Congratulations to Professor Dominic Abrams, OBE, who has been recognised with a senior career award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) – the world’s largest organisation of personality and social psychologists and Division 8 of the American Psychological Association.
The award, titled the Donald T. Campbell award, recognises significant scholarly achievement and consistent research excellence carried out over a recipient’s career in social psychology.
Abrams, who is a Professor of Social Psychology and the Director of the Centre for the Study of Group Processes in Kent’s School of Psychology, was nominated for the award for shaping social psychology across the world with his research, leadership and public engagement.
In an impressive career spanning over 40 years, Professor Abrams has made foundational contributions to social identity, group processes, prejudice, discrimination, social exclusion, leadership, social cohesion, gerontology, organisational psychology and developmental social psychology. He has published an extraordinarily large body of books and publications, alongside major policy reports and is Chief and founding editor of the journal Group Processes and Intergroup Relations.
Professor Abrams has worked closely with charities in the third sector (such as Belong, Age UK, Show Racism the Red Card, the Anne Frank Trust and People United) and has held advisory, consultative and research roles for different areas of UK Government. He has also been involved in designs of national surveys with ONS, NatCen, and the European Social Survey, as well as with the Equality and Human Rights Commission for which he and colleagues at Kent developed the UK’s Benchmark surveys of Prejudice. He is currently British Academy’s Vice President for Public Policy.
On receiving the Donald T. Campbell award, Professor Abrams said: ‘I am deeply honoured and grateful to receive this award, which is also reflection of the support, work and commitment of collaborators and colleagues nationally and internationally, along with generations of graduate students and postdocs at the Centre for the Study of Group Processes who have shared my journey through research and its policy implications.’
Dr Jim Everett, who is a Reader in Psychology at Kent and who nominated Professor Abrams for the Award, said: ‘Professor Abrams is a scholar whose work matters deeply: it matters for academics, but it also fundamentally matters for governments, institutions, and the public. I can also speak personally to his institutional legacy and ongoing role as a mentor. He exemplifies a career of distinctive, lasting, and field-shaping contribution. I can think of few scholars whose research, leadership, and impact have left such a profound mark on social psychology internationally.’