The SSA is now accepting applications for the 2025 Impact Prize. Find out how to apply for this prestigious award.

About the prize

The Impact Prize is awarded to people whose research has made a difference. In 2024, the SSA announced Dr Sharon Cox as the winner of the Impact Prize for her broad portfolio of work on smoking, and success in directly influencing policy by securing investment in smoking cessation interventions for people experiencing homelessness.

If you or your research team have had a strong public-facing impact, please consider applying for the 2025 Impact Prize. Examples of impact could include:

  • talking about your research on TV, or in local or national media
  • influencing government policy or treatment provision
  • collaborating with policymakers, treatment providers, or people who use drugs

The winner of the prize will receive £1,000 and will be invited to present their research at the SSA’s Annual Conference.

How to apply

You can apply online by completing the form below. Submissions will be assessed by a panel of three individuals appointed from the SSA’s Board of Trustees.

In order to be eligible to apply:

  • You must be a member or associate of the SSA
  • You must provide evidence that your recent work in the field of addiction has had a strong public-facing impact

Examples of relevant work might include, but are not limited to:

  • altmetric outputs
  • co-production that includes people with lived experience of addiction
  • impact on clinical practice
  • policy work
  • public engagement
  • science communication

The closing date for applications is 10 June 2025.

Information on eligibility and conflicts of interest

You are ineligible for this prize if you are an employee of the alcohol, cannabis, gambling, nicotine, pharmaceutical, or tobacco industries. This exclusion also applies if you are an employee of an Industry Social Aspect Organisation*.

You are ineligible for this prize if you have received funding of any kind, either directly from, or through representatives of, the alcohol, cannabis (except pharmaceutical), gambling, nicotine (except pharmaceutical), or tobacco industries. This exclusion also applies if you have received funding from an Industry Social Aspect Organisation*.

To be eligible, you must provide details about all potential conflicts of interest when requested. This information will be used to inform decision-making and applications may be rejected if the SSA deems there to be a risk of bias, ethical concerns, or a risk to the reputation of the SSA.

*Industry Social Aspect Organisations are those that are funded by addictive product industries – sometimes through secondary organisations – that often have a stated purpose to reduce the harms of those addictive products.