ESRC Impact Prize Ceremony this Wednesday

The winners of the annual ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize will be announced Wednesday in an afternoon ceremony at the Royal Society. The Economic and Social Research Council, or ESRC, is part of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK government and the UK’s largest funder of research on the social and economic questions.

The Impact awards, now in their sixth year, are awarded to ESRC-funded social science researchers or ESRC associates who have achieved impact through outstanding research, collaborative partnerships, engagement or knowledge exchange activities.

To reflect this diversity there are five different categories, as well as a prize for the Impact Champion and a Future Promise award. Winners of each of the following categories receive a prize of £10,000:

• Outstanding Early Career Impact (in partnership with SAGE publishing)
• Outstanding Impact in Business and Enterprise
• Outstanding International Impact
• Outstanding Impact in Public Policy
• Outstanding Impact in Society
• Impact Champion, an individual who has a significant personal track record in supporting and enabling others to achieve impact

A further prize of £1,000 will be awarded to the winner of the Panel’s Choice – Future Promise Award.

The researchers shortlisted for the 2018 Celebrating Impact Prize are:

• Abigail Adams, University of Oxford | Access to justice and the economics of the rule of law
• Denise Baden, University of Southampton
  Sustainability as a value-added proposition across the hair sector
• Kevin Bales, University of Nottingham | Measuring modern slavery
• John Drury, University of Sussex | From crowd psychology to public safety
• Abigail Dymond, University of Exeter | Impacting national and international policy and practice around Taser and police use of force
• Matthew Flinders, University of Sheffield | The creation of new structures, procedures and institutions in order to harness the impact agenda
• Penny Green, Queen Mary University of London | Genocide in Myanmar: changing the global discourse surrounding the persecution of the Rohingya
• Brett Heasman, The London School of Economics and Political Science | Autism and society: investigating enabling contexts for social interaction
• Toby James, University of East Anglia | Improving electoral integrity and democratic participation through electoral administration and management
• Emma Renold, Cardiff University | Research and activism with children and young people to promote gender equality and healthy relationships

The shortlist was selected by a panel of experts from a wide range of submissions which included written evidence from organizations that have used the research to shape their policies and practice. This year’s panel consisted of:

• Irene Guijt, head of research, Oxfam Great Britain
• Roger Kain, dean and chief executive of the School of Advanced Study, University of London, and a Vice-President, British Academy
• Caroline Kenny, social science adviser, Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology
• Jane Falkingham, dean of the Faculty of Social Human and Mathematical Sciences, University of Southampton and director, ESRC Centre for Population Change
• Matt Sansam, Digital and Creative Industries consultant and innovation lead, Innovate UK
• Wayne Williams, head of policy, UK Research and Innovation