Recognition for UEL change and transformation

UEL only organisation to win two categories at prestigious industry awards

The University of East London (UEL) Change and Improvement team along with the Portfolio and Benefits team in the Strategic Development and Delivery directorate, and colleagues in the External Relations directorate have been recognised by the Change Awards, with UEL becoming the only organisation to win two awards at this year’s ceremony.

The Change Awards are widely regarded as the Oscars of the change management world and were presented to the University’s change and project management teams at a ceremony on 10 April 2025 at the historic Drapers' Hall in the City of London.

The first award was for Digital Transformation in the Public Sector for change management in our robotic process automation (RPA) project which is transforming the way we work at UEL, streamlining processes, reducing manual effort, and enhancing efficiency across departments. By automating repetitive tasks, RPA allows staff to focus on higher-value work while ensuring greater accuracy and compliance.

The second award was for Change and Project Partnership in the Public Sector for the project and change specialists working together to deliver our service catalogue which enables us to ensure that students and staff can easily find, access and understand the services offered across the university. The catalogue clearly defines the professional services provided to help people to find the help they need much quicker, avoid unnecessary enquiries and prevent teams duplicating effort. 

Niamh Godley, Director of Change & Improvement, said, 

“Winning these awards are a testament to the collective efforts across several functions at UEL and highlights what’s possible when we live the values of customer first, collaboration, and continuous improvement—principles at the heart of how our team works.”

“A special thank you the teams across UEL, External Relations; Registry; Strategic Development & Delivery; Library, Archives and Learning Services, and People and Culture, and to our partners at Strive Higher for their support on the service catalogue work.” 

“It was a real pleasure to celebrate these achievements at the beautiful Drapers’ Hall, alongside so many passionate change and project professionals from across the globe.”

Laura Clayton, Director of Strategy, Information and Transformation, added,

“Winning these awards is recognition of the value that effective change management and innovation brings in supporting the University’s Vision 2028 strategic objectives.”

“These achievements reflect the commitment to building the capabilities needed to lead and embed project and change management successfully. These are critical skills needed to allow us to respond to the constantly evolving external challenges, and will help to allow us to deliver our mission”

Change management is all about helping people adapt to new ways of working so that change sticks and delivers real value. When it is embedded from the start, alongside effective project, and programme delivery, it becomes a powerful enabler of transformation.

The Change Awards recognises the individuals, teams and organisations that are contributing to change management, a new and evolving but often misunderstood and underappreciated, career path that now plays a crucial role within organisations.
The independent awards scheme includes a judging panel, made up of academia, practice, and various independent bodies of knowledge who anonymously select industry leaders to elevate professionals, highlight their contributions and share their achievements.