Dr Jamie Lachman and Professor Lucie Cluver win O2RB Excellence in Impact Award

O2RB Excellence in Impact Award Winners 2021: Dr Jamie Lachman and Professor Lucie Cluver

Congratulations to Dr Jamie Lachman and Professor Lucie Cluver for being among this year’s recipients of the O²RB Excellence in Impact Award. The O²RB Excellence in Impact Awards, supported by the University of Oxford’s ESRC Impact Acceleration Account, recognise and reward social scientists whose research has achieved excellent economic and social impact.

Dr Lachman and Professor Cluver received the award for the scale-up of evidence-based parenting programmes for more than 196 million people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Jamie Lachman and Professor Lucie Cluver’s COVID-19 Playful Parenting Resources have reached more than 196 million people around the world since March 2020, helping to reduce violence against children and improving child wellbeing during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered unprecedented stress for families around the world, with the pressures of lockdowns, economic crises, and mental health distress corresponding to a significant increase in violence against children. With school closure leaving some 1.8 billion children out of school, Dr Lachman and Professor Cluver pivoted rapidly to form an interagency emergency response: in collaboration with international partners, they adapted their evidence-based Parenting for Lifelong Health programmes into easily accessible ‘playful parenting resources’, which were swiftly endorsed by multinational agencies including the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, UNODC, USAID, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Early Childhood Development Action Network, and the Global Partnership to End Violence.

Reacting to their award, Dr Lachman and Professor Cluver said, ‘We are delighted to receive this recognition for the impact of our research that was made possible by an unprecedented global collaboration across sectors in such a time of crisis. The impacts of COVID-19 will continue to affect the lives of children and families for many years. Our research teams continue to work together with partners to make sure that every parent, everywhere has access to evidence-based parenting support that is accessible, informative, and useful.’

To hear Dr Lachman and Professor Cluver’s inspirational story register on the Social Science Division website to watch the Awards ceremony, live-streamed from Oxford University’s Museum of Natural History on 19 October 2021, from 6pm.