Royal award for social policy research
Posted on 16 February 2010
The University’s Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU) will receive a Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Friday 19 February.
SPRU has led change in the delivery of services to people experiencing poverty, ageing, disability, chronic illness, family crisis, abuse or neglect.
It is a great honour for the University to receive this Queen’s Anniversary Prize
Professor Brian Cantor
Examples of how SPRU’s work has influenced change include its research into the financial impact of the death of a child with a life-threatening or life-limiting condition, which revealed that families could face a drop in income of up to 72 per cent when the child died. As a result, Child Benefit was extended for up to eight weeks after the death of a child.
The Unit’s work on vulnerable groups of children and young people at risk has provided new knowledge about young runaways and missing young people. This work resulted in the establishment of the first refuge for children in Glasgow, a National Service Framework for runaways and new national guidance from the Department of Health.
The University’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Cantor and the Director of SPRU Professor Gillian Parker will receive the award from her Majesty. The Chair of the University Council, Sir Christopher O’Donnell, and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Trevor Sheldon will also attend the ceremony.
The Royal accolade is the fourth to be conferred on the University in 13 years. Queen’s Anniversary Prizes were awarded to the University in 1996 for the excellence of its work in Computer Science, in 2005 for the pioneering work of CNAP (Centre for Novel Agricultural Products) in Biology, and in 2007 for the contribution made by the Centre for Health Economics for the way it has helped to shape public health care.
Introduced following the 40th Anniversary of the Queen’s reign in 1992, the prizes rank alongside the Queen’s Awards for Industry. They are given biennially for “work of exceptional quality and of broad benefit either nationally or internationally.”
Since SPRU was established in 1973, its research teams have had a major influence on policy and practice development for disabled or chronically ill children and adults, caregivers, income and employment support systems, looked after children and young runaways.
The Unit has led the way in developing methods that enable disabled and older people and children to participate actively in research. It has achieved a national and international reputation for applied research. SPRU has provided a model for similar research groups in other countries and trained policymakers, practitioners and researchers from the UK and abroad.
SPRU’s Director, Professor Gillian Parker, said: “The honour and recognition that comes with the Queen’s Anniversary Prize rewards the hard work of many people over many years. SPRU started as a small team working on a single research project in 1973. The foresight and dedication of its Founding Director Professor Jonathan Bradshaw and his successor, Professor Sally Baldwin, laid the foundation for its success today. However, the award recognises the contribution of everyone associated with SPRU’s work – researchers, support staff, funders and the University as a whole.”
The University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Brian Cantor, said: “It is a great honour for the University to receive this Queen’s Anniversary Prize. It is a source of great pride that Social Policy Research Unit, which grew from modest beginnings to become one of the most influential units of its type in the world, has received this entirely merited recognition from Her Majesty.
“The Social Policy Research Unit has been a major influence in improvements in the way society supports some of its most vulnerable members, for example people, particularly children, suffering poverty, disability, abuse and neglect. It has helped to establish the University of York’s reputation as a centre of excellence in the study of the social sciences.”
Notes to editors:
- The University of York is one of 21 winners in the eighth round of The Queen's Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education. The winners were announced by the Founder and Chairman of the Royal Anniversary Trust, Robin Gill CVO, at St James's Palace on 18 November 2007. www.royalanniversarytrust.org.uk
- The Social Policy and Research Unit is part of the Department of Social Policy and Social Work at the University of York. Its research focuses on four broad themes: Disabled and Ill Children and Families; Children and Young People’s Social Work; Adults, Older People and Carers; and Welfare and Employment. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise by the government's Higher Education Funding Council, York's Department of Social Policy and Social Work, of which SPRU is a part, was ranked in the top ten in the country. Over two-thirds of its research activity was ranked as of international excellence and, within this, a quarter was classed as 'world-leading’.
- The University of York was founded in 1963 with 200 students. It now has 12,000 students and over 30 academic departments and research centres. It is regularly ranked in the top ten of UK universities and is also in the world’s top 100 universities. York ranked eighth out of more than 120 UK universities in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise co-ordinated by the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The University has a collegiate system in which most staff and all students are members of one of eight colleges. Work has started on a 285-acre campus expansion at Heslington East encompassing growth in research, spin out activity, and student numbers (particularly postgraduate and international). The expansion will increase student numbers to more than 16,000 over ten years, with 5,000 staff.
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