Contribution to Society Award - International

Nomination by Dr Subrata Chanda (self):

I have excelled in his career since graduation from the University of Wolverhampton in June 2009. In the same year, I was selected in World Health Organization (WHO) and joined the WHO as Surveillance Medical Officer in November 2009, working for Polio eradication and improving routine immunisation in Bihar and West Bengal states. I have successfully contributed to polio eradication in India. Considering my achievements at a district level I was offered a job at UNICEF at state level as State Coordinator, in one of the largest states of India, Uttar Pradesh; here I transformed immunisation landscape of the state. I have worked more than 8 years for WHO and UNICEF. I then joined Piramal Swathya as Head, Clinical Domain for north eastern Indian states, where I designed, developed and operationalised many important projects. I worked in Piramal Swasthya for almost 3 years. Presently I work as DGM and Head, Cancer Care program and Research, in Assam Cancer Care Foundation (Tata Trusts) and have done so since September 2020. I have designed total preventive cancer program and implemented across Assam. I have eight research publications in my name as first author in leading national and international journals, such as BMJ, Lancet Oncology, to name a few.

Nomination by Michael Clarke:

Pliny started his activism for LGBT+ & Human Rights whilst at the University of Wolverhampton. He started a petition that received national coverage in the pink media. The Student Society recognised his contribution. Ultimately, he moved to the Peter Tatchell Foundation, where he has worked closely with Peter Tatchell. Since 2012, he has assisted over 1800 people, mainly LGBT+ people fleeing persecution. His contribution was recognised by the Out and Proud African LGBT group in 2017. He has also been very active, supporting the Shropshire Rainbow Film Festival. He has been working assiduously for LGBT+ & human rights on numerous campaigns including: same-sex marriage, decriminalising homosexuality in the commonwealth, banning conversion therapy, raising awareness of LGBT persecution in Russia & Chechnya, LGBT+, the Muslim Solidarity Campaign, and Reclaim Pride. He played an important role in finessing the groundbreaking report on the 'Economic Cost of Homophobia'. He has supported the LGBT+ movement in the UK and Mauritius, where he is originally from. He attended the local Pride event (This was a high-risk event as Pride was cancelled in 2018 due to a violent mob)and he was also nominated for a National Diversity Award in 2019.

Nomination by Robert Kowalski:

Marcel is an exceptional exemplar of the University of Wolverhampton brand. Since completing his PhD he has taken up a pivotal role in the Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia (UFRA) in Belem and has contributed to: it becoming the second-best university in Amazonia; the best in Amazonia for the use of public funds; having 80% of courses classified A or B and has the finest Agronomy degree in Amazonia. In 2013 he became Pro-Rector, implementing a course evaluation and development programme, and an academic control system. As Vice President of the National Group of Teaching Pro-Rectors, Marcel led the development of national strategies to strengthen undergraduate courses. In 2017 he was elected Rector of UFRA, evidence of the strength of the changes which he initiated is the contribution that UFRA is making to the management of Covid-19 in Para State. Under his direction staff of UFRA have supported the state government of Para in the development of strategies to manage the pandemic. The impact of these efforts is seen in the contrasting statistics for the progression of the virus in Para compared to Brazil as a whole. The benefit of this institutional capability is the thousands of lives saved.