Tess Ridge and Jane Millar from the Department of Social & Policy Sciences, were both award winners at the 2018 annual conference of the UK Social Policy Association, which took place at the University of York.

Professor Tess Ridge received the prestigious International Recognition Award for her path-breaking research and policy impact in relation to child poverty from a child-centred perspective.

Speaking about the award, Tess said: "I was delighted and honoured to receive the International Recognition Award. I have been extremely lucky to travel and share my work in so many countries. In doing so, I have been immeasurably enriched by the many diverse and complex social, political and cultural settings I have encountered. I was very privileged to engage in policy and international research at a time when cooperation and shared funding across Europe was possible."

Professor Jane Millar received the inaugural Cambridge University Press Award for Excellence in Social Policy Scholarship. The award was in recognition of the research paper Universal Credit: Assumptions, Contradictions and Virtual Reality jointly written with Fran Bennett.

Jane commented: “It is an honour for us to receive this award from colleagues in the Social Policy Association. Universal Credit is a major change to the UK's social security system for people of working age. Our article examines the gap between the assumptions underlying the design of Universal Credit and the research evidence about life on a low income.”

“Fran and I are now working with Rita Griffiths and Marsha Wood in the Institute for Policy Research (IPR) on a new project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), to further explore the implications of Universal Credit for families.”