We are thrilled to announce the prize for the 2025 Carol Weiss Award winning paper published in Evidence & Policy. The Carol Weiss Prize is in honour of Dr Carol Weiss, the first North American Editor of Evidence & Policy, and a pivotal contributor and thinker to our field. The award is given every two years to early career contributors to the journal.
This award cycle, we are delighted to announce that the winners of the 2025 Carol Weiss Prize are Lise Moawad and Dr Sebastian Ludwicki-Ziegler for their Evidence & Policy article, ‘Social studies, technology assessment and the pandemic: a comparative analysis of social studies-based policy advice in PTA institutions in France, Germany and the UK during the COVID-19 crisis’.
Why was this article selected?
“Dr Ludwicki-Ziegler and Moawad did an exemplary job employing theoretically driven and an innovative multi-method approach to examine the use of social studies in parliamentary technology assessment (PTA) processes during the time of the COVID-19 global pandemic across three unique countries. They found that social studies were rarely identified as a subject of interest, but rather as a complement to STEM and tool-provider ready to use-kits. Furthermore, it was only used under unique conditions in which ethical questions were raised. This article notably stresses the importance of policy and practice, by identifying gaps in disciplinary representation within policymaking, as well as the need to create and build more opportunity structures for social studies scholars’ expertise and representation”.
We would also like to give an honourable mention to Dr Petra Mäkelä who led the piece with Drs Annette Boaz and Kathryn Oliver, ‘The Capabilities in Academic Policy Engagement (CAPE) programme in England: a mixed methods evaluation’.
Comments from the prize panel
“Dr Mäkelä and colleagues offer an innovative modification to an action framework to help support, as well as rigorously evaluate academic-policy engagement processes. Such frameworks are critical to our field and we applaud their leadership.”
Read the original research in Evidence & Policy:
Moawad, L. & Ludwicki-Ziegler, S. (2025). Social studies, technology assessment and the pandemic: a comparative analysis of social studies-based policy advice in PTA institutions in France, Germany and the UK during the COVID-19 crisis. Evidence & Policy, DOI: 10.1332/17442648Y2024D000000043. OPEN ACCESS
Mäkelä, P., Boaz, A. & Oliver, K. (2025). The Capabilities in Academic Policy Engagement (CAPE) programme in England: a mixed methods evaluation. Evidence & Policy, DOI: 10.1332/17442648Y2025D000000050. OPEN ACCESS
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