Search
Coventry University celebrates double success at University Alliance Awards
Solar Energy Transitions (SET) project
University news / Research news
Friday 03 October 2025
Press contact
A life-changing programme helping people with long-term health conditions and a project to introduce solar cookers in sub-Saharan Africa have won prestigious University Alliance awards.
Coventry University’s Solar Energy Transitions (SET): Inclusive E-cooking in Sub-Saharan Africa project and Hope For The Community CIC, both picked up prizes.
Hope For The Community CIC, which won the Local Impact Award, is a social enterprise founded in 2015 by people with lived experience of long-term conditions and academics.
It designs and develops in-person and digital courses called the Hope Programme to support people to live well with multiple long-term conditions, either delivering these directly or in collaboration with the NHS or charities.
The Hope Programme covers a variety of subjects including stress management, healthy eating and fatigue management, and has so far helped more than 30,000 people.
It is fantastic to have helped so many people, many have told us the courses have been life changing, in some cases lifesaving. Millions of patients may be living with conditions such as cancer, but without meeting and interacting with other people it can feel like you’re alone, our work helps them feel less isolated and enables people to share their experiences.
It’s amazing to have won this award, it’s testament to the incredible research being done at Coventry University. Sometimes you feel that research is just published and then forgotten about, but this shows our work is having a positive real-world impact.
Professor Andy Turner, who co-founded Hope For The Community
The Solar Energy Transitions (SET) project, led by Dr Jonathan Nixon and Dr Alison Halford, installed solar electronic cookers in households in Rwanda to reduce reliance on firewood and charcoal stoves, which harm health and the environment.
The project, which took home the Global Impact Award, resulted in a huge reduction in firewood consumption among households taking part and significant improvements in air quality.
Feedback from those taking part will be used to inform the design of future solar cooking systems going forward.
It’s wonderful to be recognised for the hard work the Coventry team and project partners have put into improving rural people’s lives and changing policy and practice with our local partners.
Dr Jonathan Nixon
This recognition reflects the vision and dedication of so many people – from our partner organisations to our inspiring postgraduate researchers, and to colleagues at the University’s Africa Hub. It has been a privilege to co-create sustainable energy solutions that are already making a real difference in people’s everyday lives.
Dr Alison Halford
The Alliance Awards have always been about recognising excellence across our membership, and this year has been no exception. This year’s event once again demonstrated how Alliance universities are making real-world impact locally, regionally and internationally.
Vanessa Wilson, CEO of University Alliance
Find out more about Hope For The Community CIC and The Solar Energy Transitions (SET) project.
The winners of the Alliance Awards 2025 were announced at a ceremony hosted by the University of Hertfordshire. University Alliance is a group of 17 professional and technical universities in the UK, united by a shared commitment to innovation, inclusivity, and real-world impact.
