Awards and recognition - MRC e-Val 2010
Awards and recognition within the research environment are essential factors to maintaining staff retention, enhancing new scientific collaborations and profile-raising for the unit or institute. Encouragingly, the number of contributions to the e-Val Awards and Recognition section by MRC researchers has doubled over the past year (5,731 entries.) We requested information about the prizes, awards and other types of recognition given to our scientists.
The results demonstrate the wide variety of ways in which scientists are recognised. Some 1,234 individual researchers reported such awards/recognition (51 per cent of principal investigators submitting an MRC e-Val return) and the information highlighted the very significant contribution that UK researchers have made and continue to make to science and society internationally.
The response revealed that whether that recognition is membership of editorial boards and learned societies or the awarding of research prizes, it is vital to developing the scientist’s career. For example, our researchers demonstrated that being invited to sit on the editorial board of a journal (748 entries) not only raises their profile within the scientific community but also helps to develop collaborative relationships and improve appreciation of a specific research field. MRC e-Val statistics clearly show that the value of acknowledgement extends far beyond the initial gesture.
