Claudia Hammond (R) and Samira Ahmed who hosted the lecture

Claudia Hammond, award-winning broadcaster, author and visiting Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology here at Sussex, has been awarded the Rosalind Franklin medal by Humanists UK. The Rosalind Franklin medal celebrates the contribution of women towards the promotion and advancement of aspects of humanism in the UK and around the world, with an accompanying lecture. Claudia has been integral to the set up of, and research carried out by, the Sussex Centre for Research on Kindness, the first academic research centre in the UK dedicated to the study of kindness.    

Claudia gave the Rosalind Franklin lecture on Monday 4 March, in which she gave an eye-opening tour of kindness: what constitutes kindness, effective strategies to build more of it into our lives, and the benefits of being kind. She drew on the latest research from psychology and neuroscience, and her work in collaboration with the University of Sussex and the BBC, including the largest global survey ever undertaken into attitudes to kindness. 

Claudia said: "I was so surprised to receive the invitation to give the Rosalind Franklin Lecture 2024 and especially honoured when I saw that the esteemed list of previous recipients, including scientists who developed Covid vaccines. 

"My work doesn’t compare, but I hope this shows that kindness is beginning to be taken seriously as a research topic with real impact. Receiving the Rosalind Franklin Lecture Medal 2024 is a wonderful recognition of the value of The Kindness Test study, on which I collaborated with researchers from the University of Sussex Centre for Research on Kindness." 

Claudia’s most recent book, The Keys to Kindness, sets out a prescription for a kinder life that you can adapt to your own circumstances, and also draws on the Sussex-based research. 

Humanists UK asked Claudia to deliver the lecture as they we impressed by how her work encourages people to reflect for themselves on what they can do to bring about a more tolerant society where kindness prevails. 

 Highlights from the lecture will be available on the Humanist UK YouTube channel shortly.