BSG Outstanding Achievement Award 2011

After much discussion, and in this our 40th anniversary year, the BSG Outstanding Achievement Award 2011 was presented at this year’s Annual Conference in Plymouth to three giants in the field of social gerontology: Professors Sara Arber, Chris Phillipson and Tony Warnes. All three of them are truly outstanding academics who are known globally. All three have contributed to British social gerontology in different but very important ways.

• Sara Arber is Co-founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Ageing and Gender at the University of Surrey. She has made numerous major scientific contributions on gender and informal care giving, health, pensions and, latterly, sleep in later life. Her research on gender and ageing with Jay Ginn is seminal and widely regarded as such. She currently leads a large NDA project on sleep. She was previously President of both the BSA and the ISA Research Committee on Ageing. Sara has also played a substantial role in training the next generation of researchers, with 39 PhD completions to her name. Hers is a remarkably deep and wide-ranging contribution.

• Chris Phillipson is founder and previous Director of the Centre for Social Gerontology at Keele University. He was President of the BSG from 2004-06. Chris has made major academic contributions across a wide front of gerontology: the social construction of ageing, retirement, older workers, urban ageing and critical gerontology. Unusually Chris has made significant contributions to both theoretical development and policy/practice applications in gerontology. He has generated a huge publication list of high quality outputs that shows no sign of waning. He has also been an active campaigner for older people’s rights for many years. This represents an enormous contribution to social gerontology in the UK and globally.

• Tony Warnes was instrumental in establishing both the Age Concern Institute of Gerontology at King’s and the Sheffield Institute for Studies on Ageing. He has made a massive contribution to the BSG and wider gerontology, perhaps most importantly through his 23 year association with the journal Ageing and Society, during which time he orchestrated a huge increase in its productivity, a broadening of its content and an increased international profile. Tony is one of the founders of environmental gerontology and his 17 year collaboration with Maureen Crane has benefited some of the most deprived older people in the UK. He is a past President of the BSG, was influential in establishing the Averil Osborn Fund and has played a major role in raising the profile of social gerontology.
Our heartfelt congratulations go to all three of them as do our thanks for their continuing support of the Society.

At its 2007 Sheffield annual conference, the British Society of Gerontology established this award (previously known as the Alan Walker Prize) to honour the lifetime achievement and massive contribution made to British and international Social Gerontology of its first recipient,  Alan Walker. It is now an annual competitive award supported by nominations from the members of the British Society of Gerontology (henceforth the Society). A small judging committee has been established, chaired by Alan Walker and comprising Tony Maltby (Universities of Sheffield and Leicester) who will act as Secretary to the committee; Andrew Harrop (Age UK); Jim Soulsby (University of Leicester and Association for Education and Ageing); the President, Miriam Bernard; Past-President, Judith Phillips and President-Elect of the Society, Robin Means. We shall hope to expand the committee in the near future to include past recipients of the award.

The award is made annually to an individual or organisation that, in the opinion of the judges, has made a significant and lasting contribution to British Social Gerontology. This might be through for example, campaigning, teaching, lobbying, service provision, fundraising, journalism and research. In particular, the award is made to an individual or organisation that has made a significant impact on the policy process and through this helped improve the quality of life of older people. It is important to note that it is not intended for an academic contribution alone. Nominees, who should be consulted before any nomination is made, do not have to be current members of the Society but will be encouraged to join. In the unlikely event that the committee agree that none of the nominees meet the criteria of the award they then can make an award outside of the nominations received. The judges’ decision will be final and they will not enter into any communication about that decision. Previous winners include Baroness Sally Greengross and Tessa Harding.