Top academic prize worth over £60,000 to be awarded next week in Edinburgh

One of the UK’s biggest academic accolades will be awarded next week in Edinburgh, providing its recipient with $75,000 (£63,300) to develop research into long-term investment and its relationship with innovation.

Five shortlisted finalists represent universities in the UK, Canada and the US, with one of those researchers due to pick up the Panmure House Prize during a ceremony on July 19. Panmure House is the former home of Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith.

The prize is supported by investment firm Ballie Gifford and awarded to emerging leaders in academia, funding key research on the topic of the long-term funding of innovation.

The award’s judging panel is chaired by James Anderson, a former partner at Baillie Gifford and current chair of Kinnevik, and includes Sir John Kay, former dean of Oxford’s Said Business School, and Afsaneh Beschloss, founder and chief executive of RockCreek. The prize’s patron is the Nobel Laureate, Sir Angus Deaton, who was born in Edinburgh.

Caroline Howitt, programme director, Panmure House, said: “As inflation soars, growth slows, and global economies brace for potential recessions, long-term thinking and patient capital will be crucial in facilitating the type of innovation that will counter these challenges and many more.

“We’re eager to learn what our inaugural winners have achieved with the prize money awarded a year ago and to reveal which of our five excellent shortlisted academics will be crowned this year’s winner.”

The inaugural prize was awarded in 2021 to a team based at the Robert H Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.