The editors of a popular blog covering psychology and neuroscience news and views, Mindhacks.com, are to receive the 2014 British Psychological Society’s Public Engagement and Media Award.

The Award recognises the work of psychologists who, either directly or through the media, have made an outstanding contribution to raising the profile of psychology with the general public.

Mindhacks.com was established in 2004 by Dr Tom Stafford (BPS Fellow, University of Sheffield) and Matt Webb (technology entrepreneur, Interconnected.org) as a group blog with the aim of making research related to the mind and brain accessible to the general public. Dr Vaughan Bell (also a BPS Fellow, University College London / South London and Maudsley NHS Trust) quickly emerged a driving force behind the blog, authoring many popular posts and still writing for the blog today.

The blog has a wide international audience reaching thousands of people using content informed by academic research. On its most popular day it received more than 100,000 unique visitors. Readers are given the opportunity to keep up to date with the latest research which is accompanied by objective critiques and an indication of the wider context.

It was described as “riveting” by Scientific American, who gave it a 2005 Science Technology Web Award. In August 2014 Mindhacks.com was recommended by the Journal of the American Judges Association who said it is "consistently entertaining and often has
legal relevance".

Commenting on the award BBC presenter Claudia Hammond said:

“When Mindhacks.com started there were few psychology blogs. So it has helped define a blossoming culture of online commentary on psychology research and maintains an internationally recognised profile within that culture. Mindhacks.com has remained independent, with no advertising and the writers work unpaid in their spare time. Their work is licensed under a "Creative Commons" copyright licence, meaning that it can be republished freely.

“I’m constantly impressed by the quality of Mindhacks.com and see it as a crucial site for people to obtain critically-considered information about psychological research. Their blog posts are always evidence-based and well-argued, and often provide a counterpoint to more sensationalist coverage in other outlets.”

On winning the award Tom Stafford said: ‘Vaughan Bell deserves the credit on this one for his insight, humour and intelligence, he writes a bulk of our posts. It’s really pleasing that this is the first time a blog has been nominated for this award and the first time one has won. It recognises that public engagement isn’t all about a single charismatic figurehead. The thing that’s always drawn Mindhacks.com is finding the everyday angle on things, how can we see these phenomena outside of the lab.’

Each year Society members are invited to nominate a psychologist or psychologists for the Public Engagement Media Award in recognition of the contribution of communicating high quality research or the legacy and/or impact of the discipline to the general public via a range of activities either directly or via a range of broadcast, electronic and print media. 

Read more about the Society's Awards and Grants. 

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