First class
The University of Gent in Belgium has awarded the Sarton medal of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences for 2012-13 to Emeritus Professor Jennifer Platt, a Sussex sociologist. Dr George Sarton (1884-1956), who is considered the founding father of the history of sciences, was a Gent alumnus. As Sarton medal holder, in March 2013 Professor Platt will give a lecture at Gent about the history and philosophy of sociology.
A graduate of a Masters degree in creative writing at Sussex has won a short-story competition run by the Irish Post. Carmel Walsh’s tale ‘From A Land Beyond The Wave’ was chosen from scores of entries. Her prize includes a trip to next month’s prestigious Listowel Writers’ Festival in County Kerry and a cheque for 500 Euros. Carmel graduated with an MA in Creative Writing and Authorship from the University of Sussex in 2010. She is currently working as a secondary English teacher in Brighton and writing her first novel. The short story, which is based around her own experiences of growing up in a London-Irish community and around the 1994 World Cup, is an edited extract from the book. Carmel told the Irish Post: "Whilst doing my Masters I interviewed my family and many people from the London Irish community about what it was like travelling over from Ireland in the 1950s and the struggles that they faced when they got here."
Donald Winch, Emeritus Professor of Intellectual History and chairman of the advisory board of the Centre for Intellectual History, has been awarded honorary membership of the European Society for the History of Economic Thought. The award recognises life-time achievements and will be made at the Society's annual conference in St Petersburg.