SPS research data visualisation project is runner-up in Times Higher Education Awards
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An innovative School of Social and Political Science (SPS) project about using interactive data to improve research impact and engage new audiences was a runner up in the Times Higher Education Awards 2025.
The project – ‘From static poster to dynamic dialogue: improving research impact with interactive data’ – was shortlisted in the Technological or Digital Innovation of the Year category.
This is a collaboration by the School’s Media and Content Officer Marie Storrar and Sociology Senior Lecturer Dr Tod Van Gunten.
THE announced the winners at the awards ceremony on at Edinburgh International Conference Centre. The awards saw over 500 entries and sought out “work that exemplifies clarity of vision, the innovative delivery of teaching, research and administration, and even, when required, displays of expert strategising and rebuilding.”
Reimagining the traditional academic poster
Marie and Tod collaborated to reimagine the traditional academic poster, using interactive data-visualisation techniques to transform dense research into an exploratory experience aimed at engaging non-specialist audiences.
The approach enables users - from policymakers to members of the public - to actively investigate findings, personalising data to their own needs. The scalable, replicable model can enhance the real-world impact of academic research.
Researching cultural diffusion in music streaming
The project is based on research by Tod and Teaching Fellow in Quantitative Methods Aybuke Atalay around modelling cultural diffusion on music streaming platforms.
- This pdf explains more about the shortlisted project.
- You can use the interactive data visualisation tool here.
- Tod explains more about the project in this video.