The 2019 Victorias Awards were held at the Hunter Lounge this Wednesday and were a resounding success, with a record number of award winners across the categories.

It was a night for recognition and celebration of our fabulous postgraduates and their incredibly diverse achievements. Our postgraduate community not only conducts world class research, but also takes the time to be dedicated tutors for our undergraduates, fostering camaraderie between peers and makes postgraduate journeys less stressful and enjoyable. We were also delighted to recognise the dedication and service of outstanding supervisors and professional staff members, who do so much to support these journeys, at the awards.

With over 70 outstanding applications for the Research Excellence Awards, it was a near impossible task to choose just twelve exceptional researchers to be recognised. In fact, the quality was so high we decided to hand out additional awards this year. We also found it impossible to choose between some incredible Student Teaching Award nominees, so shared the prize between three winners. 

The final award for postgraduates for the night was the Landers Award, which recognises postgraduates who go above and beyond to ensure that their peers are accepted, welcomed and taken care of at VUW. Chosen by votes from PGSA members, it was a close contest to choose the best of the best.

We also awarded life membership of the PGSA to four former committee representatives and Executive members who have offered outstanding service to the association. We look forward to following their future journeys, wherever they may lead.

We are truly thankful to all the PGSA executive and our guests and nominees on the night, who made this event such a massive success, as well as the whole postgraduate community for their consistent excellence throughout the year. Special thanks also go to the Tertiary Education Union, VUWSA and the Vice Provost (Research) office for their sponsorship of the event, and to the University Research Committee, Centre for Academic Development and Wellington Faculty of Graduate Research for their assistance in selecting the winners.

Presented with awards this year were:

Research Excellence Awards:

• Faculty of Architecture and Design: Maryam Namini Mianji

• Faculty of Education: Michael Harcourt

• Faculty of Engineering: Andrew Lensen and Chelsea Miller

• Faculty of Health: Paora Moyle

• Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences: Ehsan Hazaveh and Meera Gopurapillil Muralidharan

• Faculty of Law: Nikita Melashchenko

• Faculty of Science: Matthew Biddick and Johannes Fischer

• Māori Knowledge and Development: Hine Funaki (Education) and Symon Palmer (FHSS)

Supervisor Awards: Professor Meredith Marra and Dr Franck Natali
Honourable mentions: Dr Lee Davidson, Dr Michael Keefe, Prof Bastiaan Kleijn

Professional Staff Award: Kristen Sharma (Student Learning)
Honourable mentions: David Flynn, Suzanne Lewis, Jenny Taotua

Landers Postgraduate Award: Ethel Renata (Faculty of Education)

Student Teaching Award: Caitlin Lynch, Kaitlin Martin-Feek and Maja Zonjić

PGSA Life Membership: Corrina Connor, Leo Mercer, Priyanka Roy and Schyana Sivanantham

Congratulations to all the winners!