King's College London

At the SSPP Impact Prize Awards 2025 on 12 March, Poppy Ellis Logan, PhD student at the School of Education, Communication & Society, won the overall prize in a competitive field. Her work examines how public health messages can be more effective.

The other prize winners were as follows:

• Jon Roozenbeek, Lecturer at the School of Security Studies, for his work on misinformation, including producing recommendations for policymakers and tech companies on how to combat it.
• Krzysztof Krakowski, Lecturer at the School of Politics and Economics, who studied how school debating can reduce vulnerability to misinformation and conspiracy thinking.
• The Lived Experience Advisory Board, co-convened by Hanna Kienzler at the School of Global Affairs, aims to change the way health research is done by grounding it in lived experience.
• The Experimental Government Team, based at the Policy Institute and presented by Julia Ellingwood, supports local and national governments to embrace innovation and experimentation, working with a range of clients
• Sophy Antrobus, of the School of Security Studies, for her work on contemporary air power

Poppy Ellis Logan, overall prize winner, commented on the significance of her research:

"Clear, specific language helps people understand what they need to know and why it matters. I shared my findings with UK Health Security Agency, and they have since made changes and are continuing to improve how health messages are communicated. Public health communication should work for everyone, and I’m proud that my research has contributed to that."

Poppy also highlighted the key role of the support that colleagues at King’s played in the research:

“King’s has been a huge support—from the training and networks I gained through my research team (the NIHR EPR HPRU), SSPP, and the King’s Policy Institute, to the encouragement of my supervisors, including Gabriella Rundblad, who supported my decision to follow the evidence rather than default to traditional approaches. I’ve also been lucky to work alongside brilliant PhD colleagues, including soon-to-be Dr Ava Hodgson from SSPP and now Dr Lisa Woodland from the IoPPN, who both showed me how PhD students can own their research and drive positive change.

“This award is already helping to expand the reach of this work, and there are many exciting directions for what comes next. I’m hoping to secure a postdoc to take this research further and build on what this award has made possible. I’m looking for opportunities in health equity, collaborative partnerships, and research that leads to practical improvements in policy and practice.”

Films featuring previous impact prize winners can be viewed here at the SSPP Impact Showcase.