Dr Sandra Obradovic and colleagues from the Electoral Psychology Observatory (LSE), Opinium and the British Council have been short-listed for Best International Research 2021 for their work on “The Big Conversation” – Values in international cooperation. OPRC Centre Assistant, Sue Cocklin talks to Sandra about her team’s nomination.
Sue: “You’ve just been shortlisted, along with esteemed colleagues, for an award based on your work with the British Council, please tell us more.
Sandra: The nomination is for research conducted by LSE Enterprise and British Council teams in Malaysia, South Africa and the UK, in partnership with Opinium, a marketing research company. The research focused on developing new insights on the role that shared values play in cultural relations. The report developed as part of this research, which draws on mixed-methods data, highlights the fundamental role that values and attitudes play in creating the conditions for cooperation.
Sue: What will this award mean to your research going forwards?
Sandra: We conducted this research in the midst of the pandemic (starting in March 2020 and completing in the second half of 2021) which of course because a time when people were acutely aware of the need for international cooperation to tackle shared global challenges. We worked very closely with the British Council teams to ensure that the project would get completed, but also that it would address the issues most pressing for the organisations mission. The Big Conversation was a great opportunity to bring together the rigour of academic research with the real-world needs that we’re currently facing globally, and the award, in a way, would be recognition of the value of that.
Sue: How exciting! When and where can we see the result?
Sandra: There will be a virtual ceremony on Monday 6th December, details can be found at Market Research Society: https://www.mrs.org.uk/awards/awards
Sue: We wish you the very best of luck!
You can read more about this work at
https://www.britishcouncil.org/search?search_api_views_fulltext=the+big+conversation
or learn more about the research partner involved https://www.opiniumresearch.co.uk/faq.aspx
OU Psychology & Counselling 