IRR Staff recognised in the CMVM Staff Awards 2026

Lauren Melrose (Senior Research Technician) received a well-deserved Unsung Hero Award in recognition of her exceptional and often unseen contributions to the Institute for Regeneration and Repair (IRR) and the wider CMVM community.

Lauren plays a vital role in keeping IRR facilities running smoothly. Following recent staffing changes, Lauren took on significant additional duties, ensuring essential services continued without disruption.

Beyond her core role, Lauren routinely undertakes many important and unnoticed tasks, including ordering consumables, supporting finance administration and contributing to Health & Safety work. She frequently fills operational gaps before they are even recognized.

One nominator said that Lauren is

“Dependable, flexible and always willing to help, Lauren truly embodies the spirit of an Unsung Hero. Her quiet dedication has a meaningful and lasting impact on our community.”

Another said “Lauren consistently goes above and beyond to help others do their work well, and she does it with humour, kindness, and professionalism. She has been a steady, reliable support throughout my PhD, and her presence makes our labs run better and feel better too.” 

IRR Shonna Johnston, IRR Technology and Services Director was part of a team that received Head of College award for Exceptional to CMVM Sustainability award - leadership team

Early in 2025 Wellcome placed a deadline on achieving silver laboratory environmental sustainability award status (as a condition of eligibility for funding) by the end of 2025.

Sustainability leads across College, led by Neil Johnston and including Shonna Johnston contributed to an innovative whole-College approach.

Professor David Argyll said,

“I am delighted that we were able, thanks to the team, to complete the work required to achieve a silver sustainability award by the end of 2025 and meet the deadline set by the Wellcome Trust – a lot of work in 9 months! This mitigated a 44 million pound risk to research funding.

I would like to recognise the key role of the leadership team across college that has helped us embed sustainability across college and set the foundations for the future.”