Big congrats to ICG member Konrad Collao who has won the Ginny Valentine Badge of Courage award for “the tenacity to represent the voice of minorities.” The awards are named in memory of Virginia ‘Ginny’ Valentine, an internationally-recognised pioneer of semiotics in UK market research. Entry is by nomination only. The judges recognised the courage inherent in much of his work, being constructively provocative in directly addressing issues of discrimination and marginalisation, and reframing clients’ preconceptions about audiences that research traditionally struggles to hear from. Examples include:
- Work to inform the Government’s Prevent counter-terrorism strategy – discussing one of the most taboo and emotive topics of all, Islamist terrorism, with young British Somali and British Pakistani men
- Collaborating with The FA’s Discrimination and Inclusion team – to understand incidents of discrimination and abuse in grassroots football
- Identifying how sports National Governing Bodies can better reach out to and cater for diverse, sometimes marginalised audiences – exploring the barriers to inclusion in playing football for women and girls with disabilities; understanding the issues that women and girls who play grassroots cricket face, not least sexual discrimination; driving greater participation in cricket and society among South Asian women
- Working with the BBC and Channel 4 to help them understand audiences they underserve, for example C2DE and BAME youth audiences