Northumbria University, Newcastle, has received a
Silver Award under the Ministry of Defence’s National Employer Recognition
Scheme (ERS).
The
prestigious award comes a year after Northumbria became the first university in
the North East to sign up to the Armed Forces Covenant, and recognises the
major contribution being made to the Defence People agenda. The ERS was launched in 2014 by the Prime Minister to recognise employer
support for the wider principles of the Armed Forces Covenant. It encompasses
bronze, silver and gold awards for employers that pledge, demonstrate or
advocate support to Defence and the Armed Forces community.
Lucy Winskell OBE DL,
Pro Vice Chancellor Employability and Partnerships at Northumbria, said: “Last
year we were the first university in the North East to sign up to the Armed
Forces Covenant, and to receive the Silver
Award within a year is something the University is extremely proud of.
We recognise the contribution and sacrifice made by members of the
Armed Forces community, and have pledged to support our service personnel,
veterans and their families. This award also reflects our commitment and
support for colleagues who both work at Northumbria and serve in the Reserve
Forces and Cadet Forces.”
Commenting on the announcement of the 2018 Employer Recognition Scheme
Silver awards, Minister for Defence Personnel and Veterans, the Rt Hon Tobias
Ellwood MP said: “I am delighted to
congratulate the recipients of this year’s Employer Recognition Scheme Silver
awards. A Silver award recognises the fantastic efforts of employers throughout
the UK who have both elevated their commitments under the Armed Forces Covenant
and provided actual benefit to the Armed Forces Community. The winners should all be proud of the
life-changing impact and fresh opportunities they are providing to our Reservists,
veterans, wounded injured and sick and their families. We’ve seen a record
number of winners this year, which shows that the Armed Forces family talent
pool is also providing tangible business benefit.”
Jamie
Carrahar, Senior Lecturer at Newcastle Business School and Army Reservist with
3 Army Education Centre in Catterick added: “The Silver Award recognises Northumbria
University’s commitment to support the Armed Forces Community. This is in part
due to the commitment offering additional leave to members of the Reserve
Forces, Cadet Forces and Service Families when required through to recognising
the skills and experience of service personnel and veterans to gain advanced
standing to programmes of study. On behalf of the Armed Forces Community at
Northumbria, I thank the University Executive for their continued support and
recognition of the sacrifice the Armed Forces Community make.”
Northumbria has one of the leading
multi-disciplinary teams, the Northern Hub for Veterans and Military Families Research, dedicated to translational research on the health and wellbeing of
the Armed Forces Community. Since 2015, the Northern Hub has received
over £1m of research funding from a variety of sources including the Royal
British Legion, the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust and Sunderland City Council.
Research projects cover a broad range of topics including veterans and alcohol
problems, older limbless veterans, health and social care service provision and
evaluation, women veterans, families and training. Translational research
is at the core of the Northern Hub and a recent project looking at why veterans
are reluctant to access help for alcohol problems has led to the development
and evaluation of a ‘hub and spoke’ model for integrated service
provision. Additionally, the Veterans and Families Directory of Services
(VFDS), a free-to-access GIS software application of support services for
veterans and their families has been developed to support health and social
care staff, third sector workers and to enable evidence-based decision making for
both Government and service providers in the future.
