We are delighted to announce two of the HEED project team members, Professor Elena Guara and Professor Heaven Crawley, have been awarded a place on the Coventry University International Women’s Day Roll of Honour.
March the 8th is International Women’s Day, which for the past 175 years is a global celebration to recognise the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and call for greater activism for gender parity. To show support for the aims and ambitions of International Women’s Day, Coventry University select and celebrate female staff members who are models of excellence as they reach out beyond academia to make a difference to the broader community. In 2018, Professor Elena Guara was one of the first recipients to awarded this honour, whilst in March of this year saw the University confer Professor Heaven Crawley this honour.
Since being given this accolade last year, Elena work has seen her recently return for India, where she spent time supporting and training young female engineers. She feels this award is more about allowing her space for greater advocacy for more inclusion in STEM fields for women as:
‘Engineering and Science are the future. It is such a creative discipline and we need the views of women to shape it, ….that (women) should stand tall, challenge the status quo and showcase their professional achievements.’
(Prof. Denise Skinner (Emeritus) presenting the award to Elena March 8th 2018)
Heaven’s award is a tribute to her dedication to research that is centred on productive change to alleviate suffering and generate policy that improves the lives of others on national and international levels. In placing Heaven on the honour list it also recognises her role in putting together and overseeing a team of international scholars and practitioners to undertake the largest research project globally on South-South Migration, Inequality and Development. 
Colleagues that work with Heaven, believe that:
‘Heaven aims to do justice with and for those who stand to benefit most from her research, which is strongly underpinned by her values of fairness, equality and integrity, and her motivation to create real social change’.
(Heaven with Thea Gibbs, Head of Operations, CTPSR)
Elena and Heaven’s acceptance onto the role of honour is a reflection of how they are making transformational impact and seeking to develop greater opportunities for inclusion and diversity in their respective field of expertise.
Well done, to both Elena and Heaven as they continue to be outstanding examples of inspirational leadership, show commitment to addressing societal inequality and strive for research excellence.