2026 SPA Awards Winners
The winners of the 2026 SPA Awards 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.
Read the full story about the awards ceremony here.
The list of winners is as follows:
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
General Information
Each year the Social Policy Association (SPA) calls for nominations for its annual SPA Awards, to be announced at the SPA Annual Conference in July.
The SPA awards aim to:
1) Advance the interests of the SPA and its members through increased reach and status.
2) Recognise and endorse the work of academics who are both researching and teaching social policy, and who as SPA members contribute to advancing the discipline.
3) Recognise and endorse the work of individuals and organisations who as social policy practitioners and/or advocates, are using academic work produced by the social policy academic community and/or are working with academics to promote the public understanding of social policy.
Process of awards
Where the awards are made on the decision of the SPA-appointed judging panel, the panel will comprise four judges appointed by the Executive to serve for 3 years and will normally include:
- The SPA President
- 1 judge drawn from outside the academic community
- 2 judges appointed from SPA membership
Award categories and nominations process:
We have six categories of awards, each with their own specific aim, eligibility criteria, and nomination process. These are:
- Outstanding Achievement in Social Policy Award
- Excellence in Doctoral Research Award
- The Richard Titmuss Book Award
- Policy Press Outstanding Teaching Award
- Public Understanding of Social Policy Award
- Cambridge University Press Awards for Excellence in Social Policy Scholarship (JSP, SP&S & JCISP)
Who won in previous years?
You can view a last of past winners at the following link: