Excellence in social policy research and impact has been recognised by the 2026 Social Policy Association awards. The list of winners for each category is available below.
Award winners were announced at a ceremony on 1st July during the SPA Annual Conference, hosted by Liverpool Hope University. The ceremony took place at the conference dinner, held at Liverpool Town Hall.
This year the awards were presented by the new President of the SPA, Lord (Prem) Sikka.
The goals of the SPA’s awards include to recognise and endorse the work of academics who are involved in researching and teaching social policy, as well as other figures who contribute to raising public awareness of social policy topics.
Following the ceremony, Dr Hayley Bennett, out-going SPA Awards Officer, said:
“On behalf of the SPA executive committee, it’s a pleasure to celebrate this year’s SPA award winners. Through the judging process it has been wonderful to see the depth and breadth of the very valuable contributions produced by social policy scholars, publishers and a multitude of partners. Many congratulations to all involved in this year’s awards!”
“The winners of the SPA awards are decided via a thorough process that wouldn’t be possible without the SPA executive members, the generous award sponsors (Cambridge University Press, Policy Press, and the SPA), and the four judges for their thoughtful work engaging with all the nominations and shortlists to agree on this year’s winners. The judges are Prof Jon Glasby, Prof Zoe Irving, Fran Bennett and Helen Barnard (Trussell Trust) who all volunteered their time to support our social policy community. Jon and Helen have now completed their terms on the judging panel and we very much thank them for all their work over the past 3 (or more!) years”.
The winners of this year’s awards were as follows. You can read more information about the awards – including past winners – on the SPA’s website.
The winners for each category in 2026 were:
Richard Titmuss Book Award
Getting Better: The Policy and Politics of Reducing Health Inequalities By Clare Bambra, Julia Lynch and Katherine E. Smith
Excellence in Doctoral Research Award
Danai Konstantinidou “Examining the short-term and lagged effects of receiving social transfers on income poverty and deprivation in EU countries”
Cambridge University Press Awards for Excellence in Social Policy Scholarship
– Social Policy & Society: Zahid Mumtaz for “Conceptualising the Relationship Between Formal and Informal Social Protection”
– Journal of Social Policy: Rod Hick, Marco Pomati, Mark Stephens “Housing affordability and poverty in Europe: on the deteriorating position of market renters”
– Journal of International & Comparative Social Policy: Laura Cuesta, Marisa Bucheli, Daniel R. Meyer, Mia Hakovir for: “How much are fathers asked to contribute when children live with low-income mothers? New evidence from Colombia, Finland, Peru, Uruguay, and the United States”
Outstanding Achievement in Social Policy Award
Ayşe Buğra, Professor Emerita, Boğaziçi University
Public Understanding Award
Alison Shaw, Policy Press
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Images: winners present at the 2026 SPA Awards ceremony.
Credit: Ewan Robertson