Siemens Healthineers calls on universities to nominate exceptional students for education award

The Siemens Healthineers Anna Hampshire Education Achievement Award recognises academic achievement in either an undergraduate or postgraduate radiography course. The award, which is free of charge, welcomes entries from every university with a radiography degree course and aims to recognise the top two students in the final year of their course. Each award recipient will receive two complimentary one-day course passes for the Siemens Healthineers Academy, covering CT, MRI, or MI.

Anna Hampshire, who started her career with Siemens Healthineers as a clinical applications specialist before taking up the role of education services operations manager, lost her life to cancer in 2022. This award is a tribute to her memory, recognising her contribution to Siemens Healthineers Education. “This award enables us to remember Anna and her proactive approach to education by extending access to the Siemens Healthineers Academy for more students and universities, as Anna would have wanted if she was still with us today,” states Chris Wright, head of customer services business development and support at Siemens Healthineers.

Last May Louise Hiller, education services business development manager at Siemens Healthineers, was invited to attend an event at the University of Plymouth, where students presented research posters as part of their final-year product.  Louise was asked to judge the winning poster creation, evaluating which would have the greatest impact on change in practice. Topics included contrast timing in CTPA, ultrasound portering delays, impact of doctors’ strikes on waiting lists, air gap vs grid technique in lateral hip x-rays and DNA rates in breast screening. Speaking of this experience, Louise says: “It was fantastic to have the opportunity to talk to the students about their research and careers in the industry.  All posters were of an extremely high standard and covered a broad spectrum of subjects, making this a very difficult decision to make.”  The award was given to Hannah Buckman at the University of Plymouth for her creation of an innovative service and quality improvement project.  This was subsequently presented to her on her graduation in July 2024.

In 2022, City, University of London was the first university to establish this award for their postgraduate MRI and CT programme in radiography.  Dr Christina Malamateniou – director of the Postgraduate Radiography programme at the university at the time – commented: “This is a generous award that recognises academic excellence amongst postgraduate radiography students.  The awardees found it very useful for their learning and career progression and the University recognised it as evidence of strong industry-academic partnership with Siemens Healthineers.”  Students from City, University of London subsequently went on to accept the award in June 2023. 

Siemens Healthineers hopes to engage many more universities with radiography degrees across Great Britain and Ireland in the future.  In addition to the University of Plymouth, in 2024 two students from the University of Cumbria were presented with the Award. 

Universities can nominate two students each calendar year for the Anna Hampshire Education Achievement Award, whether undergraduates, postgraduates, or those pursuing an apprenticeship degree.

To submit a nomination or for more information, please contact Louise and the education team.

Picture: Hannah Buckman, University of Plymouth.  A project on innovative service and quality improvement.

This news story has been sponsored by the companies concerned and does not represent the views or opinions of RAD Magazine.