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Dr Emily Dawson honoured with Philip Leverhulme Prize

19 October 2020

Dr Dawson, Associate Professor, received the prize for her work on the sociology of science, education and cultural studies, exploring and challenging the co-construction of science and structural inequalities in everyday life and popular culture.

STS is delighted to announce that Dr Emily Dawson, Associate Professor, is one of the four UCL researchers to be honoured with a prestigious 2020 Philip Leverhulme Prizes from from the Leverhulme Trust.

Philip Leverhulme Prizes have been awarded annually since 2001 within six broad subject areas that rotate on a three-year cycle. The Prizes are worth £100,000 and honour individuals who have have been awarded their doctoral degree over the past 10 years, within each cycle.

The funding is available over two to three years and expenditure from the award may be used for any purpose related to the advancement of the research or artistic practice of the Prize Winner. 

Dr Dawson received the prize for her work on sociology of science and education, focusing on how structural inequalities affect science experiences outside school, in everyday, popular culture settings. The project in Dr Dawson's application explores the co-construction of ‘race’/ethnicity and science in popular culture. Commenting on her project, Dr Dawson mentioned:

"I believe that popular culture is a crucial space where science and society relationships are negotiated, but people in cultural studies rarely look at science ‘stuff’ and people in science and technology studies rarely look at popular culture (with a few exceptions, of course!). I’m hoping to be able to use the award to explore some of these issues & contribute constructively to how relationships “race”/ethnicity, science and popular culture might be reimagined from anti-racist perspectives." 

When asked about her initial reaction upon finding out about her Prize, Dr Dawson said:

"I was delighted to be awarded one of the prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prizes in Sociology and Social Policy. Past winners are people whose work I regularly draw on and who I look up to in the field. The award means that I will be able to undertake some work that not only fascinates me, but more importantly, that I hope will build a useful, critical analysis of the relationships between science and society through a case study of how ‘race’/ethnicity and science are entangled in popular culture".