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We decided that one of the things we're promoting really strongly at ESRC is the social and
economic impact of the work that people do. Of course, we want people to have academic
impact, but in a way we take that for granted. We encourage them to disseminate, to communicate,
to exchange their knowledge with other people, but what we thought we'd also do is celebrate.
Right! Well, we had the BAFTA TV Awards on Sunday, it was the Sony Radio Academy Awards
yesterday, so it's only fitting that the third in the trio should be today: the ESRC Celebrating
Impact Award, the Oscars of the ESRC world. The bad news is that we don't have the dress
sense of the folks at the Oscars. I used to work for an ESRC-supported organisation, the
Institute for Fiscal Studies. There were no prizes for impact in those days, but the IFS
was always excellent at it. And I think now I'm on the other side, now I'm a journalist,
I'm a stakeholder really in all of this - we really must encourage academics to think about
the impact that their work can have. To build it into their work, so that when they're deciding
what questions to ask, deciding how to ask them, writing up what they're writing up - that
they're thinking about the people who might actually use or benefit from that research.
The prizes are pretty darn generous: £10,000 for the winner, £5,000 for the runner-up
- and if you think that there are six categories, that is one seventh of a Nobel Prize in here,
tonight, on its own. Let's get on with the event, and our first category is the Outstanding
Impact in Society. And the winner is Professor Cathy Nutbrown,
from the University of Sheffield. I feel really excited, it's a huge honour.
Really, really pleased for me, my department and the many, many practitioners, children
and families that I've worked with, it's wonderful. I know exactly how I'm going to spend the
£10,000. Thank you, ESRC. The £10,000 is to be spent on the project
isn't it, is that right? It isn't just money you... Yep, further knowledge dissemination.
Sorry, I hope the winners all knew that! I'm really honoured to be here tonight to
present this award for Outstanding International Impact. Professor Wu's research on urban poverty,
urban development and urban villages has generated impacts which have been instrumental in shaping
Chinese urban development planning. We've all often talked about the best examples
we've had of impact and so on, we use them at ESRC, but we haven't highlighted them.
This way we can draw attention on our website, we can draw attention from the policymakers,
from the media. Of course, having Evan Davies here to celebrate it with us is a good way
of reminding them that there is really important work in social sciences for them to listen
to. When we began this work over ten years ago,
many academic colleagues thought that engaging with the worlds of policy and practice was
beneath the dignity of the academy, and we've helped to show that this work resonates, it
has traction. We've been invited to the United Nations, we've been invited all around the
world to talk about this ESRC project. I awarded the prize for public policy, and
I think it's really important that policymakers, decision-makers, look at the research that
shows whether what they're doing is actually making the difference they think it is. This
evening's been fantastic and it's really good to see strong academic research and the impact
it's having on society, on the economy, on charities, on the private sector, on the public
sector; it's been across the board. We used to call it dissemination, we've called
it knowledge exchange, we've called it knowledge sharing, we've called it engagement. But at
its core, as you've heard several times this evening, is the idea that the work of social
scientists is too valuable not to be shared. Business is hungry for analysis - how we innovate,
how we grow market share, how we beat our competitors, how we survive the recession.
This all requires thoroughly grounded analysis and strategic and operational recommendations.
I mean, obviously we have to have research impact in getting the top journals, but even
my Mum wouldn't read a top journal article by me. Whereas something like this, which
is the impact I've had on real people in business and how they can do their job better to help
us all, that's really great that that's being celebrated.
I feel it's a good achievement; it's going to really boost my prospects for the rest
of my career. It's great to be here to meet all of the other people who are having impact,
and that's hopefully what I'll be able to achieve as well in the future.
Having something like this is really going to be important to give a reward to people
who try that bit harder - to try to have an impact on society, or business, or public
policy, or whatever it is. So yeah, I am a great fan of it - not just because I happen
to have won one of the awards!