A Keele University researcher has received a prestigious award from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for her study on reducing Covid-19 transmissions.

Dr Becky Arnold’s research looked at ways of effectively reducing the spread of Covid-19 in vulnerable settings such as care homes, schools, hospitals, and prisons, and led to the creation of a model to evaluate different testing strategies.

Using this model, healthcare professionals and policymakers could see which testing methods were most likely to be effective at controlling the spread of the virus, helping to protect the health of millions of people, and save huge amounts of taxpayers’ money in the process.

Becky has now received a Research Excellence Award from the ONS for her work, which was presented to her by the UK’s national statistician, Sir Ian Diamond, at the ONS Research Capability 2022 event this week.

Becky said: “I am honoured to receive this award. This project showcases the value of interdepartmental and interdisciplinary research for tackling large, multifaceted issues that singular groups could not make significant or timely progress on alone. I hope this award will encourage more high value, large scale projects of this type in the future.”