Annual Report 2015-2016 The National Academy of Academics, Learned Societies and Practitioners in the Social Sciences Content Chair’s report _____________________________ 3 About the Academy ________________________ 4 Shaping policy ____________________________ 6 Taking action _____________________________ 8 Promoting social science ____________________ 10 Engaging the public ________________________ 12 Campaign for Social Science _________________ 14 Who we are _____________________________ 16 Financial overview _________________________ 18 Learned societies _________________________ 19 To contact the Academy: Academy of Social Sciences 33 Finsbury Square London EC2A 1AG [email protected] +44 (0)20 7682 4662 More on our work: www.acss.org.uk twitter.com/AcadSocSciences www.facebook.com/CfSocialScience Company registered in England, number 3847936, Registered charity number 1088537 2 Chair’s report It gives me great pleasure to introduce the Academy of Social Sciences’ Annual Report, reflecting on the successes of the past year and looking ahead to what we hope to achieve into the future. Following the adept leadership of Professor Sir Cary Cooper CBE FAcSS, who stepped down as Chair in 2015, the Academy has built on his legacy with steady growth and positive change. In 2016 we completed our strategic review. This offered an opportunity to assess our progress which produced important recommendations. We have now moved to implement several of these, including enhancing the Academy’s Fellowship through the conferment of more than 40 new Fellows from Roger Goodman the social science practitioner community. This will ensure we continue to represent the rich diversity we confront new and emerging challenges, Brexit of expertise across all social science disciplines. We paramount among them. Our work will continue have also introduced a new database to help improve to evolve in breadth and in scope as we make communication with our membership. the strong case for the immense public benefit The Academy’s strengthening policy function, both in contribution of social science in policymaking and in the number of consultations it has responded to, as everyday life. We will strengthen partnerships across well as its increasing influence in shaping and framing government to promote the ways social science key reviews, speaks to its growing reputation as a enhances our ability to understand society and rise respected authority in a number of debates. From to many of its challenges, from big data and new the Stern Review, to the Cabinet Office consultation technologies, to political transformations and global on Better Use of Data in Government, to the House health crises. of Commons Science and Technology Committee’s As the Academy’s ability to serve our members and inquiries into the Science Budget and into Science the wider social science community grows, so too will Emergencies, the Academy has increasingly made its our standing as the national academy for the social mark as a significant and versatile player in multiple sciences. We will continue to play a major role in policy areas. fostering innovation and debate so as to strengthen Two areas where we have been particularly active existing links and develop new ones across are around Brexit and the Higher Education and disciplinary boundaries. Research Bill. We have provided commentary and I must express my deep gratitude to all those who issued numerous briefings on both, and have also have helped advance the Academy’s mission. Your given evidence before the House of Lords Science gracious and generous service has been our greatest and Technology Committee on EU membership and strength, and we are confident that your continued UK science after the EU referendum. support will drive our progress as the voice of the The year ahead will be crucial for the Academy, social sciences for the public benefit. and indeed for the social sciences as a whole as Professor Roger Goodman FAcSS Chair of Council 3 About the Academy We are the national academy of academics, learned societies and practitioners in the social sciences The Academy of Social Sciences’ mission is to be the voice of social science in the UK for the public benefit. As the national academy of academics, learned societies and practitioners in the social sciences, the Academy comprises around 1,200 individual Fellows, 42 learned societies and their members, and a number of affiliates. Together these represent nearly 90,000 social scientists, most of them from the UK. Fellows are distinguished scholars and practitioners from academia and the public and private sectors. The award of Fellow is typically given after the Shamit Saggar person nominated is in at least mid-career, with significant achievements to their name, and they must have contributed to social science more broadly than on issues affecting the social sciences. the normal demands of their job. This contribution In 2011, the Academy set up its Campaign for Social can be in the areas of leadership, practical application Science to increase awareness of the contribution of or policy development. Fellows are entitled to use social science to understanding society and the use the post nominal letters ‘FAcSS’. of evidence for public policymaking. Generally, the Academy comments on matters affecting the social “Many of the challenges facing us, from science profession, whereas the Campaign comments climate change to health, involve science on public interest and public policy matters. and social science.” This annual report summarises some of the work we have done to highlight important challenges to science and society: from navigating Brexit and Most of the learned societies in UK social science legislation to reform higher education, to improving are represented within the Academy. These include health policy, addressing ethical principles in research, the main representative bodies for sociologists, and understanding the effects of big data. It gives psychologists, geographers, criminologists, details of our activities, including public lectures and anthropologists, linguists, political scientists, town events which bring social scientific insight to the planners, social researchers, statisticians and others. public. The Academy promotes and publishes research, organises events and contributes to public debates 4 community in 2016 -17, to be achieved through a search process overseen by a working group of existing Fellows who are themselves from the practitioner community. The Academy took a major step towards meeting this objective in its most recent Fellowship conferment in 2016, adding more than 40 new practitioner Fellows. Another outcome is our investment in a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) database. The purpose is both to bring together all member engagements with the Academy, while also providing a searchable database of member disciplines and areas of interest, to enable responses to outside enquiries from journalists or government looking for expertise in certain areas. Growth in membership has enabled the Academy to Louise Ryan and Ivor Crewe raise its capability in many areas needed to support and foster that growth and pursue its underlying STRATEGIC REVIEW objectives. As a result, in October 2015 we moved Following a period of strong growth and our HQ a short distance to a larger office in the development, the Academy initiated a major review University of Liverpool’s London building at 33 of strategy in 2015. This review operated through Finsbury Square, EC2. Our presence there enhances a series of working groups focused on three the Academy’s position corporately, but also brings areas: membership; building our public profile; and very practical benefits as we are able to use other operational development. rooms in the building for meetings and events which helps consolidate our identity in one physical place. One key outcome of the review is to further enhance the Academy’s Fellowship and its We celebrated the move with a well-attended representation of the social science community. housewarming reception and lecture, given by new Council adopted a target of recruiting an additional Fellow, Professor Jenny Phillimore FAcSS of the 100 Fellows from the social science practice University of Birmingham, on migration. Ruth Kattumuri Jan Bebbington 5 Shaping policy We have been glad to have had the benefit of the services of the well-known journalist and Consultations and Policy commentator, David Walker FAcSS, as Head Responses of Policy. In April, he was succeeded by Sharon BBC Trust’s impartiality review into the BBC’s Witherspoon MBE FAcSS, formerly of the Nuffield reporting of statistics (December 2015) Foundation. Dr Ashley Thomas Lenihan also Sense About Science Inquiry into the joined the team as Senior Policy Adviser. Under their nonpublication of government research (January stewardship, the scope and reach of our policy work 2016) has expanded, from responding to consultations, BIS consultation on higher education: teaching to preparing briefings on pressing issues and giving excellence, social mobility and student choice evidence to various parliamentary select committees. (January 2016) We have responded to various consultations DWP Committee on ‘intergenerational fairness’ by public bodies, including select committees, (February 2016) government departments and research councils. Lord Stern’s Review on the Research Excellence Topics ranged from the Higher Education Green Framework (March 2016) Paper on teaching excellence, to the