AHSS Faculty Winners

Research award

Emma Soye

(School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics) - Nominated by 2 individuals

"We are nominating Dr Emma Soye in recognition of her exceptional achievements in 2023/4. Since September 2023, Emma has published eight articles on topics of political and social significance, including third sector support for refugees and asylum seekers, teachers’ responses to gang-involved youth, and cross-national policy on migration and education. She has also published a book, Peer Relationships at School: New Perspectives on Migration and Diversity (Bristol University Press). Foregrounding experiences of care, mutual learning and solidarity, her work has been described as offering a “refreshing insight into young people’s capacity to live with difference”.

Emma has made an outstanding contribution to the North-South funded ‘MISTE’ project on approaches to language and migrant/refugee integration, successfully leading recruitment of community organisations; designing and conducting primary research; disseminating findings via talks in Galway and Salamanca; and organising a workshop series on multilingualism and translation at the Linen Hall Library, Belfast. Furthermore, she has recently been awarded a prestigious and highly competitive Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship for a study entitled ‘The bus as interface: Negotiating new differences in a transitional society’ (commencing September 2024).  The significance and impact of her work in 2023/4 make her an outstanding candidate for this award." 

Citizenship and Outreach award

Maurice Casey

(School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics) - Nominated by 3 individuals

"Dr Maurice Casey joined Queen’s (February 2022) as a Research Associate on the AHRC-funded project ‘Queer Northern Ireland: Sexuality before Liberation’ project. In this academic year his contribution has enabled the project to reach new and significant audiences in Britain and Ireland. He has featured as a “talking head” on Irish television, had his exciting research findings described in the local press, and created his own queer theatrical performance that played to a sellout crowd of mostly younger people (a demographic that is usually poorly represented in academic-public history projects).

Maurice is an expert in the history of intimacy and is conveying his research to large and new audiences. His book – a strikingly original ‘intimate history’ of Communist radicals - will be published in August by a trade press and is for a non-academic readership; advance copies are already making waves in the literary world. Maurice is also promoting the external academic work of HAPP, and the Centre for Public History in particular. He is organising a conference in 2024, among other public lectures, and has forged important internationalising relationships with USA partners. Maurice has thus been a valued colleague who has significantly enriched the outreach and impact of History."

The Postdoc Awards aim to recognise the exceptional contributions of postdocs to the University. In particular, they aim to reward those who excel in what they do, who “go the extra-mile” in their research, in their contribution to the life of the University, in their contribution to Public Engagement and in the provision of support for their group, colleagues, School etc.