Professor Andy Stirling has been conferred the award of Fellow by the Academy of Social Sciences (ACSS), who announced the news on Friday 31 March 2017.

The 47 new Fellows have been selected from across the social sciences, and include academics, practitioners and policymakers. They have been recognised after an extensive peer review process for the excellence and impact of their work through the use of social science for public benefit.

Professor Stirling is a leading interdisciplinary social scientist, working on issues around governance of science, research and innovation. Serving on many policy advisory committees for the UK and EU on issues around uncertainty, sustainability and democracy, he is the  developer of the widely used ‘Stirling Index’ of diversity and the multicriteria mapping method for exploring uncertainties.

Among many projects, he co-directs the ESRC-funded STEPS Centre (hosted jointly by SPRU and the Institute of Development Studies), is a Co-I for the Nexus Network and the Founder and Principal of a University of Sussex enterprise based around multicriteria mapping. A longstanding member of the Sussex Energy Group, he is currently researching issues around nuclear power, climate geoengineering, emerging technologies, reframing concepts of security, ‘responsible innovation’ and the discontinuing of entrenched technological systems.

Professor Stirling comments:

“Research is a deeply collaborative process, so I am very fortunate to have been recognised in this way. My own debt is due to the commitment and mutualism of the many inspirational interdisciplinary researchers I’ve been lucky enough to work with.”

Announcing the conferment, Chair of the Academy Professor Roger Goodman FAcSS said:

“The outstanding contributions of each new Fellow are a testament to the breadth of the social sciences, both in their ability to inform policy for public benefit, as well as in addressing some of our most pressing societal issues. The range of expertise of our more than 1,100 eminent Fellows speaks to the Academy’s growing reach as the representative voice of the social science community as a whole.”

View the full list of 47 new Fellows on the ACSS website.