Impact

ESRC Honors Aston University’s CREME for Outstanding Business Impact

December 21, 2021 1797
ESRC Celebrating Impact logo

The Celebrating Impact competition recognizes and rewards researchers who have achieved impact through outstanding research, knowledge exchange activities, collaborative partnerships, and engagement with different communities – and who received funding from Britain’s Economic and Social Research Council.

Since it was established nine years ago, the Celebrating Impact Prize has highlighted and recognized some of the ways in which ESRC-funded research impacts the economy and society. This year’s awards especially reflect contributions being made by the social sciences to helping communities and businesses navigate the challenges facing us including recovery from the global pandemic is critical to not only the UK but also globally.

All winners and finalists have demonstrated the impact of their work and illustrated its relevance and importance to society. They are already contributing to policy debates in their specialist areas and their influence will continue in years to come. 

This year’s prize categories are Outstanding Early Career Impact; Outstanding Business and Enterprise Impact; Outstanding International Impact; Outstanding Public Policy Impact; and Outstanding Societal Impact. Below we highlight the Outstanding Business and Enterprise Impact winners. Check back for future blog posts focusing on the other prize categories. 


Monder Ram OBE is the director of the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship at Aston University.

Outstanding Business and Enterprise Impact 

The Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CRÈME) won the Outstanding Business and Enterprise Impact Award from the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize 2021.

The UK’s 250,000 ethnic minority businesses contribute more than £25 billion to the economy. Ninety percent of these firms are microbusinesses with one to nine employees. In 2019 an ESRC-funded research collaboration led by professor Monder Ram of Aston University and Dr. Imelda McCarthy, both from CREME, explored productivity in a sector where management processes are frequently informal and business support or HR interventions are often absent. 

Productivity from Below is an ESRC-funded collaboration between researchers, business, and civil society partners. It has enhanced productivity among ethnic minority microbusinesses, ensured they accessed the right funding and support during the pandemic. It has helped organizations like Ashley Community Housing, Punch Records, and Citizens UK secure as a combined value over £3 million of funding to support more than 1,000 female and migrant entrepreneurs. 

Some other impacts that Productivity from Below has had are: 

  • Supported Bangladeshi caterers to use social media as a new business model to increase takeaway trade during the COVID-19 pandemic.  
  • Established a peer support and leadership development program, ‘The P Word’, providing urgent commercial guidance to microbusinesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
  • Built the future capacity of practitioner partners and participating firms to support local businesses through £500,000 of additional funding for four PhD students to research the implementation of Productivity from Below initiatives 

Learn more about Ram’s research, CRÈME, and Productivity from Below here: 

Hailey Lanford is a senior at The George Washington University, studying English and linguistics. She is a SAGE global communications intern, Virginia Young Poets in the Community fellow, and enjoys exploring Washington, D.C.

View all posts by Hailey Lanford

Related Articles

Canada’s Storytellers Challenge Seeks Compelling Narratives About Student Research
Communication
November 21, 2024

Canada’s Storytellers Challenge Seeks Compelling Narratives About Student Research

Read Now
Tom Burns, 1959-2024: A Pioneer in Learning Development 
Impact
November 5, 2024

Tom Burns, 1959-2024: A Pioneer in Learning Development 

Read Now
Alondra Nelson Named to U.S. National Science Board
Announcements
October 18, 2024

Alondra Nelson Named to U.S. National Science Board

Read Now
Viewing 2024 Economics Nobel Through Lens of Colonialism’s Impact on Institutions
Recognition
October 15, 2024

Viewing 2024 Economics Nobel Through Lens of Colonialism’s Impact on Institutions

Read Now
Research Assessment, Scientometrics, and Qualitative v. Quantitative Measures

Research Assessment, Scientometrics, and Qualitative v. Quantitative Measures

The creation of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) has led to a heated debate on the balance between peer review and evaluative metrics in research assessment regimes. Luciana Balboa, Elizabeth Gadd, Eva Mendez, Janne Pölönen, Karen Stroobants, Erzsebet Toth Cithra and the CoARA Steering Board address these arguments and state CoARA’s commitment to finding ways in which peer review and bibliometrics can be used together responsibly.

Read Now
Paper to Advance Debate on Dual-Process Theories Genuinely Advanced Debate

Paper to Advance Debate on Dual-Process Theories Genuinely Advanced Debate

Sage 1125 Impact

Psychologists Jonathan St. B. T. Evans and Keith E. Stanovich have a history of publishing important research papers that resonate for years.

Read Now
Webinar: Fundamentals of Research Impact

Webinar: Fundamentals of Research Impact

Sage 1042 Event, Impact

Whether you’re in a research leadership position, working in research development, or a researcher embarking on their project, creating a culture of […]

Read Now
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments