We were delighted to present the 2026 Vivensa Academy Excellence Awards at our Annual Symposium on 23 April 2026. Professor Nathan Davies (Queen Mary University of London) was awarded the ‘Senior Leader’ Excellence Award, Dr Claire McDonald (Newcastle University) and Dr Mahmoud Bukar Maina as ‘Rising Star’ Excellence Award and Manchester Urban Ageing Research Group (MUARG) were recognised with the ‘Team Achievement’ award.
The Excellence Awards celebrate outstanding researchers and teams in an ageing-related field who exemplify our principles: a commitment to capacity building, multidisciplinarity, equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and patient, carer and public involvement and engagement (PPIE). We acknowledge individuals and teams who are dedicated to enhancing working culture at all stages of their career and strive to translate their work into practice. The award-holders will receive £120K of flexible funding over three years to support their ageing-related activities and allow them to pursue career development opportunities beyond the scope of conventionally supported projects.
The call for nominations opened in September 2025 and all eligible applications were carefully reviewed by the shortlisting / interview panel. Feedback from this round for the ‘Rising Star’ and ‘Senior Leader’ nominations is available here and for the ‘Team Achievement’ here.
Following the interviews, the panel recommended Professor Nathan Davies, Dr Claire McDonald, Dr Mahmoud Bukar Maina and Manchester Urban Ageing Research Group for the awards. The success rates were 12% for Rising Star, 14% for Senior Leader and 9% for Team Achievement.
The shortlisting and interviews were chaired by Professor Deborah Dunn-Walters (University of Surrey and Chair of our Board of Trustees), with the panel comprising:
Rising Star award
- Dr Mariana Borsa (University of Oxford and Research Grants Committee member)
- Dr Martin Turner (Babraham Institute and Vice-Chair of the Research Grants Committee)
- Dr Sanjay Thakrar (Director of Research at the Vivensa Foundation)
Senior Leader award
- Professor Bernard Conway (University of Strathclyde and Trustee)
- Professor Rose Gilroy (Newcastle University and Trustee)
- Professor Vicki Goodwin (University of Exeter and 2025 ‘Senior Leader’ Excellence Award holder)
Team Achievement award
- Professor Ala Szczepura (Coventry University and Research Grants Committee member)
- Professor Jill Manthorpe (King’s College London and Trustee)
- Professor Stuart Gray (University of Glasgow and Research Grants Committee member)
Read more about each awardee in our recent spotlight stories:
- Dr Claire McDonald
- Dr Mahmoud Bukar Maina
- Professor Nathan Davies
- Manchester Urban Ageing Research Group
The Excellence Awards are open to members of the Vivensa Academy, an inclusive network of researchers and community innovators, which offers support to individuals in ageing-related research and those providing support and services to older people. The panel looked for candidates who would act as ambassadors for the Academy and shared our approach to collaboration and community-building.
Nominations for the 2026/27 awards will open later this year – so, if you think you might be a Rising Star or Senior Leader in ageing-related research (or you know somebody who is) or you have or know of a team that deserves recognition, do consider joining the Academy and look out for future announcements on our website.