Congratulations to Professor Xavier Jaravel and Nilmini Herath for being highly commended at the LSE Impact Prizes 2026. 

LSE's annual Impact Prize recognises excellent engagement, impact, and impact culture across the School.

This year’s prizes recognised outstanding work across eight categories, with the judging panel selecting winners from high-quality nominations spanning 27 departments and research centres.

Outstanding individual impact: For excellence in impact achieved by an individual member of staff

HIGHLY COMMENDED Xavier Jaravel - "Democratising innovation and shaping economic policy: from LSE research to the highest levels of government"

Xavier Jaravel, Professor of Economics and STICERD Associate, has been Highly Commended for Outstanding Individual Impact.

The judging panel noted how Xavier Jaravel’s body of work has provided durable frameworks for thinking about innovation inequality, and in demonstrating how unequal access to innovation careers generates significant cost-of-living inequality and depresses long term growth, has also positioned inclusive innovation not just as a social justice concern, but as an economic imperative.

Professor Jaravel has been increasingly influential in shaping how international institutions think about the relationship between inclusion and growth. He is Chairman of the Conseil d'Analyse Economique, France's official advisory body to the Prime Minister, and was ranked the most cited young academic economist in the world by IDEAS/RePEC 2025, placing him at the centre of the conversations his research has helped to shape.

The Spark award (which supports the further development of sustainable new products, services, methodologies or processes with potential to lead to the betterment of society).

HIGHLY COMMENDED Nilmini Herath - “Networking skills training”

Nilmini Herath is a former PhD student at STICERD and currently Assistant Professor at Trinity College Dublin. Her research explores the impact of social networks on beliefs, behaviours and wellbeing in a range of domains, from trust in vaccines to understanding of labour markets. She uses tools from network science, microeconomic modelling and RCT-based impact evaluation to investigate these topics. Much of her research is focused on Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Find out more about the LSE Annual Impact Prize here and here.