Standards help organizations solve practical challenges and the winners of the BSI Impact Awards 2026 demonstrate exactly what that looks like.
Announced on 21 May 2026 at The Landmark Hotel in London during the BSI Standards Conference and AGM, the awards formed part of BSI's 125th anniversary celebrations, recognizing individuals and organizations that have delivered exceptional impact through standards.
This year's winners have tackled challenges that affect organizations and society alike. Their work spans purpose-driven leadership, inclusive PPE, climate action, carbon management and organizational performance.
In different ways, each has used standards to drive meaningful change.
Some have helped shape guidance that is influencing how organizations respond to emerging social and environmental issues. Others have embedded standards into daily operations, supporting thousands of employees or delivering measurable environmental improvements across major programmes.
Together, their stories show what is possible when expertise, collaboration and leadership are combined with a commitment to creating better outcomes for people, organizations and society.
Meet the people shaping standards
Standards don't appear overnight. They are created through collaboration between experts, industry leaders and people with first-hand experience of the challenges they aim to solve. The following winners demonstrate how individuals can shape guidance that helps organizations tackle some of society's most pressing issues.
Creating organizations with purpose: Ruth Stoddart's work on purpose-driven organizations
Many organizations can articulate their purpose. Far fewer can embed it into how they make decisions, measure success and create value for society.
That's why the work of Ruth Stoddart, winner of a 2026 BSI Young Professional Impact Award, feels particularly relevant. Through her contribution to PAS 808, soon to become ISO 37011, the world's first governance standard for purpose-driven organizations, she has helped develop practical guidance for organizations seeking to address complex social and environmental challenges.
From tackling youth loneliness to helping organizations create workplaces built on connection and belonging, Ruth's work reflects a growing understanding that purpose is not separate from performance. Just as importantly, Ruth has championed greater involvement from young professionals in standards development. Her contribution is a reminder that solving today's challenges requires diverse perspectives and that the future of standards depends on including the voices that will inherit those challenges tomorrow.
“Purpose isn’t something businesses need to add on to what they already do. It’s an opportunity to innovate—to turn their resources and capabilities towards solving problems in ways that create value for people and planet, while ensuring they remain resilient, relevant and successful over the long term. Being purpose-driven is not just about having a purpose statement; it means translating that goal into strategies that generate both societal and commercial value—we call this mutual value. Where I work, a Foundation-owned consultancy called Mutual Value Labs, we build capabilities in organizations to create mutual value.
Standards are critical because they create a shared understanding of what being purpose-driven actually means. That clarity helps organizations move from aspiration to action, embed purpose into how they operate, and hold themselves accountable for the value they generate or deplete. PAS 808 (and in the future ISO 37011) is an important step towards establishing that shared understanding and the best practice needed to make purpose meaningful in practice.”
- Ruth Stoddart, Strategic Lead – Purpose and Business Transformation, Mutual Value Labs
Making safety work for everyone: Rowshi Hussain's contribution to inclusive PPE
Safety is most effective when it works for everyone. However, for too long personal protective equipment has not always reflected the realities of a diverse workforce.
BS 30417 - Provision of inclusive personal protective equipment (PPE) was developed to help address that challenge, and Rowshi Hussain's contribution to raising awareness and encouraging adoption earned her a Young Professional Impact Award. Rowshi has helped translate the requirements of BS 30417 into practical action to support organizations to understand why inclusive PPE matters.
The impact extends beyond compliance. It is about ensuring people feel protected, valued and able to perform their roles with confidence. Her work demonstrates how standards can help create safer, more inclusive workplaces by putting people's needs at the centre of decision-making.
“When I joined the industry as a graduate, I struggled with ill-fitting PPE and was often told there were no alternative options. Through my involvement in developing BS 30417, I learned how standards can transform individual experiences into industry-wide change. The standard has helped organizations recognize that PPE is not one-size-fits-all, while empowering end users to speak up and receive fit for purpose PPE that meets their individual needs, comfort and safety requirements. It has also contributed to wider conversations influencing policy and legislative change, demonstrating the value of diverse voices in standards development and helping create more inclusive workplaces for everyone.”
- Rowshi Hussain, Geoenvironmental Engineer, Cundall
Leading climate action: Ian Byrne's influence on sustainability standards
Climate action requires more than ambition; it requires credible and demonstratable action. That's why Ian Byrne received the BSI Standards Makers Leadership Award for his leadership across climate and sustainability standards.
Ian has spent years helping organizations understand how standards can support credible climate action, robust energy management and effective net zero transition planning. His leadership and expertise have helped make complex sustainability challenges more accessible and practical for organizations looking to take action.
But his impact extends beyond individual standards. Ian has previously chaired a BSI committee and convened three ISO working groups. He is a passionate advocate for the value of standards themselves, encouraging wider participation in standards development and helping more organizations understand the role standards can play in delivering meaningful environmental progress.
"As someone who has spent most of my working life in small organizations, with 25 or fewer staff, it would have been easy to assume that standards are written by “other people” and handed down on tablets of stone. But it’s not like that! Climate change is already affecting everyone; so all voices can – and must – be heard. Complex challenges affecting multiple organizations can often be simplified through standardized approaches, so it’s critical for sustainability that standards work for every organization, whatever their size or sector."
- Ian Byrne, Principal, Energy & Carbon Consultancy Services
Meet the people putting standards into practice
The value of a standard is ultimately determined by how it is used. These winners show what happens when organizations embed standards into daily operations and use them to create measurable impact.
From compliance to culture: Louise McMahon's leadership at Kier Infrastructure
Developing standards is one thing. Embedding them into the daily decisions of thousands of people is another. That achievement earned Louise McMahon the Standards Users Leadership Award.
At Kier Infrastructure, Louise has integrated ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 19650 and ISO 44001 into a single interoperable management system that guides everyday behaviour across more than 6,000 employees.
By bringing multiple standards together into one approach, she has helped transform standards from a governance exercise into a driver of performance, assurance and collaboration. Her leadership across major multi-partner programmes has also demonstrated how shared standards can help organizations work together more effectively.
Her story illustrates a simple but important truth: standards create the greatest value when they become part of how people work, think and make decisions every day.
"I've always been passionate about the role standards play in helping organizations improve, grow and deliver with confidence. Their true value is not in achieving certification, but in creating consistency, trust and a shared framework that enables people to make better decisions every day. At Kier Infrastructure, bringing standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 19650 and ISO 44001 together into a single integrated management system has enabled us to create one clear way of working across our business, embedding quality, safety, health, environmental sustainability, information management and collaboration into the daily decisions of around 6,000 colleagues. Supported by our Board and leadership teams, this approach has strengthened assurance, reduced risk, improved performance and helped us build greater trust with our customers, communities and supply chain partners.
While I am honoured to have received the BSI Standards User Leadership Award, it reflects the dedication of the many quality, safety, health, environment and assurance professionals across Kier Infrastructure whose commitment helps turn standards into culture, behaviours and better outcomes every day."
- Louise McMahon, Business Assurance & Governance Director, Kier Infrastructure.
Driving carbon reduction at scale: Mott MacDonald's application of PAS 2080
Reducing carbon requires action at every stage of a project lifecycle. That's why PAS 2080 - Carbon Management in Infrastructure has become an important framework for organizations looking to take a more consistent approach to carbon management.
Mott MacDonald received the Standards Users Environmental Impact Award for its long-term application of PAS 2080 and the measurable environmental impact it has delivered.
By embedding a whole-life carbon management approach across its global portfolio, the organization has helped ensure carbon considerations are integrated into decision-making from the outset. The result has been a consistent approach to environmental performance across projects and programmes around the world.
Its contribution doesn't stop there. As a technical co-author of PAS 2080, Mott MacDonald has also helped shape industry best practice, demonstrating the powerful role organizations can play as both standards makers and standards users.
“Having contributed to the development of PAS 2080 and now leading sustainability across Mott MacDonald, I’m proud to see the difference it’s making for our business and the industry we’re part of. PAS 2080 provides a clear and consistent framework for embedding carbon management into everyday decisions. It’s significantly strengthened our approach, while empowering us to also better support our clients to do the same. As a verified standards user for PAS 2080 across our global business, it builds confidence that we’re on this important journey together. It means that across different organizations and infrastructure projects around the world, we’re consistently building capability and applying insight toward meaningful progress.”
- Alicia Winter, Group Sustainability Manager, Mott MacDonald
“PAS 2080 helps us solve an important problem – many organizations in the infrastructure sector want to better manage their carbon footprint but aren’t always sure where to start. It provides the practical guidance needed for our industry to confidently turn that ambition into action. From the earliest stages of the project, it helps us to work with organizations to bring together the right people, ask the right questions and make carbon-informed decisions. This has important real-world benefits for our clients, such as influencing better outcomes at scale across whole supply chains. For me, its greatest impact is that it makes carbon reduction something that can be actively managed and delivered, rather than simply measured and reported in isolation."
- Mark Crouch, Decarbonisation Discipline Lead, Mott MacDonald
The stories of Louise McMahon at Kier Infrastructure and Mott MacDonald show how standards can become much more than a framework for compliance – they can be a catalyst for better ways of working, collaboration and impact. As BSI Members, both organizations are part of a wider community using standards to help shape better practice. Discover how BSI Membership can help your organization get more from standards.
Feeling inspired? You can help shape what's next
The stories in this year's BSI Impact Awards all start with someone identifying a challenge and looking for a better way to solve it. Whilst standards provide the framework, it’s the people behind them who provide the expertise, leadership and determination to make change happen.
If these stories have inspired you, there are many ways to get involved with standards. You could:
- Contribute your expertise to standards development.
- Share industry knowledge and practical experience.
- Join a standards committee.
- Help shape guidance on emerging challenges and opportunities.
- Become part of a community committed to creating positive change.
As the winners of the BSI Impact Awards 2026 demonstrate, one idea, one contribution or one new perspective can have an impact far beyond a single organization.
And the next person making an impact could be you.
