For the third year in a row, an SSESW undergraduate student has been recognised as a Highly Commended entrant in the Sociology & Social Policy category of The Global Undergraduate Awards (UA), the world’s largest academic awards programme identifying leading creative thinkers and problem-solvers through their undergraduate coursework. Written for his Social Policy module on gerontology, Freddie Finlay’s paper Demography is not Destiny was assessed by an international panel of expert judges from world leading academic institutions.

UA provides top performing students with support and opportunities to raise their profiles at a summit in Dublin where they can network with world-renowned speakers, academics and potential employers and attend workshops designed to help them share research and begin their path after undergraduate study.

Gemma Carney Co-convenor of the Social Policy module (with Leonie Hannan) noted Freddie’s UA progress: 'I am delighted that Freddie's essay from our liberal arts module Questions for an Ageing World has been highly commended in the Global UG Awards. His essay was full of original insights on population ageing as a social policy challenge. I am sure this is the just the beginning of a great career in social policy and sociology for Freddie.'

Freddie commented on his success: 'It was a real honour to have my work highly commended by the Global Undergraduate Awards. I feel this was largely down to Dr Carney and Dr Hannan for making the module so engaging and unique. I'm really glad to hear that they will be running it again this year.'