The scheme, the first of its kind, has been created in memory of Professor Sir David Watson, former Vice-Chancellor of the Ογ½ΆΦ±²₯, who died in February. Nominations will be accepted for the work of community-university partnerships from anywhere in the world.
The ‘Professor Sir David Watson Award for Community-University Partnerships’ will acknowledge his leadership in community university engagement and social responsibility in higher education. It is supported by an international group of networks and leaders in the field, including the Talloires Network, a global network of community-engaged universities that Sir David helped to build and lead, and Drs Budd Hall and Rajesh Tandon, the UNESCO co-chairs for Community Based Research.
Details will be announced at a memorial lecture, in honour of Sir David, at the Sallis Benney Theatre in Grand Parade, Brighton, on 19 October. Stuart Laing, Professor Emeritus at the university, will speak on The precious path of learning, community-university engagement: past, present and future.
The event is hosted by the Ογ½ΆΦ±²₯’s award-winning Community University Partnership Programme (CUPP), which has supported scores of partnership projects over the past 12 years. Each year hundreds of academics, students and community partners work together to produce benefits for the community whilst enriching teaching and research. Cupp now supports other universities in the UK and across the world to develop similar initiatives in their own contexts.