The British Academy announces funding for fifteen new research projects to help tackle the UK’s international challenges

The British Academy has announced the successful applicants to the latest round of its funding programme, The Humanities and Social Sciences Tackling the UK’s International Challenges.

The 15 new research projects supported under this programme aim to shed light on our understanding of the UK’s international challenges – past, present and future – and to further cross-learning between academic, policy, practitioner and public communities on issues that are topical, under-explored or necessitate reframing.

Welcoming the new cohort of award-holders, Professor Simon Goldhill, Foreign Secretary and Vice-President of the British Academy, said:

“This varied and exciting set of projects draws on original methodologies to bring new understanding to the complex nature of borders and European identities. The research comes at a critical time for the UK, Europe and the global community and addresses a range of contemporary challenges, seeking to also identify and apply important lessons from the past. I look forward to following the research teams’ progress over the next 18 months.”

The 2019 award-holders are:

• Dr Joanna Szostek, University of Glasgow – Peripheral Audiences and State Security: A Study of Risks and Benefits Associated with Media Use among Border Populations in Ukraine


• Dr Paul Richardson, University of Birmingham – Rescaling the Border: Nationalism and Civilisationalism in Central and Eastern Europe


• Profesor David Herd, University of Kent – Hostile Environments: Policies, Stories, Responses


• Dr Rachel Rich, Leeds Beckett University – European Cuisine and British Identity in the Age of Nationalism, 1760-1837


• Professor Michael Collyer, University of Sussex – Borders, Global Governance and the Refugee, 1947-51


• Dr Churnjeet Mahn, University of Strathclyde – Cross-Border Queers: The Story of South Asian Migrants in the UK


• Professor Mary Bosworth, University of Oxford – Privatising Border Control and Sovereign Power


• Professor Enda McCaffrey, Nottingham Trent University – The Irish Border Challenge: From Backstop to Border Poll


• Dr Laura Taylor, Queen’s University Belfast– Generation Peace: Children, Conflict and Competing Identities in Europe


• Dr Mark Griffiths, Newcastle University– The Effects of Israel’s Visa Restrictions in Palestine on Family, Social and Political Life


• Dr Alexandra Hall, University of York – Sea Ports and Security: The Politics of the Minor Border


• Dr Alan Renwick, University College London – Deciding on Borders: Preparing for a Northern Ireland Border Poll


• Dr Danica Summerlin, University of Sheffield– Jurisdiction, Legal Community, and Political Discourse in Medieval Europe, 1050–1250


• Professor Paul Nugent, University of Edinburgh – Border Festivals, Partitioned Communities and Practical Governance in West Africa


• Dr Olga Onuch, University of Manchester – Identity and Borders in Flux: The Case of Ukraine.

For more information about this programme, visit The Humanities and Social Sciences Tackling the UK’s International Challenges page on the British Academy’s website.