Blood Bricks has been awarded “Research Project of the Year: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences” by the Times Higher Education Awards 2020.
The “Research Project of the Year” is awarded to the individual or team at a UK HE institution for innovative arts, humanities or social sciences research that has a far-reaching impact and has caught, or has the potential to catch, the imagination of the public.
The judges were ‘overwhelmingly impressed’ by the Blood Bricks project as ‘a commendable example of skilled, interventionist research’ that told ‘clearly and effectively’ the ‘sobering stories’ of those trapped in debt bondage.
It had also “found excellent ways of publicising its findings and means by which to draw political attention to them, including high-profile transnational media reporting and governmental briefings. Its impacts include pending legal action in the United Nations, and material made available locally for wage negotiations, legislative change and action on child labour.”
The project was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The photographer on the project was Thomas Cristofoletti and the graphic designers Bison Bison.
Royal Holloway have released this press release.