gulia - AI-driven green circular economy via sustainable recycling and manufacturing
  • Suresh Renukappa - Driving Sustainable Smart Innovation for the Future
  • Atiku Abubakar, Muhammad Amjad; Adeel Rafiq; Mohammad Patwary - Green Micro Data Centre for On-Demand Computing
  • iBiotech Ltd - Sustainable solutions for a better tomorrow

Shortlisted - watch the shortlisted videos

  • Dr Karan Jutlla - Centre for Applied and Inclusive Health Research, Living Well with Dementia Research Cluster
  • Wolverhampton-Somaliland Global Health Partnership - Health Systems for Improved Prevention and Management of Non-Communicable Diseases in the Horn of Africa (HoA) Countries
  • Abhishek Gupta - Personalised interactive biosynthetic dressings for wound management
  • Vinodh Kannappan - Repurposing old drugs for treatment of rare aggressive cancers

Shortlisted - watch the shortlisted videos

  • Centre for Research in Education and Social Transformation (CREST) - Achievements in nationally and internationally developing inclusive communities
  • Samia Mahmood; Roya Rahimi - Empowering Women, Empowering Communities: Leading Global Impact through Entrepreneurial Support and Digital Upskilling
  • Mahuya Kanjilal - Making Communities Safer
  • Centre for International Development and Training (CIDT) - Strengthening Government capability for data and evidence driven national inclusive economic development programming in the Horn of Africa.

Shortlisted - watch the shortlisted videos

  • Helen Sargeant, Building a Culture of Knowledge Exchange: Leadership in KEF and Community Partnerships
  • Research Circle, Collaborative Knowledge Exchange with Local Authorities
  • Julie Wilde and Linda Devlin
  • Matthew Wyon