The Susie Wilkinson Research Award recognises and supports a member of Marie Curie staff who has made significant progress developing their research skills and experience.
About the award
The Susie Research Wilkinson Award was established on Susie’s retirement in 2005 from her post as Head of the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research unit at UCL. The award was founded in recognition of Susie's significant contribution to palliative care research and Marie Curie Cancer Care in establishing the Unit at the Royal Free in 1999.
The award is targeted at Marie Curie healthcare assistants, allied health professionals, doctors, and nurses.
The prize is £1,000, which is to be used on professional development. The award is presented each year at our annual research conference.
How to make a nomination for this award
Details on how to submit a nomination will be communicated to Marie Curie staff through our internal channels. If you have a question about this nomination process, please email research.info@mariecurie.org.uk.
This year's winner
Georgina Sneath (Research Nurse, Bradford Hospice)
Panel decision:
Through Georgina’s research findings and their implementation, she has made a huge impact on the hospice this year. Her work has supported better patient care, including reduced patient falls and dehydration, and has provided our clinical teams with advanced learning. This means both new and existing research stays at the forefront of their practice. Georgina has also shared her research learnings at the Hospice UK conference, helping to support and develop other clinical teams.
Georgina plans to use her prize money towards sharing the findings of an upcoming research study. For this, Georgina will be working with 2 Marie Curie Research Nurses to look at the role and experiences of hospice housekeepers and how they influence patient care. This will be from the perspectives of staff, patients and caregivers. The housekeeping team can often go unrecognised in their contribution to the patient and caregiver’s hospice experience, and little research has been undertaken on their interactions with patients.
Previous year's winner
Colette Parfitt (Physiotherapist)
Panel decision:
Colette shows a strong understanding of why using evidence is important for informing clinical practice. She leads a local falls group at the hospice who work to reduce the number of patient falls in hospices.
Colette looked at and recognised the need for a more tailored approach, which led to the design and rollout of the Falls Early Warning Score chart. Recognising how important it was to understand staff confidence and the impact of the FEWS (Further Escalation Warning Score) assessment tool, she worked with the Research team to secure a Marie Curie internal research grant in 2023. This allowed her to develop her research skills while continuing her full‑time clinical role as a physiotherapist.
Colette plans to use her prize money to attend an international conference to share her work further.
