Independent non-profit making body to stimulate fiscal debate for the greater good

Annual Miriam Hederman O’Brien Prize

The Foundation for Fiscal Studies presents the annual Miriam Hederman O’Brien Prize to recognise outstanding contributors in the area of Irish fiscal, economic and social policy. The aim is to recognise those whose work contributes to informed discussion of key fiscal, economic and social policy issues.

Each year, nominations are invited for work that has added to the public knowledge or understanding in areas such as taxation, public expenditure and other related fiscal policy topics. The Prize aims to recognise work that focuses on practical problems rather than abstract puzzles, that raise questions about how policy impacts and might improve outcomes, or shed light on issues that really matter to the future of Ireland as a society as well as an economy.

Call for Nominations for the MHOB Prize 2022

Nominations are invited for work completed during 2022 The Prize aims to recognise work that focuses on practical problems , that raise questions about how policy impacts and might improve outcomes, or shed light on issues that really matter to the future of Ireland as a society as well as an economy.

Nominated work may include individuals or institutions with output such as research papers, reports, books, book chapters, blog posts, opinion pieces, newspaper articles, television or radio contributions/documentaries or any other method which is publicly available and which offers new and relevant insights to help inform practical policy responses to the most strategic and significant issues we need to address in Ireland..

A shortlist of nominations will be compiled with the winners selected by a judging panel for the Prize. The judging panel will consist of national and international experts and is chaired by Foundation’s Chairman.

The successful contribution will be awarded the Miriam Hederman O’Brien Prize for 2022, a commemorative Gold Medal. The judging panel may also recognise other contributions from different categories or other types of contributions and award them appropriately.

Criteria / Eligibility

The Prize is for work completed during the period 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022.
There are no age or nationality criteria.
No individual may be awarded the Prize more than once. Previous winners can still be nominated and may be recognised for an award other than the main prize.
Jointly-produced work will be considered, provided that no contributor has previously been awarded the Prize.
Work produced by an institution rather than a named or specific author may be submitted and institutions are eligible even if they have previously won the Prize.
Where funding has been provided by a third party or other organisation to support the work which is being nominated, this should be disclosed

The Nomination Process

The closing date for nominations is 30 April 2023.
Those making nominations should briefly specify (100-150 words) why they believe the work is suitable for consideration for the Prize. They should also provide a weblink or other details of the work being nominated.
Those making nominations may nominate more than one piece of work.
Those making nominations are encouraged to nominate any pieces of work they feel meet the criteria for the prize, regardless of whether or not they themselves are the author. Authors may also nominate their own work.
Nominations for the Prize should be made by email to info@fiscal.ie.

PAST WINNERS

2021

The SAFE-PSC-MyGovID Framework for Public Service Identity Management

Ciaran Judge, Ita McGennis

Impact of Demographic Change on Health Expenditure

Clara Lindberg, Tiago McCarthy

2020

The Potential Costs and Distributional Effect of COVID-19

Keelin Byrne, Karina Doorley, Mark Regan, Barra Roantree, Dora Ruda – ESRI

The Development of a Nowcasting Methodology to Quantify the Distributional Effect of the Pandemic

Cathal O’Donoghue, John McHale – NUIG, Denis M Sologan, Iryna Kyzyma

2019