Northumbria technician shortlisted for acclaimed prize

An inspirational technician from Northumbria University, Newcastle, has been shortlisted for a Papin Prize - the only national awards dedicated to celebrating the success and achievements of technical staff.

A Scientific Officer in fashion at the Northumbria School of Design, Linda Lightley, is now in contention for the Papin Excellence in Sustainability category. She is among 68 technicians shortlisted across the UK from 328 nominations.

The Papin Prizes are among the most highly regarded awards for technicians in the higher education sector, recognising excellence in academia and the varied and valuable role they play in research and teaching. They have continued to raise the visibility and recognition of technical professionals for the past decade.

As a technician at Northumbria, Linda supports both research and teaching. A strong background in fashion, she has more recently been instrumental in the delivery of a range of environmental-based projects, including the development of a new bio-design facility and materials lab which significantly enhances student learning and research projects in this field. Linda is currently working on an Impact Innovation funded project; Bio Couture: Empowering Sustainable Fashion and Manufacturing with Bio- Based Materials, where she is supporting a cross-faculty team to validate the environmental impacts of Bio-based materials fashion.

Dr Lizzy James, Director of Faculty Operations for Arts, Design and Social Sciences at Northumbria, said: “We are truly delighted to see Linda shortlisted for this prestigious national award in recognition of her outstanding technical expertise and contributions to sustainable fashion and bio-design. While still relatively new to the role, Linda has laid strong foundations extremely quickly to support the enormous potential and importance of developing and promoting Bio-design in the North East. She is fully deserving of this nomination. Congratulations Linda – and good luck on award’s night!” 

Dr Kelly Vere MBE, Director for The UK Institute for Technical Skills & Strategy and Technician Commitment Programme Lead, said: “Many congratulations to all individuals and teams who have been nominated and thank you to the colleagues who took their time to nominate to raise the profile and status of technicians within the sector.

“The Papin Prizes recognise and celebrate the very best technical staff across the UK. Because the submissions are invited from people who work with technical staff, they also increase recognition and visibility of technicians.”

The awards will be presented at the UK Higher Education Technicians Summit (HETS), sponsored by UK Research and Innovation, on Wednesday 9 July 2025 at the Leonardo Conference Centre in Leicestershire. The Papin Prizes are named after Denis Papin, a 17th century technician who worked with Robert Boyle. Papin invented the steam digester and was one of the first technicians to publish in his own name.