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Professor Alice Sullivan (UCL Social Research Institute) is one of six researchers shortlisted for the 2025 John Maddox Prize.

Professor Sullivan, Professor of Sociology and Head of Research at the UCL Social Research Institute, has been shortlisted for the 2025 Nature Awards for Standing Up For Science; the John Maddox Prize.

The Maddox prize is an internationally recognised award celebrating researchers who have stood up for science and evidence-based policy in the face of adversity. 

Professor Sullivan's research focuses on social and educational inequalities in the life course, including social class and sex differences in educational attainment, single-sex and co-educational schooling, cultural capital, reading for pleasure, social mobility and health inequalities. She has also written about conflicts between scholarly and scientific values and gender identity politics.

In February 2024, Professor Sullivan was asked by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to conduct an independent review into the collection of accurate data and statistics on biological sex.

Her subsequent report, published in March this year, advocated for the collection of high-quality data on biological sex to enable both good research and for effective policymaking across fields, including health and social care, crime and justice, education and the economy. The report also highlights the need to distinguish between biological sex and gender identity in data collection.

The Maddox Prize judges said Professor Sullivan was nominated for her influential social research and for leading an effort to restore clarity, utility, and empiricism to the recording of sex and gender identity across public sector statistics, so that they could be used for reliable research. They also highlighted the difficult climate in which she set out the need, and her persistence and thoughtfulness in describing the value of clarity and impartiality to everyone in society.  

Tracey Brown, Director of Sense about Science and Maddox prize judge, recently said:

“We are seeing attempts to suppress scientific findings now frequently targeting researchers’ employment rather than their data. It’s not new – we’ve seen cases of corporations doing this in past years of the Maddox award – but it’s disturbing to see governments and civil society organisations doing it.

“People should not be tempted to join in with these underhand tactics and normalise them. Anything short of open discussion of evidence is a loss of power to society.”

The Maddox Prize is awarded by Nature Awards and the science communication charity Sense about Science. The winners will be announced in October 2025 following final deliberations by the judging panel.

Links

• Professor Alice Sullivan‘s academic profile
• UCL Social Research Institute
• IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education & Society
• Maddox Prize 2025 shortlist
• Independent review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender

Media contact

Sophie Hunter

T: +44 (0)7747 565 056

E: sophie.hunter@ucl.ac.uk