Herts’ sustainability champion wins Alliance Award
A senior advisor at the University of Hertfordshire has won an Alliance Award for her work driving crucial environmental and sustainability changes at the institute.
Nanna Blomquist, Senior Environment and Sustainability Advisor, was presented with the University Alliance’s ‘Braveheart’ award at a glitzy ceremony last night for showing particular integrity and conviction within her work to embed more sustainable practices across the University.
Nanna, whose been working in her role at the University since 2021, gained the admiration of judges for all she’s achieved in her short time at Herts. Main achievements include developing a number of key sustainability strategies for the institute; organising the University’s first ever sustainability conference; committing to Nature Positive Universities as a founding member at COP15; recruiting over 100 student sustainability volunteers for initiatives such as litter picks; hosting over 2,000 people at her Festival of Ideas Sustainability Hub and launching a new carbon footprint labelling system across all university food outlets.
Nanna Blomquist, Senior Environment and Sustainability Advisor at the University of Hertfordshire, said:
“I am so, so proud to bring this home for Herts, especially for the Estates team who have embraced sustainability in every aspect of their work – this is certainly not a one-person job! Was such a pleasure sharing the evening with some of them as this is a team win!
“I’m also delighted that the important role of sustainability in Higher Education has been recognised – not just in relation to buildings and operations, but also in shaping education, research, and sustainable future societies.”
Ian Grimes, Director of Estates at the University of Hertfordshire, said:
“Nanna has shown incredible determination for driving crucial environmental and sustainability changes at Herts and beyond from the moment she joined us in 2021. She’s already achieved so much in such a short time and always has the drive to keep pushing forwards important operational and cultural change.”
The University Alliance’s ‘Alliance Awards’ celebrates excellence in higher education and recognise achievements across all parts of Alliance universities. Representing 16 of the UK’s leading professional and technical universities, University Alliance founded the Awards to celebrate the innovation, commitment and excellence that exists across their membership.
More than 130 entries were received this year across the seven award categories. They include five core awards, with each one representing a University Alliance core value: integrity, professionalism, innovation, collaboration and fun, plus two additional two categories – Lifetime Achievement Award and DTA Alumni Award, celebrating those who have dedicated a lifetime of service to higher education, and a DTA alumnus who has demonstrated their commitment to one or more of the UA principles respectively.
University Alliance CEO Vanessa Wilson said:
“I’m not exaggerating when I say that our annual Awards ceremony just gets better every year, both with regards to the evening itself and the calibre of our amazing nominees. It’s such a privilege to be able to celebrate the amazing individuals and teams that work so hard across our member universities and provide them with the recognition they deserve.
I want to give huge thanks to our hosts this year, the University of West London, who have helped pull off another incredible awards ceremony – with all the bells and whistles you’d expect of a red carpet event! And thanks as always to our sponsors for allowing us to continue delivering a stellar event year after year.”