At the BCS IRSG Search Solutions 2021 Conference on 24 November there was a session during which the BCS Search Industry Awards for 2021 were presented by Tony Russell-Rose on behalf of the IRSG Committee. The Conference was once again (and hopefully for the last time!) virtual so there was no opportunity to applaud the winners.
This year there were multiple nominations for all the categories. The nominations were reviewed by three judges with a wide range of experience
- Paul Clough, Head of Data Science at Peak Indicators, and Professor of Search & Analytics at University of Sheffield
- Agnes Molnar Founder & Managing Consultant Search Explained, based in Budapest, Hungary
- Paul Cleverley Visiting Professor, Founder of Infoscience Technology Ltd and a Visiting Professor of Information Science and Technology, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
Best search user experience
Open question answering on Lexis+
Most promising startup
Best open source project
Search Professional of the Year
Dr Stuart Mackie, Lead Data Scientist at BiP Solutions
In addition there was also an award for the best paper given at the Search Solutions, based on a vote undertaken during a panel session towards the end of the conference.
Best Search Solutions paper
Olivia Foulds University of Strathclyde, for her paper looking at the benefits of integrating the disciplines of psychology and information retrieval to develop high-quality user interfaces
Martin White Vice-Chair IRSG