The British Academy announces 15 Newton International Fellowships for promising overseas academics

Analysing primate play to compare the cognitive abilities of humans and other species, exploring the Parisian influences behind West End theatre, and examining women’s labour activism in authoritarian regimes between 1938 and 1968; the British Academy has awarded over £1 million to 15 promising overseas academics, allowing them to pursue postdoctoral research in the UK.

Supported by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the awards have been allocated under the Newton International Fellowships scheme. Worth up to £100,000 each, these Fellowships enable talented early career researchers from any country overseas to work for two years at a UK institution of their choice.

The aim is to support the development and training of the next generation of research talent and foster the creation of long-term collaborative links with the UK.

The award-holders include:

• Commodity circulation, consumption patterns and early global trade networks: a study of the cowrie shell in African archaeological contexts – Dr Abigail Moffett (South Africa), University of East Anglia


• Monkeying around: complexity, cognition, and culture in primate play – Dr Alexander Mielke (Germany), University of Oxford


• Law and authority in Shi’ite legal thought: a theory of twelver Hadith criticism – Dr Belal Alabbas (Egypt), University of Exeter


• Material worlds: making knowledge in Vitruvius' De Architectura' – Dr Giovanna Laterza (Germany), University of Warwick


• Constructing insecurity in the age of disinformation – Mr Jeffrey Whyte (Canada), University of Manchester


• Childhood at the margins: a normative analysis of children's status as right holders – Dr Nicolas Brando (Belgium), Queen's University Belfast


• The urban geopolitics of radicalisation: prevention strategies from the UK to Canada – Dr Parastou Saberi (Belgium), University of Warwick


• Women’s labour activism in authoritarian regimes: Czechoslovakia, Austria and Poland, 1938–1968 – Dr Radka Sustrova (Czech Republic), University of Liverpool


• Fairy tales of two cities: West End spectacular theatre and its Parisian influences, 1866–1900 – Dr Tommaso Sabbatini (USA), University of Bristol.

Professor Simon Goldhill, Foreign Secretary & Vice-President of the British Academy, said:

‘I am delighted to announce this year’s Newton International Fellows. These Fellowships help to support the development of some of the world’s most talented early-career researchers, harnessing their drive, talent, and expertise to the benefit of UK higher education and research.  We wish this year’s Fellows the very best of luck and we look forward to seeing the fruits of their endeavours.’

The window for applications to the next round of Newton International Fellowships opens in January 2020.