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Values Awards

The Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences Values Awards celebrate colleagues and DPhil students who bring our six Department values to life. Through their work, conduct, projects and everyday contributions, nominees demonstrate what our values look like in action. Each year, one award is presented for each value, with nominations invited for both individuals and teams.

Nominations for 2026 will be open from Tuesday 24 March 2026.

The deadline for nominations is Tuesday 05 May 2026 at 12 noon. Submissions after this time will not be considered. 

Nominations Form
Values awards logo

About the Department Values

Our Department values sit at the heart of who we are and what we strive to achieve. Launched in 2023 following an extensive consultative process with staff and students, they reflect a shared commitment to how we work and how we treat one another.

We believe that being clear about our values helps shape our actions and sets out what we expect of ourselves and each other as members of the Department community.

How to make a nomination

Nominations for the Values Awards are open to all staff and DPhil students in the Department. These can be submitted for an individual, a team, or as a self-nomination. All nominees must be named at the point of submission, and it is the nominator’s responsibility to ensure that everyone involved is included.

To be eligible, the activity, project or example of behaviour must have taken place, at least in part, during 2025.

Although a project or individual may reflect more than one of our values, nominators are asked to select the single value that best represents the contribution being recognised.

Nominations Form

Awards and Criteria

There is one award for each value. The nominations will be judged against how well the nomination upholds the value and criteria listed below. 

Prizes

The values awards are primarily about recognising individuals and groups who uphold the Department's values. All highly commended nominations will receive a certificate signed from the Deputy Head of Department - People, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion. The overall winner for each value category will receive: 

  • Individual and joint awards will receive a £50 book token
  • Group awards of three or more will be treated to a celebratory afternoon tea as a group
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Collaborative

We value collaboration as we believe diverse perspectives result in better research, teaching and primary care. 

  • Demonstrates collaboration beyond direct team or working group. Note only Department members are eligible to receive the award. This may be:
    • With colleagues across the Department
    • With colleagues in the wider university
    • External collaborations which have aided the work of the Department
  • Demonstrate that a diversity of views or working styles has been considered by involving colleagues in the collaboration from different disciplines, groups or grades
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Ambitious

We are ambitious in our goals and in the development of our staff and students and across all levels of the Department.  

  • Activity or behaviour may be ambitious in terms of teaching, research, or contribution to Departmental life at any level
  • Supported others to set and achieve a stretching goal
  • Went above and beyond what was expected
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Trustworthy & Accountable

We take responsibility for our actions, acknowledging mistakes and learning from them with the support of regular feedback. Senior leaders are transparent in their decision-making and held accountable.

  • Promises and actions are followed through on
  • Decision making is transparent
  • Opportunities for feedback sought or given so, if relevant, mistakes can be learnt from
  • Sense of shared ownership of projects created
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Creative

We innovate, are curious and have the courage to take risks by trying new ideas in our work and in the way we work together. 

  • Demonstrates innovation, creative thinking or problem solving
  • Try new ideas either in the way we work or academic work
  • Courage to take risks
  • Curiosity and flexibility
  • Regardless of seniority, ideas and new ways of doing things are encouraged
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Fair

We seek equity for all in the department in work allocation, involvement in department activities, career development and in adherence to policies and procedures.  

  • Equality of access to opportunity
  • Work is allocated in a fair and reasonable way
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Respectful & Kind

We all make the department a friendly, welcoming and enjoyable place to work, calling out inappropriate behaviour and sometimes making difficult decisions but always valuing good citizenship. 

  • Contributes to making the department a friendly, welcoming and enjoyable place to work
  • Bad behaviour is called out and support given to improve
  • Everyone is treated with dignity and respect

Panel

The awards seek to be fair and transparent to uphold our values throughout the process. A panel of five Department members has been formed and will be chaired by the Associate Head for People EDI. The panel consists of values champions who have been closely involved in the values project and members of Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team (SAT). Members of the SAT represent the Department in terms of job roles and in many aspects of the diversity of the wider department. 

  • Chair: Catherine Pope: Deputy Head of Department - People, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion 
  • Kamal Mahtani: Senior Champion for Personal Development on SAT
  • Michelle Yeung: DPhil representative on the Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team
  • Asha Kaur: EMCR representative on the Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team
  • Kathryn Ungerer: Head of Organisational Development, Professional Support Services
  • Lucy Cureton: CTU representative on the Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team
  • Katherine Shepherd (external): Executive Officer to Head of Department & Head of Administration and Finance. Department of Psychiatry

Shortlisting

After the deadline on 04 May the panel members will receive nominations for shortlisting. Clare Wickings, Head of HR will participate in the shortlisting process. Each nomination will be marked against the stated award criteria as either “fully met”, “partially met”, “not met”, or “no evidence”. Panel members will then use this assessment to mark each nomination either as “shortlist” or “reject”. Panellists will meet to discuss shortlisted nominations in relation to the criteria before selecting a winner for each value category. 

If a member of the panel has been nominated for an award they will recuse themselves from that section of the discussion.

Information Sharing

All nominees will be notified that they have been nominated for an award. The name of the nominator will be shared unless they opt out for this at the time of submission. Details will be given at this stage if the nominee does not wish their name or details to be shared further.

The winners will be announced at a Values Awards Ceremony, held during the Department Coference on Wednesday 03 June, 2026. 

Ginger Jansen is supporting the project and will have access to all nominations and be in attendance at shortlisting meetings. Please direct any questions to her: ginger.jansen@phc.ox.ac.uk