Lifetime achievement award for Sir David Hendry

At a ceremony last night he was given the Celebrating Impact Lifetime Achievement Award. Sir David is Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford and Director of the Programme in Economic Modelling in the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School.

Dr Sabina Alkire, from the Oxford Department of International Development, and Dr Stuart Basten, from the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, were also honoured with ESRC prizes for Outstanding International Impact.

Professor Paul Boyle, Chief Executive of the ESRC, said: 'This is our second annual Celebrating Impact Prize and we are delighted to celebrate those who have derived particularly significant economic and societal impact from their work.  The breadth of impacts rewarded by the prize demonstrates the range of issues that social science research contributes to, offering solutions to the many challenges our society faces. We are particularly pleased to honour the achievements of Professor Sir David Hendry, University of Oxford, with a lifetime award which acknowledges his sustained contribution.'

Professor Hendry has developed macroeconomic models capturing how economies work, which are now embedded in software widely used by policymakers and decision-makers. The award recognises his work, which has influenced public policy, business and society in the UK and in other countries and global institutions. He has contributed to work by HM Treasury and Ofcom in the UK, as well as the International Monetary Fund and central banks including the US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank. The award is also recognition of the commitment he has shown to training others over several decades.

Commenting on the award, Torbjørn Hægeland, Director of Research at Statistics Norway, said: 'Professor David Hendry's contributions have exerted a great influence on the way we do practical econometric work. In particular, the automatic models election programme, Autometrics, is used extensively to guide improved empirical modelling, especially when there are structural shifts, avoiding wasted time on incorrect formulations so our economists can focus on analysis and specification.'

Dr Stuart Basten's work on Asian fertility helped convince the United Nations to revise its influential forecasts on future population trends, with particularly large effects for Pacific Asian economies.

Meanwhile, with the help of an ESRC-DFID grant, Dr Sabina Alkire and Professor James Foster of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) developed an innovative poverty measure known as the Alkire Foster (AF) method. This multidimensional poverty index is helping governments and organisations globally to design more effective programmes for reducing poverty.