Tessa Padden, of Heriot-Watt's Centre for Translation & Interpreting Studies, has been shortlisted for the Newcomer of the Year section of the 2010 Impact Awards.
Organised by PraxisUnico, a not-for-profit educational organisation set up to support innovation and commercialisation of public sector and charity research for social and economic impact, the Impact Awards recognise people and groups who have made outstanding contributions to society and the economy through innovation.
A spokeswoman for award organisers PraxisUnico said, 'Tessa has been nominated for a Newcomer of the Year Impact Award from PraxisUnico for her work in advancing public policy development on Deaf issues. Tessa engaged in meetings and conversations with members of Scottish Government, Parliament, the Civil Service, universities, Deaf organisations and community groups. Using knowledge, information and suggestions gained from this outreach work, she worked with the project team to build a bilingual website.'
'Just one example of how Tessa's work as a Knowledge Exchange Associate has led to a real living exchange of knowledge between policy makers and the Deaf community was when the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, delivered a talk, "Choosing Scotland's Future", in the 2009/10 Edinburgh Lectures programme. Tessa asked the organisers to provide BSL/English interpretation and publicised the accessible event through the growing network of BSL:UPTAKE associates.'
Tessa said about her nomination: 'I'm delighted and surprised to be shortlisted for the Newcomer of the Year. BSL:UPTAKE is a great all-round team project and as the Knowledge Exchange Associate and the on-screen 'face' of the project I can only pull together and present the sum of our collective efforts. But I feel it is a great honour for the project, the department and Heriot-Watt University that the Impact Awards have recognised our work in this way.'
The Impact Award winners will be announced in June.