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Award

BERA Public Engagement and Impact Award

The BERA Public Engagement and Impact Award recognises and celebrates the impact of research and practice in the education community and how both have demonstrably engaged the public.

This award recognises and celebrates the impact of research and practice in the education community and how both have demonstrably engaged the public.

The award is presented annually and is normally awarded to a team of researchers.

Nominations are sought from:

  • Teams whose educational research work has shown demonstrable public engagement and/or impact with the last 5 years
  • Teams whose activities have boosted public engagement with educational research and/or its impact, or whose efforts have increased recognition and support for education research in public 

For the purposes of this Award, ‘public engagement’ is broadly defined as activities that bring research and/or researchers and the public (or specific groups within the public) together. It is more than just disseminating research – effective public engagement is about two-way communication, with the researchers listening to and learning from participants or other stakeholders at different stages in the research process. UKRI provide a helpful definition of public engagement
 
‘Impact’ is broadly defined as an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia.  It includes, but is not limited to, an effect on, change or benefit to:

  • the activity, attitude, awareness, behaviour, capacity, opportunity, performance, policy,

  • practice, process or understanding; of an audience, beneficiary, community, constituency, organisation or individuals; in any Geographic location whether locally, regionally, nationally or internationally.

Nominations are scored by a BERA selection panel and are framed by the following criteria:

Judging Criteria

  • Quality of the process of work undertaken to facilitate public engagement/realise impact 
  • Effectiveness of the approach adopted in engaging the public/realising impact 
  • Significance and contribution of the work (e.g. evidence of impact on the public, evidence of knowledge exchange)
  • Methodological rigour and robustness of the research underpinning the impact 

Prize Details 

  • Featured article in BERA’s magazine Research Intelligence
  • The award winners will be promoted on BERA’s website, social media channels and in our newsletters to the wider research community.
  • The award winners may be asked to play a BERA ambassadorial role. This may include speaking about their research at BERA Conference and/or other events, submitting a BERA blog, involvement on twitter, or being asked to record audio or video for BERA’s website.

 

To apply you must download the application form here and then upload it via the application page.

2022 Individual Winner

John Jerrim ‘s work on PISA reporting standards and his development of an analytic code has strengthened the environment in which quantitative education research is conducted. His work has impacted policymakers in the UK and internationally.

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John Jerrim, Professor

Prof at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

John Jerrim is professor of education and social statistics at University College London, and director of the Quantitative Social Science research centre. His research interests include the economics of education, access to higher education,...

2022 Team Winner

Ulster University for the project “Future Schools: Northern Ireland”

Find out more

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Una O’Connor, Dr

Senior Lecturer at Ulster University

Dr Una O’Connor is a senior lecturer, based in the UNESCO Centre, School of Education, Ulster University. Her teaching and research focus on improving educational outcomes for children and young people, with a particular emphasis on social...

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Jessica Bates, Dr

Senior Lecturer at Ulster University

Dr Jessica Bates is a senior lecturer in the School of Education, Ulster University (UU) where she undertakes research across education and library and information science. Her research interests relate to education and information policy,...

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Stephen Roulston, Professor

Research Fellow at University of Ulster

Dr Stephen Roulston is a research fellow at Ulster University (UU) with research interests in ICT in education, and the challenges of education in divided societies. He is part of the UU team which has worked on Future Schools, building on his...

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Clare McAuley, Ms

Lecturer at Ulster University

Clare McAuley is PGCE Lecturer (History) at Ulster University. Her research interests include the role of education in promoting social cohesion; teaching history in contested societies; citizenship education; teaching controversial and sensitive...

2021 Co-winner

University of  Oxford’s Teacher Education and Professional Learning Group – The Reform of Initial Teacher Education in Wales

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John Furlong, Professor

Retired at University of Oxford

John Furlong, OBE is an Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Oxford and an Emeritus Fellow of Green Templeton College. From 2003 – 2009 he was head of the Department of Education at Oxford having previously held posts at...

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Katharine Burn, Dr

Associate Professor Of Education at University of Oxford

Katharine is an Associate Professor of Education and coordinator of the Oxford Education Deanery: a multi-strand partnership with schools, focused on the development of teachers’ research engagement through initial teacher education, early...

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Hazel Hagger, Dr

Higher education lecturer, PGCE course tutor for professional development at University of Oxford

Hazel Hagger has been a Fellow of Kellogg College since 1997. She is a University Lecturer in Educational Studies at the Department of Educational Studies where she is Director of Graduate Studies (Professional Courses). Hazel’s teaching and...

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Trevor Mutton, Mr

Associate Professor at University of Oxford

Trevor Mutton is an Associate Professor at the Department of Education. He is Director of Professional Programmes and also Director of the Oxford Education Deanery. Trevor teaches on the Modern Languages PGCE programme and also teaches and...

2021 Co-winner

University of Kent’s Centre for Child Protection (CCP) – Keeping Children Safe: Advancing Child Protection Pedagogy, Awareness and Practice through Innovative Simulations

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Tracee Green, Dr

Senior Lecturer at University of Kent

Dr Tracee Green is Head of the Centre for Child Protection and Director of Studies for the Social Worker Degree Apprenticeship at the University of Kent. Dr Green has been involved with the Centre for Child Protection since 2016 by way of...

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Jane Reeves, Professor

Emeritus Professor at University of Kent

Jane Reeves is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Kent. A qualified social worker, Jane completed her MPhil (Kent) and PhD (Open University) analysing young people, in or on the cusp of the care system, who were young parents. Jane is a...

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David Shemmings, Professor

Emeritus Professor of Child Protection Research at University of Kent

Professor David Shemmings is the Emeritus Professor of Child Protection Research at the University of Kent. Professor Shemmings is the author of more than 60 articles, books and chapters on relationally-based social work theory, research and...

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Vanisha Jassal

Senior Lecturer at University of Kent

Vanisha Jassal (SFHEA) has been with the Centre for Child Protection since 2012. She is Senior Lecturer and Director of Studies for the MA in Advanced Child Protection programme, a popular inter-professional online and distance learning...

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Emma Soutar

Training Officer in Child Exploitation at University of Kent

Emma Soutar has over twenty years’ experience in the voluntary and education sector. During this time she has developed a broad knowledge of issues affecting the most vulnerable in society and the frameworks in place to protect and support...

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Aravinda Kosoraju, Dr

Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Kent

Dr Aravinda Kosaraju joined Kent Law School in 2018 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Dr Kosaraju’s research broadly focusses on violence against women and children; criminal justice and sexual offending. Dr Kosaraju is an ESRC scholar and her...

Isobel Drew

Lecturer in Child Protection/Social Work at University of Kent

Isobel Drew is a Lecturer within the Centre for Child Protection at the University of Kent’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research (SSPSSR) and has an active design and teaching role on the new blended learning Master’s...

2020 Individual Winner

Leading the Future of Science and Technology Education in Wales

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Tom Crick, Professor

Professor of Digital Education & Policy at Swansea University

Tom Crick is Professor of Digital Education & Policy at Swansea University, a joint appointment between the School of Education, the Department of Computer Science, and the Faculty of Health & Life Sciences. While his disciplinary background is...

2020 Team Winner

The UCL Centre for Holocaust Education – “Tackling widespread myths and misconceptions through transformatory teacher training and sustained support for schools.”

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Alice Pettigrew, Dr

Principle Research Fellow, Head of Research Programme at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

Alice Pettigrew is Head of Research Programme and Principal Research Fellow at the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education. She was one of the principal authors for both of the Centre’s national studies, Teaching About the Holocaust in England’s...

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Arthur Chapman, Dr

Associate Professor, History in Education at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

Dr Arthur Chapman is Associate Professor in History Education at the UCL Institute of Education and a member of the research team at the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Historical...

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Stuart Foster, Professor

Executive Director at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

Stuart Foster, in his role as Executive Director, has provided strategic leadership for the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education since its inception in 2008. He recently led the Centre’s ground-breaking national study What Do Students Know and...

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Eleni Karayianni, Dr

Research Associate at U C L Insitute of Education

Eleni is a member of the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education research team. She is involved in the Centre’s research into teachers’ practices and students’ understandings of the Holocaust, the publication of a series of research briefings...

Rebecca Hale, Dr

Senior Research Fellow at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

Rebecca Hale is part of the research team at the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education and one of the authors of the Centre’s publication: What do students know and understand about the Holocaust? Evidence from English secondary schools. She leads...

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Andy Pearce, Dr

Lecturer in Holocaust & History Education at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

Andy Pearce works across all of the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education’s CPD programmes, and is involved in the Centre’s research activities. He is one of the lead authors of our national research into students’ knowledge and understanding...

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Ruth-Anne Lenga

Programme Director at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

Ruth-Anne Lenga offers strategic leadership and management to the Centre and directs the innovative Masters module, The Holocaust in the Curriculum. This is the first of its kind in the UK and is rooted in the Centre’s ground breaking research...

We are delighted to partner with Emerald Publishing to present the prize for the 2020 award.

The 2020 award is a partnership with Emerald Publishing who will be working with the winners to publish digital research summaries.

Emerald Publishing is delighted to support the 2020 BERA Public Engagement and Impact Award. We are thrilled to extend our congratulations to Professor Tom Crick for his work “Leading the Future of Science and Technology Education in Wales” and to the team at the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education. Each of these winners have made a profound impact on education policy and practice within Britain, and have produced world-class research that can inspire and inform similar outcomes in other contexts. Emerald are deeply committed to supporting and mobilising the real world impact of research and look forward to working with the winners to create bespoke dissemination pieces about their research.

Emerald Publishing is one of the world’s leading digital first publishers, commissioning, curating and showcasing research that can make a real difference. They work with thousands of universities and business schools across the world to share knowledge and provoke the kind of debate that leads to positive change.
https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/


2019 Individual Winner

The importance of adjusting for pupil background in school value-added models:
A study of Progress 8 and school accountability in England

 

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George Leckie, Professor

Professor of Social Statistics at University of Bristol

George Leckie is a Professor of Social Statistics and Co-Director of the Centre for Multilevel Modelling at the School of Education, University of Bristol, UK. His substantive interests focus on design, analysis, and communication issues...

2019 Team Winner

The Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants (MITA)

 

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Rob Webster, Dr

N/A

Rob Webster is an Associate Professor at UCL IOE. He is the MITA programme director and team lead for the MITA efficacy trial, funded by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). He worked on the ground-breaking Deployment and Impact of Support...

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Paula Bosanquet, Dr

Senior Teaching Fellow at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

Dr Paula Bosanquet is a senior teaching fellow and leads the Maximising the Practice of Teaching Assistants (MPTA) professional development strand of MITA, which focuses on developing pupil independence. She is lead author of The Teaching...

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Sally Franklin

Senior Teaching Fellow at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

Sally Franklin is a Senior Teaching Fellow and delivers the MITA school improvement course for school leaders and the MPTA training for school staff, including as part of the EEF-funded MITA trial. Sally has worked on a range of SEN projects,...

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Matthew Parker

Senior Teaching Fellow at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

Matthew Parker is a Senior Teaching Fellow and delivers the MITA school improvement course for school leaders and the MPTA training for school staff. He has worked as a teaching assistant, a teacher, strategic lead for SEN, a primary headteacher,...

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Jonathan Sharples, Professor

Professor at Education Endowment Foundation

Jonathan is a professorial research fellow at the Education Endowment Foundation, seconded from UCL Institute of Education. He works with schools and policymakers in the UK, and internationally, to promote evidence-informed practice and spread...

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Marina Kipfer

Project Officer at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

Marina Kipfer leads on day-to-day project management and administration for the Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants programme. She also works in the Centre for Inclusive Education’s communication team. She holds a Masters degree in...

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Kelly Golding

UCL, Institute of Education

Kelly Golding was a MITA Coordinator (2017-18) and delivered the MITA school improvement course for school leaders and the MPTA training for school staff as part of the EEF-funded MITA trial. Kelly was previously an Assistant Head in an inner...

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Aimee Shaw

UCL, Institute of Education

Aimee Shaw was the MITA Project Manager (2017-19) and led the operational and logistical delivery of MITA activities, including the EEF-funded MITA trial.

2018 Winner

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Louise Archer, Professor

Professor of Sociology of Education at University College London

Louise Archer’s research focusses on educational identities and inequalities, particularly in relation to social class, ethnicity and gender. She has conducted research on a wide range of issues, including British Muslim young people’s...

2017 Winner

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Sue Sentance, Dr

Director of the Raspberry Pi Computing Education Research Centre at University of Cambridge

Dr Sue Sentance was awarded the winner of the 2017 BERA Public Engagement and Impact award for her work on removing the barriers to effective computing education. Dr Sentance conceived and developed a model of professional learning for computing...

2016 Winners

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Alice Bradbury, Professor

Professor of Sociology of Education, Co-Director Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy (0-11 Years) at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

Alice Bradbury is a professor of sociology of education at the Institute of Education (IOE), UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, and co-director of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy (0-11 Years). She is also a member of the Centre for...

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Guy Roberts-Holmes, Dr

Associate Professor at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

Guy Roberts-Holmes was awarded the 2016 BERA Public Engagement and Impact Award for his work in challenging the goals set out for Baseline Assessment for assessing and tracking the progress of 4-5 year olds within the primary system, which led to...

2015 Winner

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Robin Alexander, Professor

Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, and Professor of Education Emeritus, University of Warwick at University of Cambridge

Robin Alexander was awarded the 2015 BERA Public Engagement and Impact award for his initiation and ten-year leadership of the Cambridge Primary Review and its successor the Cambridge Primary Review Trust. The Review remains the biggest, most...