Oxford News
The King presents The Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education
The King presented The Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Higher and Further Education in recognition of outstanding work at UK universities and colleges in a ceremony at St James’s Palace.
Recipients included a centre tackling sustainability in the textile industry, a partnership providing higher education in prisons, and groundbreaking research into Paralympic performance.
This year, the University of Oxford was awarded a Queen Elizabeth Prize for Higher and Further Education in recognition of the globally impactful work of the OpenSAFELY platform.
Based within the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science, OpenSAFELY was created during the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. It pioneered a new method of accessing whole-population NHS GP data – which OpenSAFELY made accessible for the first time in history – unlocking life-saving research while protecting patient privacy more robustly than ever before.
Traditional methods of data analysis often involve moving large datasets to researchers. OpenSAFELY reversed this model. Researchers get “dummy data” to develop their analysis, then submit their analyses for automated remote execution against real patient records, without ever needing to move data, or interact directly with sensitive personal information.
“>Video of What is OpenSAFELY? Professor Ben Goldacre
Professor Ben Goldacre, Director of the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science, said: ‘Patient data can supercharge research, but it must be treated with huge respect: those medical records contain, by definition, the most confidential medical secrets of every citizen in the country. Our work has shown that you can have data access and patient privacy, safely unlocking data access to improve healthcare for all, if platforms are designed with innovative privacy-preserving methods at their core. OpenSAFELY is also a public asset: all our code is given away for free, so that everyone can see it, understand it, and re-use it.
‘OpenSAFELY is a huge collaboration, across many organisations and sectors including our team, the electronic health record vendors TPP and EMIS, patient and professional groups, our hugely productive researchers and users, and NHS England. We are honoured to have won this prize, and we hope that more users will come to tap the power in this confidential patient data through secure means.’
Since receiving the prize, the OpenSAFELY platform has reached another milestone. In February 2026, NHS England opened the service to non-COVID health research for the first time, allowing researchers across the UK to apply to use whole-population GP data for questions spanning chronic disease, mental health, treatment safety, and more. The application window is open until 30 April 2026, with details available on the website.
The Queen, The Princess Royal, and The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester joined the presentation ceremony.
Professor Ben Goldacre and Professor Seb Bacon receive the Queen Elizabeth Prize from the King and Queen. Image credit: The Royal Household.
The Princess Royal attended the ceremony in Her Royal Highness’s capacity as Chancellor of The University of Edinburgh, which is receiving an award for research and education by its Centre for Fire Safety Engineering.
Following the presentations, Their Majesties and Their Royal Highnesses joined recipients at a reception to hear more about their award-winning work.
The Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Higher and Further Education are part of the UK national honours system. First awarded in 1995 and now in their sixteenth round, the Prizes are granted every two years on the advice of the Prime Minister following a rigorous review process managed by the Royal Anniversary Trust, an independent charity.
We’ve made a gallery of pictures showing all the Oxfordshire spots which have been used for TV and film sets over the years.
Some of the biggest productions filmed here in Oxfordshire include Spectre in the James Bond franchise, which transformed Blenheim Palace in Woodstock into the Palazzo Cardenza in Rome.
READ MORE: Abandoned Oxfordshire home used as drugs den shut down
Many period dramas were also created in the county, like the BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, which was partly filmed at Chastleton House in the Cotswolds.
Cotswolds villages have been repeatedly transformed and used as filming locations for their historical appeal, like the villages of Brill, Broadwell and Castle Combe.
Find all the pictures in this archive gallery of historic Oxfordshire filming locations here.
Three Year 10 pupils from Aureus School in Didcot travelled to London for the Royal Navy International Women’s Day event, held on HMS President during Careers Week and designed to showcase opportunities within the Royal Navy and beyond.
Students Antonia Pop, Ellie Swan and Tilly Mulvey are all taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme.
Ellie Swan said: “It was fantastic to see the possible career paths within the Navy.”
Rob Hayden, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award manager at Aureus School, accompanied the students to the event.
He said: “During the day, students had talks from individuals within the Navy and from guest speakers, including Hannah Botterman, who last year won both the Rugby World Cup and the Six Nations with England.”
He said: “Students also had the chance to network with the speakers and other attendees.
“The event showed the students a wide range of inspirational females within the Navy and other careers.”
Aureus School, part of the GLF Schools multi-academy trust, says its vision is focused on ‘cultivating ambition’ and ‘high standards for all’.
Headteacher Kirsty Rogers says the Didcot-based co-educational comprehensive has undergone a ‘transformative journey’, creating a community where students feel a strong sense of belonging. She emphasises inclusivity, high expectations, and a broad curriculum that encourages ambition, resilience and respect, supported by dedicated staff and diverse extra-curricular opportunities.
The flights mark a major boost to the airport’s connectivity ahead of the budget airline’s record Summer 2026 schedule.
The new routes form part of Ryanair’s expanded Glasgow programme for Summer 2026, which will see the airline operate over 100 weekly flights across eight routes.
The new double-daily London Stansted service further strengthens Glasgow’s access to the English capital, while the launch of the Warsaw service enhances Glasgow’s international offering.
Jonathan Ford, portfolio manager at AGS Airports, said: “It’s fantastic to see Ryanair’s new services to London Stansted and Warsaw take off today.
“The double-daily Stansted route offers even more flexibility for business and leisure travellers heading to and from England’s innovation corridor, while Warsaw provides a valuable new link that expands the international connectivity available to our passengers.
“These launches mark the start of what will be a record summer for Ryanair at Glasgow, and we look forward to welcoming even more travellers through our doors.”
Last month, Ryanair launched its 2026 plan for Glasgow with 10 routes, including holiday hotspots like Lanzarote, Palma de Mallorca, and Tenerife, as well as city break destinations like Barcelona and Pisa.
The budget airline will also operate extra frequencies on its Alicante, Faro, Pisa, Malaga and Murcia routes.
The new schedule is underpinned by Ryanair’s two Glasgow Prestwick-based aircraft.
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