College Access Work Recognised at Vice-Chancellor’s Awards

Trinity’s Access team was recognised at the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards on Thursday 15 May. 

Trinity Head of Access Hannah Rolley and her team were announced as the winners in in the Local Community Engagement category for their outreach in Oxfordshire. Since 2018, the Trinity Access Team has developed a multi-faceted approach which, each year, engages thousands young people from primary school up to Year 13, while also working with their teachers and parents to challenge preconceptions about, and inspire engagement with, the work of the University.

Trinity’s Access team shared the award with the The Oxford Young Sport Leaders Programme (OYSLP), run by the Oxford SDG Impact Lab and supported by Trinity’s Access team as part of their work as regional outreach partner for Oxfordshire. 

Head of Access Hannah Rolley says of winning the award: ‘I was born in Oxford and attended a local state primary and secondary school before becoming a teacher in state secondary schools here. For the past seven years, I’ve had the absolute privilege of serving as Head of Access, working closely with the incredible teachers, parents, and students who make up the school communities we support through our outreach work across Oxfordshire.

‘I’m absolutely thrilled that our ever-evolving outreach programme has been recognised with a win in the Local Engagement category. This achievement wouldn’t have been possible without our dedicated team of Access Officers, who deliver our inspiring and impactful programme week after week, and the wonderfully open and actively supportive college community united in our mission to widen access to the University of Oxford. This is a truly proud moment for me personally — from Oxford, for Oxford, with Oxford.’

Trinity lecturer Aurelia Annat was part of a team that won the Innovative Teaching and Assessment Award for delivering the Astrophoria Foundation Year. Trinity is also a participating college in the Foundation Year, which offers a year-long, fully-funded programme for UK state school students with severe personal disadvantage and/or a disrupted education. The design of the programme and working across the collegiate University cultivates students’ subject knowledge, supports academic skills development and enhance students’ sense of belonging and self-confidence.

Trinity College President Dame Hilary Boulding says: ‘Trinity is delighted to celebrate the achievement of the Access Team and the Astrophoria Foundation Year in the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards. The work of these teams is vital to ensuring that the very best students from all backgrounds come to Oxford, and that we share the academic resources of this University for the benefit of our local community and wider society.’

The Vice-Chancellor's Awards recognise the achievements and celebrate success across the University – from academics and researchers to professional, technical and support staff, whether they are in colleges, divisions, departments, central services, libraries, museums or elsewhere. 

There were 160 award entries across the 11 categories this year, with 1,300 individuals included in the nominations. 

The Vice-Chancellor
Professor Irene Tracey, CBE FRS FMedSci presented the awards at a special ceremony at the
Sheldonian Theatre on 15 May 2025.