Award
The British Educational Research Association Public Engagement & Impact Award recognises the important impact of research and practice in the education community and celebrates significant educational research and its activities that have demonstrably engaged the public.
The primary applicant must be a BERA member to apply.
The award is presented annually and may consist of two awards: one may be given for an individual’s research and a second award may be given for a team of researchers.
Nominations are sought in respect of:
individuals or teams whose educational research work has shown demonstrable public engagement and/or impact;
practitioner(s) or policy-maker(s) whose activities are well grounded in educational research and have led to demonstrable public engagement and/or impact;
persons 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 policy.
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. Research Councils UK provide a helpful definition of public engagement – see http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/pe/
‘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:
Relevance (e.g. to the Association’s purposes)
Clarity (e.g. of the case as set out)
Quality (e.g. of the work undertaken to achieve impact)
Significance (e.g. of the impact itself).
Prize Details
Details to be launch in Spring 2020.
The importance of adjusting for pupil background in school value-added models:
A study of Progress 8 and school accountability in England
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...
The Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants (MITA)
UCL, Institute of Education
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...
UCL, Institute of Education
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...
UCL, Institute of Education
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,...
UCL Institute of Education
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...
UCL, Institute of Education
Professor Jonathan Sharples is a Professorial Research Fellow at the Education Endowment Foundation, seconded from the EPPI-Centre at UCL IOE. He works with schools and policymakers across the sector to promote evidence-informed practice, and...
UCL, Institute of Education
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...
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...
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.
Karl Mannheim Professor of sociology of education at UCL Institute of Education
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...
King’s College London
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...
UCL Institute of Education
Alice Bradbury 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...
UCL Institute of Education
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...
Universities of Cambridge and Warwick and Director of the Cambridge Primary Review
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...