Helen Cocks, Head of Digital Strategy and Engagement at the University of Exeter, is being celebrated for her contributions to the digital and technology fields through her role in developing and implementing the University’s digital strategy.
Read this blog post to find out more about Helen’s nominations for the West Country Women Awards and the Tech South West Awards.
West Country Women Awards
The West Country Women Awards set out to celebrate and honour the achievements of women in the West Country, recognising their outstanding contributions to various fields and their positive impact on the community.
Helen Cocks was nominated for the West Country Women âWomen in STEMâ Award 2024 in July. She found out she made it to the shortlist stage in September and was invited to attend a ceremony at Powderham Castle on 4 November, where she found out that she has made it through to the grand finals!
The Women in STEM award is about celebrating a variety of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) roles and is designed to highlight work which has supported a worthy goal. This award category is sponsored by MSubs who led the project that sailed the first autonomous ship across the Atlantic.
Helenâs nomination reflected on her role in developing and implementing the Digital Strategy for the University of Exeter. She has helped grow an in-house team of digital experts, so that the University has the capability to understand its user base, design and deliver digital experiences, products and services that are responsive to those userâs needs. The Digital team have launched a new app that is digitally transforming the student experience.
Passionate about sharing her teamâs approach and experience, Helen secured the University as the host of two higher education sector digital events this year; bringing 700 tech leaders to Exeter to reimagine universities in the digital age. She has overseen the engagement of over 70,000 people since the launch of the Digital Strategy and has developed a global digital network which is putting the digital talent in the South West on the global stage. Find out more about Helen’s role in the Digital team this year in this blog post.
We wish Helen the best of luck for the finals that take place in Plymouth later this month!
Tech South West Awards
The Tech South West Awards celebrate the best in tech from across the region, and this year reported being hugely competitive with high quality entries across the range of award categories. The category shortlists were decided by independent judges working in the sector, including tech leaders, investors and tech educators.
Helen found out in October that she has been shortlisted for the Women in Tech Award 2024 which aims to âshine a light on and celebrate the women and girls doing great things in the tech sector across the region.”
Helenâs nomination reflected on the success weâve already highlighted and also included feedback from the Digital Team that described Helenâs leadership as âcollaborative, positive and supportiveâ as well as âempowering and guidingâ. It also recognised her sector influence through her role as a member of the South West Technology Sector Advisory Group. This is a consortium of 15 senior representatives from business and academia, established with the primary aim of influencing and guiding the strategic direction of the technology sector in the South West of England.
Born and bred in the South West herself, Helen is passionate about the region, its talent and innovation and is excited to be able to take up this role and contribute to the growth, innovation and sustainability of the regional tech ecosystem.
We wish Helen the best of luck for the finals that take place in Bristol later this month.
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