Episode description

People who win awards tend to win more awards in the future. Even putting yourself forward for self-nominated awards falls along the lines of privilege and confidence. And even if you win awards, there is no guarantee that it will have a positive impact on your research career as measured by traditional metrics of success. How can we diversify the talents we celebrate and support, and ensure that no groundbreaking discoveries are overlooked, to truly tackle the global challenges we are facing as a society?

This is something Suze chatted about with Dr Gilbert De Gregorio, Associate Director of the Frontiers Planetary Prize. Suze and Gilbert also chat about the benefits of prize programs in encouraging and rewarding creativity in overcoming global challenges, and how prize committees must look beyond those who are victims of the "success snowball" to find the most innovative people and ideas.

Read more here⁠ and ⁠watch the episode here⁠.

Series lead and interviewer: ⁠Dr Suze Kundu⁠, Director of Researcher and Community Engagement, ⁠Digital Science⁠. Filming and production support: Huw James, Science Story Lab. Filmed at Falling Walls 2023 in Berlin, Germany. Recorded in November 2023.