Prize looks to showcase work of housing’s up-and-coming researchers
The Thinkhouse Early Career Researcher’s Prize has launched and is looking to showcase the work of up-and-coming researchers and bring new thinking to the sector.
Housing researchers in the early stages of their careers are being given the chance to showcase their work and ideas with the launch of the Early Career Researcher’s Prize.
The prize, run by Thinkhouse, a website that collates and critiques housing research, is looking to promote the work of housing researchers and help bring new thinking to the sector. The competition, in its third year, is open to people with up to eight years’ research experience.
The winning entry will be covered in Inside Housing and on the Thinkhouse website – and the authors will be awarded a £500 prize.
Entries are encouraged from the voluntary sector, thinktanks, housing associations, local authorities and journalists.
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Richard Hyde, founder and editorial panel chair of Thinkhouse, said he thinks it is crucial for the housing sector to seek out and showcase new thinking and ideas.
“The shortage of social housing is a national problem,” he said. “We have a huge body of material from very well respected institutions that provide solutions. However, we have to reflect that much of this great work has not influenced policymakers.
“Giving a new and fresh voice a forum to give their analysis a wider readership gives us all a chance of resolving the supply problem and the social and economic issues that have arisen.”
He added that he hopes the prize will excite researchers in the early stage of their careers with “the chance to make a difference”.
He said he is looking for a winning entry that is “more practical than theoretical”.
“Policymakers have many constraints and need to see how they can implement new ideas,” he added.
The competition is open to candidates with or without a PhD, and those working within academic or non-academic institutions. The preference is for papers that cover ways to increase the amount and quality of the UK’s housing stock and the related economic, social and community benefits of doing so.
The two previous winners of the prize are Ant Breach, senior analyst at the Centre for Cities, and Anya Martin, director of PricedOut.
Kirsty Hickson, a consultant at Altair who is one of the judges of this year’s competition, said the prize is an opportunity for individuals to showcase new ideas and concepts but also for individuals to shape their careers.
She said she is looking for ideas that “are going to be able to be implemented, that will be able to drive change in the sector, whether through new ways of working, enabling the delivery of new or improved homes” or that can improve people’s quality of life.
“Believe in yourself and that the work you do is important and can actually change people’s lives,” she added. “Take a leap of faith.”
The judges will consider think pieces, review papers synthesising existing evidence and policy analysis, and papers sharing the findings of original empirical research or investigative journalism. Journal articles or other papers already published or under review will be accepted.
Submissions should be between 4,000 and 8,000 words and submitted in an MS Word format, which includes the following information: author name(s), institutional affiliation, current job title, email address, paper title, 200-word abstract and a word count.
Judges, including members of the Thinkhouse editorial panel, sponsors (Altair, Aster and L&Q) and Inside Housing will focus their assessments on the following criteria:
- Writing style/clarity
- Engagement with literature and theory
- Methods
- Empirical rigour/theoretical depth
- Strength of conclusions
- The extent of how the research is outcome and impact-focused so that it contributes to useful knowledge exchange
- The scalability of the research (ie the scope to make a widespread difference)
Papers must be submitted to info@thinkhouse.org.uk by the end of September 2022.
