Winners
Outstanding early career impact (in partnership with SAGE Publishing)
Winner: Dr Shona Minson, University of Oxford
Project: Delivering guidance on the sentencing of mothers to safeguard children
Research on how the sentencing of mothers affects children has changed practice for judges, magistrates and probation officers, who now consider how children will be affected by their parents’ sentence.
Outstanding public policy impact
Winner: Professor Susan McVie and Professor Lesley McAra, The University of Edinburgh
Project: Research underpins new minimum age of criminal responsibility in Scotland
A 20-year study of 4,300 young people shaped the Scottish Parliament bill to raise the age of criminal responsibility from eight to 12 years, and underpins a change in policy to counter youth offending.
Outstanding societal impact
Winner: Professor Kate Reed and colleagues, The University of Sheffield
Project: Changing practices and supporting parents for infant post-mortems
Medical and sociological research into non-invasive baby post-mortem using MRI imaging has:
- changed NHS training and post-mortem care processes
- increased uptake in post-mortem consent by parents
- initiated new bereavement support groups.
Outstanding international impact
Winner: Professor Nic Cheeseman and colleagues, University of Birmingham
Project: Safeguarding elections and strengthening accountability in new democracies
Research on legislatures and political parties has strengthened the Westminster Foundation for Democracy’s work in over 30 developing countries worldwide, while findings on vote manipulation are helping the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and other organisations to safeguard elections.
Future promise award
Winner: Dr Chloe Holloway, University of Nottingham
Project: Research makes police custody more ‘autism-friendly’
The Future Promise award is a prize for the finalist who showed great promise for impactful research and whose work has much potential, but which could be expected to reach its full impact in future. The award recognises Dr Holloway’s research on making police custody more autism-friendly.
Panel’s choice award
Winner: Professor Louise Archer and colleagues, UCL Institute of Education
Project: Sparking science diversity and participation with science capital
The Panel’s Choice award recognises that a finalist’s work was highly commended by the judging panel. Professor Louise Archer and colleagues won the award for their work on a new approach to science teaching which supports more young people to engage with science.
Finalists
Outstanding early career impact (in partnership with SAGE Publishing)
Finalist: Dr Chloe Holloway, University of Nottingham
Project: Research makes police custody more ‘autism-friendly’
Research into how autistic individuals are affected by police custody has led to new autism guidance for all police in the East Midlands, shaped the design of ‘autism-friendly’ custody cells, and changed police practice in supporting neurodivergent individuals in custody.
Outstanding public policy impact
Finalist: Professor Steve Martin and colleagues, Wales Centre for Public Policy
Project: Shaping Welsh government policy with research evidence
The Wales Centre for Public Policy is helping to inform and shape policy decisions by presenting research evidence directly to government ministers, producing over 120 studies in the last five years. It is supporting effective policymaking and benefiting public services across Wales.
Outstanding societal impact
Finalist: Professor Louise Archer and colleagues, UCL Institute of Education
Project: Sparking science diversity and participation with science capital
Findings from the ASPIRES study have informed a new approach to science teaching which supports more young people, from more diverse backgrounds, to engage with science. It has reached over 600,000 students and informed education policy in over 20 countries.