CBE for University of Essex Professor

A leading academic from the University of Essex and former senior advisor to the Prime Minister has been awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Professor Shamit Saggar has been honoured for services to social science and public policy.

He plays an important leadership role within the University of Essex’s research community as Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research and Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.

He is also Director of the ESRC South East Network for Social Sciences (SeNSS) Doctoral Training Partnership – which works across 10 universities to develop the next generation of leading researchers, which Essex leads.

“I have always been interested in supporting institutions to use knowledge and evidence to inform their work, so I am delighted this honour has very fittingly been given for services to social science and public policy. The real-world use of research – mine and others – is my real passion.

“This is not just an honour for me. It is really a recognition for the many people I have worked with in different institutions, including universities, successive governments, regulators, businesses and non-profit organisations, and especially colleagues at Essex and SeNSS consortium,” said Professor Saggar.

After completing his degree and PhD in Government at Essex, Professor Saggar has spent the last 30 years on research aimed at helping public bodies and private organisations improve what they do.

His initial work was on electoral participation and he has subsequently developed specialisms in public policy, regulation and security. His expertise lies in helping to shape policies which affect people’s everyday lives, and he specialises in areas ranging from jobs, legal and financial regulation, migration and social exclusion to extremism, radicalisation and security.

He returned to Essex in 2014, and has led on the University’s policy impact work as well as the South East Network for Social Science. Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor Heather Laurie, added: “The University of Essex is honoured and delighted that Professor Shamit Saggar has been awarded a CBE for services to social science and public policy in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

“Shamit has made an outstanding contribution to bringing insights from high-quality social science research to policy makers in government, the third sector and other policy forums. The award of a CBE is fitting recognition of his excellent work over many years and we congratulate him on his achievements.”

Professor Saggar is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and is on the boards of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, overseeing standards among 140,000 solicitors, and British Future, an independent think tank which addresses people’s fears about identity, integration, migration and opportunity. He is an advisor for Unbound Philanthropy, a private grant-making foundation that works in the US and UK to ensure migrants and refugees are valued, treated with respect and are able to build relationships of mutual engagement with their new communities.

"We at Unbound Philanthropy are thrilled that Shamit has been awarded a CBE. We congratulate and thank Shamit for his outstanding contributions to the fields of public policy, regulation, migration, social change, understanding of extremism and radicalisation, security, political participation, and philanthropy,” said Taryn Higashi, Executive Director, and Debbie Berger, Board Chair, at Unbound Philanthropy.

During his career, Professor Saggar has taught at universities in Liverpool, Sussex and London, as well as in America – at Yale and the University of California. He worked as a senior advisor to the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit and has previously been on the board of organisations ranging from the National Consumer Council to the Financial Services Authority.

He has published over 50 research papers 12 policy reports and six books. His most recent book, Pariah Politics, dealing with what should be done by government to tackle religious extremism and terrorism, was published by Oxford University Press. His next book deals with how to streamline evidence-based policy-making.