The Medical Research Council’s (MRC) prizes recognises the breadth and diversity of skilled people needed for the future biomedical research and development workforce.
MRC Impact Prize
The MRC Impact Prize celebrates outstanding individuals and teams across a broad career stage who have made transformative impacts in three areas:
- open science impact
- outstanding team impact
- early career impact
Dr Joan Chang from The University of Manchester was awarded the Early Career Impact Prize for her work championing the institutional postdoctoral community since 2017.
Professor Paul Denny from Durham University accepted the Outstanding Team Impact Prize on behalf of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs).
The Open Science Impact Prize was awarded to the OpenSAFELY Collaborative, led by Professor Ben Goldacre at the University of Oxford.
Each winner received £20,000 to widen the outreach or impact of their work or to advance their learning or development
At the award ceremony in June, MRC also celebrated the highly commended entries in each category.
MRC Millennium Medal
The MRC Millennium Medal celebrates an exceptional researcher who has made a major contribution to MRC’s mission. This was awarded to Professor Sir Simon Baron-Cohen in recognition of his contributions to many aspects of autism research, to typical cognitive sex differences, and to synaesthesia research.
Diverse contributions
Professor Patrick Chinnery, MRC Executive Chair, said:
The MRC Impact Prize commend the outstanding achievements of our research community within the UK and abroad. The 2023 finalists embody an extraordinary diversity of discipline, and background, showcasing the rich talent driving forward world-class science and innovation.
We are also delighted to award the 2023 MRC Millennium Medal to Professor Sir Simon Baron-Cohen. Simon’s ground-breaking contributions to the field of medical research reflect a career dedicated not just to scientific excellence but to fostering an inclusive research environment and nurturing the next generation of scientists within the UK and globally.
Congratulations to all the winners.
Honouring autism researchers
Professor Baron-Cohen said:
I am honoured to receive this award which recognises the research we have done towards understanding what causes autism and what support is effective for autistic people who need it.
Our research would not have been possible without teamwork, with successive generations of PhD students and postdocs handing the baton on to the next, working with autistic people to understand their difficulties and respecting their differences, strengths and talents.
Read more about Simon’s impact.
Celebrating impact
Upon receipt of their awards, the MRC Impact Prize winners shared their acknowledgements.
Dr Joan Chang said:
I was really shocked and honoured to win the Early Career Impact Prize, as the other finalists are all doing such impactful work as well.
The award means a lot as it provides invaluable support to the UK National Postdoctoral Appreciation Week (NPAW) activities and highlights the importance of postdocs in our scientific community, and we hope to use this to establish a legacy plan for future NPAW activities.
Professor Paul Denny said:
The entire NTD Network global team was united in their joy in receiving the MRC Outstanding Team Impact Prize.
In the receipt of this, we hope that our equitable approach to laboratory science in infectious disease endemic countries will be seen as a positive example to others engaged in international collaborative efforts, whatever the field of endeavour.
Caroline Walters said:
It means a lot to all of us at the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science to win this award as we purposefully designed OpenSAFELY to make it easy for us, our researchers, partners and collaborators to work in the open.
All the OpenSAFELY code is published in the open and anyone can inspect any job that is running at any time. Being open holds all of us to account the more open we are, the better people understand what we do.
Further information
UK NPAW
Dr Joan Chang launched NPAW as a free online event, created to ensure all postdoctorals, regardless of their background, personal circumstances, or employment, are recognised for their valuable contribution to university life and wider society.
Dr Chang has been a passionate advocate championing her institutional postdoctoral community since 2017, initially as a faculty representative.
Dr Chang’s own experience as a postdoctoral representative, and minority international researcher, who has experienced different research cultures through multiple international postings led her to identify the significant gap in recognising and celebrating diverse research staff across the sector.
Global Network for NTDs
The MRC Global Challenges Research Fund-funded Global Network for NTDs brought together over 500 researchers from 13 institutes around the world, via new collaborative research teams focused on Leishmaniasis and Chagas disease.
The network sought to democratise and decolonise the field, through growing laboratory research capacity and expertise in endemic countries across Asia and South America. It has made significant scientific advances.
Its cross-disciplinary partnerships with endemic country scientists have demonstrated globally equitable working practices. This exemplar brought in and influenced private sector collaborators, revealing the network’s most tangible legacy and impact.
The OpenSAFELY platform
The OpenSAFELY platform was developed during COVID-19 to provide researchers with access to the GP records of England’s 58 million citizens. The team also created new working methods that make modern, open science the automatic default.
The platform makes it easy for other users to read, understand, evaluate, amend, or reuse data.
Hundreds of researchers from 22 institutions use OpenSAFELY. It has delivered critical research in major journals like Nature, the Lancet, and the BMJ. OpenSAFELY has also successfully fostered a culture of openness among researchers using GP patient records.
Professor Sir Simon Baron-Cohen
Simon Baron-Cohen is a Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, and a Fellow at Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. He is the Director of the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge, which he set up in 1997.
He has published over 750 peer-reviewed scientific articles, which have made contributions to many aspects of autism research, to typical cognitive sex differences, and synaesthesia research.
Among his basic science discoveries are degrees of ‘mindblindness’ in autism:
- that autism can be diagnosed at 18 months of age
- the role of the amygdala in autism
- that autistic traits can be measured
- the genetic links between systemising and autism
- the role of prenatal sex steroids in autism
MRC also celebrates his work in the public communication of science, and his success in promoting public understanding of neurodiversity and the human rights of autistic people.
Top image: Celebrating the MRC research community in London. Credit: MRC, Joel Knight