Fellows are recognised for the excellence and impact of their work and their wider contributions to the social sciences for public benefit.

Professor Sumner’s expertise covers poverty, inequality and ‘inclusive growth’ in middle-income developing countries.

In 2020, his research looked at the impact of the COVID-19 on global poverty, citing that the world’s poorest face up to US$500 million per day in lost income due to the pandemic.

His research has also been cited by non-governmental organisations such as Oxfam, international development agencies such as the World Bank and the United Nations (UN), as well as media outlets.

In addition to this, he has been asked to contribute expertise to various policy-related processes such as the Select Committees of the House of Comms, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Lancet Poverty Commission.

Through leadership, scholarship, applied research, policymaking and practice, fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences have helped to deepen the understanding of, and address, some of the toughest challenges facing society.

The Academy of Social Sciences is the British academy of academics, learned societies and practitioners in the social sciences. It composes of approximately 1,400 individual fellows.