University of Stirling housing student wins CIH Malcolm Smith Award

University of Stirling housing student Rachael Watson has received a prestigious award for her dissertation for her dissertation exploring how housing services balance risk and responsibility when supporting people leaving prison

Rachael, who balanced working full time at Fife Council while studying for her MSc in Housing Studies, has been presented with the Malcolm Smith Award by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Scotland.

The award is judged anonymously by three-person panel of CIH Scotland members, all of whom are MSc graduates themselves. It recognises the best piece of work by a student in Scotland during the last academic year, with a focus on housing law and policy.

Commenting on her achievement, Rachael said: “I am so honoured and incredibly proud to have received the Malcolm Smith Award. I’d like to thank the University of Stirling for nominating me for this award. I am so grateful for the support, guidance and encouragement I received over the last three years, especially from my supervisor Regina Serpa. It was very challenging working full time and completing the master’s dissertation, but it has been such a rewarding experience.

“The aim of my report was to delve into the lived experience of housing professionals, focusing on the extent to which housing professionals are responsible for managing public risk and safety within their communities. This was such an interesting topic for me as I currently work within Fife Council’s Public Protection Team and recognise the operational challenges staff members can face. I was able to highlight the tension between advocating for customers whilst also trying to safeguard the wider community, through the lived experiences and insights of housing professionals.

“I would also like to thank Fife Council Housing Services for allowing me the opportunity to complete the Postgraduate Diploma which ultimately led to me deciding to continue my studies and complete the MSc. I am really excited to see what the future brings."

Dr Regina Serpa, programme director for the Postgraduate Diploma/MSc Housing Studies Programme and lecturer in housing studies at the School of Law, Politics and Social Sciences University of Stirling, said of Rachael’s submission: “We're so very pleased for Rachael to have her hard work recognised with this prestigious award. Housing colleagues at Stirling put forward three of the very best dissertations for the consideration and we understand it was a strong competition this year, with very high-quality submissions all around.

"As her supervisor, I am not at all surprised Rachael was awarded the coveted Malcolm Smith Award. Rachael’s research study ‘Supporting Reintegration’ investigating how housing services balance risk and responsibility for ex-offenders, stood out for its interdisciplinarity, combing theoretical traditions in criminology and housing studies, and its ability to inform practice and inter-agency working. The work Rachael produced was, in our opinion, of a publishable standard, and we are supporting her to help make this important work available to the wider housing community.”