Professor Jane Falkingham and her colleagues from the Centre for Population Change (CPC) are the winners of this year’s ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize for Outstanding Public Policy Impact.
CPC researchers have been recognised for their outstanding contributions to public policy which have improved estimates of the current and future population of the UK, and provided national and local policymakers, planners and businesses with better evidence for policies and services.
The full CPC team nominated for the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize includes Professor Falkingham, Professor Maria Evandrou, Professor Ann Berrington, Professor Jakub Bijak, Professor Corrado Giulietti, Professor Peter W F Smith, Professor Athina Vlachantoni, Professor Jackline Wahba, Teresa McGowan and Becki Dey.
“We’re delighted that we have won for the 2020 ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize,” said Professor Falkingham, CPC Director and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. “I am proud to be the Director of the Centre and grateful to a fantastic team of researchers for their many innovations and efforts in improving lives through their research. I extend my congratulations to each of them in achieving this award.”
President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southampton, Professor Mark E Smith, congratulated the CPC team on their achievement.
“It is my great pleasure to offer my warmest congratulations to Professor Jane Falkingham and her many colleagues associated with the Centre for Population Change on winning this very important award. As a University, where we believe we do remarkable things aimed at changing the world for the better, it is through awards such as this we get external verification of our standing. Well done to all of those involved.”
From its outset, CPC researchers have worked closely with the ONS to ensure their work addresses the most relevant policy topics. They have developed better measures of the three drivers of population change – fertility, mortality and migration. CPC’s population projections and estimates related to these areas are being used to:
In 2020, CPC researchers have rapidly focused on the complex problems posed by COVID-19, offering timely evidence on issues as wide-ranging as the virus’s impact on existing socio-economic inequalities to the positive benefits of lockdown for parent-child relationships and the development of more effective estimates of excess mortality due to COVID-19.
