Parallels, prizes & a plenary were presented on the final day

The last day of the Scientific Conference saw a keynote speech by Professor David Bell and five awards presented to PhD students, researchers and professors.

The plenary of the day was presented by Professor David Bell from the University of Stirling who spoke on Scotland’s changing fiscal framework through the prism of Understanding Society.

Professor Vernon Gayle from the University of Edinburgh introduced David onto the stage by saying;

“He is the best panel data analyst who has an impressive portfolio. He is a well-known face north of the border and I would like to share his outstanding attribute; he is able to convey complex findings to people with low statistical knowledge and more of us should be doing this.“

After this superb introduction, David went on to examine the radical changes in Scotland’s taxation and welfare system that are planned for the near future.

Awards presented

Next, Vernon thanked Professor Nick Buck for his contribution to the British Household Panel Survey and more recently Understanding Society.

“This is not the usual goodbye speech because Nick will be staying with ISER as the new Director. However, I wanted to say a massive thank you from all of the users who have appreciated the data over the years.

Vernon continued his appreciation for Nick’s work by writing him a song entitled ‘My Favourite Things – the Understanding Society User’. The full lyrics can be found on <%= file_download(203) %>

The award atmosphere continued in the room when Michaela Benzeval, Director of Understanding Society presented specialist conference honours.

• Best Abstract by Early Career Researcher: Dr Roxanne Connelly, University of Edinburgh
• Best Poster: Samuel Chng, University of Exeter Medical School
• Best Poster: Sarah Johnson, London Borough of Newham
• Best Student: Baowen Xue, University College London

Dr Roxanne Connelly, University of Edinburgh received an award for her presentation on changing socio-economic inequalities in childhood cognitive test performance.

Roxanne said, “I am very pleased to be at this conference with such a high number of really great presentations; I’m definitely going to put this award on my CV. I’m looking forward to continuing with the research and hope to use the Understanding Society data more.”