 Nurturing and developing talent is essential for business success. The award for best practice in professional development is given by the Institute of Physics to recognise the efforts made by organisations who are committed to providing first-rate opportunities for their people. 2015 has seen a record number of successful applicants and here is what receiving the award means to the winners. Personally very proud, I think the lab should be very proud of the receipt of the award. We are extremely pleased that the opportunities we have in staff development were recognised by the IOP. The external professional recognition of gaining this award for the third time so spanning nine years is a great honour. They have many reasons to apply for the award. So I've had some really great opportunities myself and I've really enjoyed working with people to help them achieve their potential. I just want to make sure that as many people get involved as possible. Applying for this award is our way of testing our standards against the best in the industry. They offer a wide range of opportunities for professional development. Things such as mentoring and local networks. Well staff have benefited from these opportunities by moving on and achieving chartership in many institutions. Getting our employees to engage with the system and really invest in their own professional development. A number of formal activities to help develop the skills such as consulting skills, system skills, technical partnering, leadership, project management. One of those that we offer to graduates is the Graduate Development Framework. We have a long-standing graduate training scheme that has been running for over 30 years and has an unbroken accreditation with the IOP. And they are committed to continue offering the best opportunities for their staff. We're constantly looking for new ways to encourage and facilitate the professional development of our staff. In September, CRA hosted its annual risk forum. Our commitment to developing people is only going to get stronger. We're committed to continue testing ourselves against the best in the industry. We're committed to continuing with this framework and developing our people. If you would like to know more, visit www.iop.org forward slash best practice.