The Academy of Social Sciences has conferred the award of Fellow on 40 outstanding social scientists – including Professor Tom Crick MBE of Swansea University.
The Academy’s Fellowship is made up of distinguished individuals from academic, public, private and third sectors, across the full spectrum of the social sciences. Through leadership, scholarship, applied research, policymaking, and practice, they have helped to deepen the understanding of, and address, some of the toughest challenges facing our society and the world.
All Academy Fellows are conferred following independent and robust peer review by the Academy’s Nominations Committee. They are selected based on the substantial contributions they have made to research, policy and practice, and for going above and beyond the normal requirements of their roles.
Tom Crick is Professor of Digital & Policy and Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Civic Mission at Swansea University. His interests sit at the research/policy/practice interface: from education, public policy, and digital economy and infrastructure, through to data science, computational intelligence and cyber resilience. His recent impactful contributions stems from national and international scrutiny of the Welsh education system, and he is primarily recognised for leading the reforms of science and technology education in Wales for more than a decade, underpinned by his research in computer science education.
Professor Crick was appointed MBE in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to computer science and the promotion of computer science education. In 2020, he was awarded the British Educational Research Association’s individual Public Engagement and Impact Award for “Leading the Future of Science and Technology Education in Wales”, as well as being elected Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, the national academy for science and the arts.
On receiving the award from the Academy, Professor Crick said: “I am delighted to join the many distinguished Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences, which reflects the diverse and often highly interdisciplinary nature of social science research and impact in the UK and internationally.”
Will Hutton FAcSS, President of the Academy of Social Sciences, said: "The Academy of Social Sciences is delighted to welcome an excellent range of highly distinguished social scientists to join our ranks - as the work of social science become ever more important. We look forward to engaging with them in our work."